Nail-Biting

IHR, Infection and Host Response, comes to an end today (and because all of our course titles require an explanation, this class was Immunology and Microbiology).  If microbiology has taught me anything, it is this: it is a terrible idea to eat someone's feces.  Also, I should stop biting my nails.


A lot of the parasites we learned about are more prevalent in children/toddlers because they can't help but put their fingers in their mouths, so any parasite eggs they may accidentally touch (in the soil, or on any infected surface) get directly into their bodies.  Pretty sure I'm at the level of the toddlers on that one since I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to not biting my nails.

But it's a lot worse for me because first of all, I'm almost 25 and should be done with that by now (ALMOST - I still have two whole days before I'm in my mid-twenties, so stop rushing my life away, goshhhh) and second of all, I'm a med student and have seen the horrifying disgusting pictures of these parasitic diseases - which you think would scare me into never putting my hands near my face again.  But at least I've also learned that my immune system is wayyyy more developed than a toddler's - so ha-ha, whatup now toddlers?!

That's also why we can eat honey but babies can't; their crappy undeveloped immune system can't deal with the small amount of germs that are sometimes found in honey.  Adults - 1, Babies - 0.

Fever and Malaise

What I have learned in microbiology so far is that every single disease presents with fever and malaise.  Starting a test question with, "a patient comes into your office complaining of fever and malaise" is not helpful.

Differential diagnosis: anything (really narrows it down, thanks).

NSFW (just kidding, it's safe)

For those who don't know what NSFW means (hi grandma!), it stands for "Not Safe For Work."  Websites will often put this at the top of their pages as a warning to people who may be reading in a public place that what's about to follow may include something inappropriate - some image or video that you wouldn't want to be up on your computer screen at work if your boss happened to be walking behind you.

Don't worry, this post does not include any porn and is totally safe for work.  But sometimes the things we study don't really seem all that safe for work.



We're in the bacteria unit of microbiology and each day or so we learn about bacterial infections of different systems - of the skin, of the respiratory tract, of the gut, and of course, of the genitourinary tract... which basically consist of UTIs and STDs.

As you might imagine, our notes are filled with lovely pictures of all the characteristic sores and ulcers that accompany such bacterial infections.  And when I'm studying in a public study room, I feel very uncomfortable whenever someone walks behind me as I have giant pictures of disgusting genitalia on my computer screen.  Sometimes I even quickly minimize my notes (which totally makes it seem worse) before I remember that I'm not actually doing something wrong, and everyone around me also has to study those same lectures.

I would switch to studying less explicit diseases while in public places, but first of all - is studying the differences between watery and bloody diarrhea any better?  And second of all, when my professor includes clip-art like this (with sound effects!) in her lecture:

How am I supposed to be mature about it???