Best Loh Mee in Penang

I have tried loh mee all over Penang including the one in Air Itam but nothing beats the loh mee in Seng Thor Coffee Shop in Carnarvon Street. It is located at the junction where Kimberley Street meets Carnarvon Street.

I would say that is the best loh mee I have ever tasted. I have been eating from this stall in Seng Thor for many years since I was small. Some might say that the one in Air Itam is better but I disagree.

Yum yum. As a picky eater, I like my loh mee served with pork meat, egg, and chilli...plain and simple. No intestines or funny stuff inside.

My usual plain water. Remember to adopt a healthy drinking lifestyle!

The morning crowd.

There are other stalls as well like koay teow th'ng, nasi lemak and wan tan mee. But I only come to this coffee shop to eat the loh mee and nothing else.

Colour of your phlegm

If you are coughing and if you want to know whether it's a viral or bacterial infection, you can just take a look at the colour of your own phlegm.

A healthy person should have a clear phlegm.

But if you are coughing and if your phlegm is clear or thin white mucus, then it is an indication of a viral infection.

If your phlegm is yellowish or greenish, then it is an indication of a bacterial infection.

If your phlegm is brown, it is probable there are some blood in it. It could also mean you are a smoker.

If your phlegm is bright red, it is definitely blood.

If your phlegm is black, you are probably a smoker or a coal worker.

If your phlegm is purple, ask yourself whether you have just drunk Ribena.

Anyway always remember the important rule. If you are coughing for more than two weeks, think TB unless proven otherwise.

Cough and sneeze etiquette

I am writing this hoping to raise awareness about something called cough etiquette. I just came back from my MBA class and again, I noticed that there are students who simply lack basic civic manners. One particular classmate of mine would just cough into the air spreading whatever germs he has to others, which is not much different with the inconsiderate old ah pek I saw in the market coughing and spitting his greenish phlegm onto the pavement, ugggh! Mind you, my classmates are educated and are studying MBA, unlike the ah pek.

I would like to emphasise that if you are down with an infection, please wear a mask to avoid spreading your infection to others.

Remember to wear a face mask if you have an infection!

Below are the basic cough etiquette that one should follow.

Please cough or sneeze into a tissue, then discard it. Or you might want to cough or sneeze directly into your mask. But please discard your mask as well after using it.

If you don’t even have any tissue, then cough or sneeze onto your sleeve or into the crook of your arm. You’re less likely to transfer bugs with your biceps and elbows.

It's not advisable to cough or sneeze into your palm because most likely you will end up using your hand touching the lift's buttons, door knob, or shaking hands with others. In the end, you are still infecting others. If you do cough or sneeze into your palm, then please wipe your palm onto your shirt. That helps a lot!

Please, oh please observe the above cough etiquette considering that you are an educated person and not some lowly educated Ah Beng, Ah Too, or Ah Kow.

Music History #1 - George Michael

Since I like music and history, I decided to blend it to blog about some music history. You may or may not know who is George Michael. If you have heard about him, I believe you probably grew up in the 1980s because that's when he was super super famous. Or maybe you have heard through his umpteen arrests. George Michael, whose orginal name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was born in 1963. Ok ok, who is George Michael. Here you go.

George Michael - a picture taken somewhere in the 1980s

He shot to stardom when he formed a band called Wham! with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. George Michael was the poster boy of the 80s just like Justine Timberlake or Justin Bieber today. Wham! was a huge and successful band of the 1980s.

Under Wham!, they produced several hits such as Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, Everything She Wants, Careless Whisper, and Last Christmas.

Andrew Ridgeley (left) and George Michael (right)

George Michael disbanded Wham! in 1987 and went solo. He did the right thing and he found success with his first solo album - Faith. However, his success went downhill from his second solo album onwards and he is no longer famous in the 1990s.

He gained fame again for the wrong reason in 1998 when he was caught by an undercover policeman for 'engaging in a lewd act' in a public toilet.

And since after that, George Michael has been arrested for I don't know how many times for all sort of reasons. Here is George Michael again today.

The old George Michael today

You might want to listen to this song - Careless Whisper. Probably you have heard it before because it was a very popular song in the 1980s.

DiGi iPhone 4 Play

With the gazillion iPhone apps out there, which one is my favourite?

There are apps like Guitar Toolkit, Ampkit, National Geographic World Atlas, The New Oxford American Dictionary, and the list goes on and on....bazillion of them!

But there is one iPhone app that I find it dazzling, that is The Merck Manual - Home Edition app!

Remember my blog entry where I blogged about reading up medical stuff? Go read this again -http://gabrielgim.blogspot.com/2010/09/reading-medical-stuff.html

This is the dog-eared hardcopy version

How nice if I could have a digitised version of that Merck Manual in the iPhone 4. Oh yes, you can read the Merck Manual - Home Edition from iPhone 4!

I could read it wherever I go. I could read it in the hospital, in the doctor's room, in the classroom and maybe in the toilet (especially important if you notice something abnormal about your own crap). It certainly comes in handy!

See, how cool is The Merck Manual - Home Edition app!

I can get into a debate with my doctor with the Merck Manual at my fingertips. And I can even shove up the iPhone 4 right in front of a smoker showing him/her the perils of lung cancer.

Who knows if one day you might be bitten or stung by jellyfish, centipedes, wasps, bees, hornets, mites, crocodiles, and if you are lucky enough, I might happened to be nearby coming to the rescue knowing what to do in such emergency cases.

And what if one day someone shouted that Megan Fox needs a CPR and you happened to be nearby! Well, with The Merck Manual app in your iPhone 4, you are one lucky bloke.

So, this Merck Manual - Home Edition app is my favourite app and it is also especially important to everyone. I hope smokers with iPhones will download that app as well.

Now, will you give me an iPhone 4, Nuffnang?

DiGi iPhone 4 Me

Why I want an iPhone4? Look at my SEVEN-YEAR OLD handphone! No kidding!

Good thing I'm still faithful to it although the battery lasts for about only two hours. I wanted to change the battery but I couldn't. It is because I always charge the battery while I'm talking on the phone. So the battery has expanded...expanded....and expanded and I can't remove the casing anymore. Sob sob T.T

Can I say it's time to say goodbye to my old faithful handphone? But I'm broke! I can't buy a new handphone! I wannnt a DiGiiiiii iPhoneeeeeeeeee 4...!! Nuffnang is here to the rescue! Nuffnang will be giving out a DiGi iPhone 4 to one Nuffnanger! Sadly only one but at least, Nuffnang is generous!

Please gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. iPhone 4 is so sleek, so catchy, so hot, so cool, so I want la.

I can do video calling using iPhone 4! I can do phone interviews with it. I always wanted to be a journalist! I can call for a face-to-face interview with George Bush, Obama, Osama just using iPhone 4 and I might be the next winner for the Pulitzer Prize!

I can also do HD video recording using iPhone 4! I always also wished to be a movie director! Maybe it's time for me to create my own movie. But first I have to call Jenna Jameson first. And maybe Kenny Sia?

I can also take beautiful pictures using iPhone 4! It comes with 5 megapixels! I always wanted to be a photographer, if I can't be a movie director. Ok, I have to call Jenna Jameson again.

Of course, I can surf Internet using iPhone 4! I can blog with it, facebook with it, and anything!

Most importantly, I can make a call to anyone using iPhone 4!

Okayyy. Nuffnang, will you give me a DiGi iPhone 4?

Respiratory Disorder - Episode 14

When I went back to the hospital at 2pm, there was an unusual crowd waiting to see my doctor. I have to wait for about an hour before I was called.

She told me that there was not much changes to the x-ray. It was also hard for me to tell because the x-ray was not very clear for a layman to see. The doctor believed that the radiologist did not use enough radiation to penetrate my body. So, the image was not that visible compared to the one I took last month. But at least the radiologist and the doctor are able to interpret it.



The doctor then prescribed me an anti-fungal drug - fluconazole since she suspected that I have a fungal infection in my lungs. Also, my phlegm is positive for Candida which is a type of fungus. However, probably that was not the fungus that causes my cough because candida is a fungus that is commonly found in anyone's mouth.

Again, I have to undergo some medication of swallowing big big capsules which I don't fancy at all. What I'm undergoing now is some sort of a trial and error treatment because the doctor has yet to know exactly what causes my cough. We still have to wait for the full result of the bronchoscopy. The lung biopsy which I have yet to do would be somewhat a much faster and accurate diagnosis.

If the fluconazole could not cure me, then I have to go for the lung biopsy to find out what's wrong. Oh, Jesus, please help me.

It looks unlikely that I could avoid the lung biopsy. I do really hope that this fluconazole would cure everything. I just do not want to do the lung biopsy. My next appointment is about another two weeks time.

Respiratory Disorder - Episode 13

It has been two weeks since the scary bronchoscopy. I think the whole experience has left me traumatised.

It is 21st September and it is time to see the doctor again to find out some preliminary results from the bronchoscopy.

I reached there at 11am.

I waited for about 10 minutes and I was called in to the doctor's room. Quick enough, she told me that my phlegm is negative for TB. What a relief!

But then she said my phlegm is positive for Candida, a type of fungus. But she doesn't think that's the cause of the cough. I've read about Candida and it could appear if you are on some antibiotic medication. Yes, I was on antibiotic medication when I went for the bronchoscopy. So probably that's how the Candida came about.

So that means we still do not know what is causing the cough. I will have to wait for a few more weeks for my phlegm culture to grow completely in the lab. The doctor then asked to go for an x-ray to see if there are any changes since my last x-ray.

The reception for the x-ray section

I was surprised to find a waiting area just outside the x-ray room with a TV for you to watch.

I didn't notice there's a container floating in the air when I took this picture. Well, nothing surprising since it's a hospital anyway....you know what I mean.

Taking the x-ray was quick and simple unlike the CT scan where you have to be injected with a radiopaque dye.

It was over in less than 5 minutes and I was asked by the doctor to come back to see her at 2pm. So I went home for lunch and worrying whether the image on the x-ray has turned out better or worse?

BlogFest Asia 2010

This year, the BlogFest Asia will be held in Penang! Wooohooo. It was held in Hong Kong last year. So expect hundreds of bloggers coming to Penang on 1st October 2010!

Yes, the event will be held from 1st October to 3rd October 2010 in my very own alma mater - Wawasan Open University. I believe it is a perfect location to house over 300 bloggers under one roof. What's more, the classrooms in this university are spacious, clean, and neat unlike some other private colleges, where you can find Coca Cola cans and Dutch Lady tetrapacks on the floor. It is because Wawasan's students are well behaved, like me!

Free lunch, free dinner, everything will be free, so they said. I hope it's not just char bee hoon and currypuffs. I bet the food will be good because on the 1st of October, the dinner will be hosted at QEII! Would they serve free pizza to everyone? Wow! I can't wait to find out.

On the 2nd and 3rd of October, complimentary talks and workshops will be held in Wawasan Open University. Some of the workshops that I am looking forward to are Commercial Blogging – How to get your blog noticed? and Photography and travelogue through blogs.

If you want to join this event, you have to register yourself at http://2010.blogfest.asia/registration. Registration is free. So bloggers, what are you waiting for?

Internal Control

I am writing this due to a personal request from S. It was a request asking me to help out on the Internal Control assessment. Since I can help, I will try to help. No beans will be spilled out though.

Okayyy, here goes. I will only share with you the weaknesses. The recommendations that you should implement, you got to figure out yourself. Instead of just telling you what are the weaknesses, I will pose questions to you instead.

1. All computer personnel were trained in system design, operation and programming. Don't you think they will know too much if they were trained on everything?

2. Again, there is one specific employee who could run the program and make changes. Would you let someone do everything? Don't you think that will lead to something bad? He can easily make any changes he wants, don't you think so?

3. No records are kept? What do you think? I'm sure your mom would always tell you to keep all receipts on any daily transactions, even if you buy a bread.

4. Every staff has access? Would you give your house keys to everyone you know?

5. Backup files kept in an unlocked cupboard? Mom always said never leave the house without locking the door! In addition, what kind of cupboard? A plastic cupboard that anyone can break it apart easily? Would a bank store their money in a plastic cupboard?

6. No computer checks? What if there is no spelling check on Microsoft Word? That's a nightmare! Go read your textbook from page 238-243. There are so many types of control in an IT environment. With so many types of control, there will be so many weaknesses in this particular area. Go figure.

That's all folks. You should thank S.

Some basic facts of lung cancer

It is a well known fact that smokers make up 90% of lung cancer cases. So why do smokers still smoke, just like my neighbour Ah Beng who smokes like a chimney 24/7? Beats me. Maybe they didn't know the perils of lung cancer, yet.

One good news for smokers is that only 10-20% of smokers will eventually develop lung cancer in their lifetime. Researchers are still finding out the reasons why some smokers could end up with lung cancer and why some did not. Luck, perhaps? Definitely not. Researchers blame it on the genes. Well, if smokers do not end up with lung cancer, then they will eventually end up with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Buerger's disease, bronchiolitis, oral cancer, Crohn's disease, peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, bla bla bla bla............

The sad thing is that non smokers are not completely safe from developing lung cancer. The remaining 10% of lung cancer cases are due to exposure to asbestos, radiation, arsenic, radon gas, mustard gas, air pollution and the list goes on.

The symptoms of lung cancer are similar to any other lung infection such as coughing. So, that makes the diagnosis difficult. Often by the time the patients found that they have it, it is already too late because the tumour grows very fast and painlessly unbeknown to you.

Compared to other types of cancer, lung cancer has a very poor prognosis. The survival rate is only 13% even with treatment. Furthermore, the treatment is not cheap. The cost of the treatment can already buy you one nice imported Japanese car in Malaysia.

Where do I get my sources from? The Merck Manual and two close confidant who had personally known two lung cancer patients. The said patients were non smokers and they did not survive.

Want to live longer? Just go to Bama county in Guangxi Province of China. The residents in Bama seem to live over some 100 years and some of them reported that they have never been to hospitals. Go read some news from The Star.
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/8/16/lifefocus/6683534&sec=lifefocus

Last reminder....don't smoke!

Philosophy #4

"You can choose to blame your unfortunate circumstance on fate, bad luck, or a bad decision"

Ok, it is time for some philosophical lecture again. I heard this quote from a certain character in One Tree Hill. I'm not a fan of that TV series but I was walking pass the TV when I heard someone blurted that out. I thought it was a thought-provoking quote, just suitable for me to put pen to paper on this.

To adopt a practical living, one should neither believe in fate nor luck. If one believes in fate, it means that his/her destiny is fixed. So, what's the point of working hard to achieve success? No matter how hard I try, there will be some setback because I'm destined to fail. So you see where it is heading?

Furthermore, believing in luck encourages the gambling habit. Oh, I think I have some luck today, I should buy 4D today. Awww, I missed the number, I'd blame it on my bad luck. Gambling is all about playing the game of probability. It has nothing to do with luck.

You yourself determine your destiny! There is no short cut to success.
If you study hard, you will score well in exam.
A footballer who trains diligently will perform well in the field.

Donald Trump claimed that success is attributed to one's talent and brainpower. I agree to that! There is no good luck to it. You work hard, you reap the success. Simple as that.

When something unfortunate happens, think back again...was it your fate, bad luck, or bad decision?

Now wait...
Since I'm down with some respiratory disorder, should I blame it on fate, bad luck or bad decision? That's a tough question, I have to admit. Gee. :) But certainly not fate! I don't believe in luck either. Bad decision perhaps. I must have walked to the wrong place at the wrong time and somebody spread some germs to me. Or what if it is not an infection afterall and it is something worse?

Many of my kind hearted friends have prayed for me, some had persuaded me to return to religion and some had asked me to pray, which I did albeit being an atheist. Perhaps, it's time for me to embrace Catholicism once again because I know that sometimes certain events and incidences are beyond our control which may require divine intervention. Contemplating, contemplating.....

Alright, back to the philosophical discussion.
To put it in a nutshell, you yourself carve your future!

Clinic Cafe - Gurney Plaza

I have seen it all over Facebook.
I was told about it.
And I was dragged into it, literally.

Clinic Cafe, the newly opened hospital themed restaurant in Gurney Plaza in addition to another outlet which was opened earlier in Seberang Jaya.

It is a very creative concept to decorate a restaurant themed as a hospital with its waiters and waitresses dressed like doctors and nurses. Despite being an awestruck attraction in Penang, such hospital themed restaurants have already been reported in the US and Japan.

The chairs are made to look like hospital beds, drinks are served in phials and medical bottles, some food are served on kidney dishes, and there are even operating theatre lightings.

I already hate being in a hospital, and now I'm going to eat in a hospital again??

The payment counter

Big glossy menu that will make you drool.

Awww...this looks too familiar!

Tom Yam noodles with prawns. It was so spicy that it made me cried. There were two big juicy prawns in it as well. However, the tom yam doesn't taste like tom yam at all and the soup was rather bland. This is one reason why I don't blog about food because I'm like Simon Cowell when I start commenting about food.

Tomato sauce in a syringe. What a grim reminder of my blood test!

Fish and chips. Yum yum. I have to admit the fish was tender and sweetly delicious.

This is what I call - healthy drinking. Nothing but good old plain water. Another reason why I don't blog about drinks is because I will always order plain water. Healthy drinking! And I am heeding the government advice to reduce my sugar intake.

I wonder if certain quarters would start making noises over this restaurant since there are crosses all over the restaurant. I hope not.

I wonder who would like to sit on these wheelchairs?



Remember to wear a mask if you have an infection. I never leave the house without a mask!

Island Hospital

Just opposite YMCA in Macalister Road, Island Hospital is one of the many private hospitals in Penang. Why I chose to come here? It is not like I love spending my money at this hospital but I do not have much choices and there are reasons to it. It is a long story and if you want to know more, you can read The Tuberculosis Journey - Part 1 and Part 2.

I thought that I could save a lot of money by going to the General Hospital, but I figure that when something comes cheap, the end result would not be nice. With the statement 'I was rushed out as soon as I rushed in' in which blogger Kenny Sia described his experience in the Sarawak General Hospital, I strongly believe he had succinctly described it for all government hospitals in Malaysia. You can read his post at http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2010/08/finding-a-cure.php

Anyway, perhaps, I can blog a little about Island Hospital. Here are some pictures and please excuse me for any flaws for I am not a professionally trained photographer.

The reception area in Island Hospital never fails to impress any visitors. Certainly, it looks like a reception area for a fancy hotel.

The doctor's room.

The above two pictures show the waiting area outside the respective doctors' rooms. Even a private hospital is crowded. But certainly it is not as crowded as the General Hospital where you have to wait for hours before the doctor sees you.

One thing I noticed is that there are many Indonesians in this hospital. Is it true that medical fees in Malaysia is so much cheaper compared to Indonesia that they are willing to fly all the way here? Everywhere I walk around I would hear someone speaking in Bahasa Indonesia, including in the treatment room when I was about to go for the bronchoscopy.




This is the cafeteria in Island Hospital. The food is not cheap at all. It reminds me a lot of Big Bites Cafe in INTI College Penang with its exorbitant prices. Businessmen everywhere seem to be unscrupulous.




This is the waiting area for the cashier section.







There is even Four Leaves bakery in Island Hospital. I took this picture at about 4pm and everything seems to be sold out by then.




When I first registered at Island Hospital, I had to pay a RM15 registration fee. So, the yellow card above is worth RM15! I mustn't lose this card or else I have to pay RM15 again.

More you should know about TB

Oops I forget to tell you how TB is spread. TB is transmitted through the air, so, when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks to you, laughs in front of you, sings in front of you, or does whatever which contaminates the air, the bacteria will be passed on to you.

Of all the above, sneezing is the worst. When a person sneezes, he/she releases a 40,000 aerosol droplets to the air. Imagine that you are in a cinema and someone infected sneezes and did not cover his/her mouth and the bacteria flies to the air....to you.


So, please have some manners and carry a handkerchief or tissue to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze if you know that you are infected with some disease whether it's TB, bronchitis, flu, or the common cold.

Two months ago, I was sitting in my MBA class and there was this guy who is the Chief Technology Officer of an IT company. He was coughing non-stop without covering his mouth. What lousy manners he has, despite being an educated person and being a CTO. I don't know what infection he is carrying and spreading in the classroom.

Please wear a mask if you have an infection!

And yes, I should tell you about the terrifying treatment of TB. I have personally communicated with a friend who had TB some time ago and she told me that you will be injected every single day for 3 months! Uhmmm, that would be like 30 days x 3 months = 90 painful shots. Oh my! Not just any ordinary shot. An injection to the muscle!

Yes, 90 painful shots to your butt for three longgg months. In addition to that, you still have to take about 8 tablets a day for the following next three months. The treatment for TB is like a therapy. In Malaysia, the therapy lasts for 6 months. But from what I read from the Internet, the therapy treatment in the US is 9 months.

Initially I thought the injection treatment was the old treatment in the olden days but it looks like it is still being practised today. I did ask my doctor in Island Hospital about the treatment for TB. She told me it involves taking 8 tablets a day for 6 months, and no injection involves.

Probably, the treatment is different depending on the hospital that you are visiting. And the treatment comes with a side effect. Some patients reported they would feel nauseous, vomit, and diarrhoea while undergoing the treatment. It is important that you should not miss your medication, that is why, all hospitals require you to come to the hospital everyday to swallow the tablets in front of a medical officer to ensure that you do not miss your medication. If you miss it a day, you are helping the bacteria to grow stronger and to become drug resistant and you might never be cured.

I am still waiting for the lab in KL to culture my phlegm taken from last week's bronchoscopy and I do hope they find something but not the mycobacterium tuberculosis! Or not any of the family of other mycobacterium!

The basics of TB

TB is an ancient disease co-existed with humans for a long lonnggg time. TB causes 3 million deaths worldwide every single year. TB is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.

It is said that one third of the world's population is infected with TB. This is not surprising because not everyone who is infected will show the symptoms of TB.

Once you are infected, the symptoms will not come until maybe one year, two years, three years or even ten years later. 20 years later is possible though. For an infected person who do not have the symptoms, that's called latent infection.

It is estimated that 10% of those infected will turn into an active infection. Once the symptoms showed up, it means that the bacterial infection is active. In short, the infected person is now contagious and he/she can spread TB to others.

The other lucky 90% of those infected, the bacteria remains dormant in the body. It is still a latent infection and that person is not contagious, despite being infected with TB. Scientists do not know why in some people, the bacteria could turn active, while some remain dormant forever.

So that is why, scientists estimate that one third of the world's population is infected with TB!

The common symptoms of TB are:
- persistent coughing (dry or wet cough)
- Coughing with blood
- night sweats (You will be sweating profusely as if you have just showered yourself! And your clothes will be soaked with your sweat)
- low grade fever

A research conducted by the Penang General Hospital found that 90% of TB patients only had one symptom, that is only coughing. They do not have other symptoms. Also, 50% of the TB patients are smokers.

I remember reading one important advice and I would like to share it with you.
'If you are coughing for more than two weeks, think TB unless proven otherwise'

Yes, that advice is very important because TB is one of the most fatal and dangerous infection compared to other respiratory infection and you should seek medical advice if you are coughing for more than two weeks. The faster you seek medical advice, you are helping to curb the spread of this disease. You do not want to spread it to your family members and friends!

Very often, people who cough would brush it off as some common cold or flu or some mild coughing caused by pollution. Don't fall into that trap. Usually, they will only see the doctor the moment they see blood in their phlegm. By that time, it might be too late already.

I wish I can write more about TB but I'm not sure if everyone would continue reading it, haha!

Anyway I would like to talk more about the terrifying TB treatment, perhaps in the future. The treatment for TB is unlike the treatment for H1N1.

This is from what I have read from newspapers - once you are diagnosed of having H1N1, you will be admitted into a hospital, you will get an anti-viral drug and in a few days time, you are cured and you are discharged. It looks simple, isn't it. But not for TB!

If you want to know more about TB, you may google it around. There are lots of information in the Internet.

Reading medical stuff

Ever since I'm down with this dreaded lung infection, I have been delving myself into this medical book - The Merck Manual of Medical Information. I bought this medical book at RM35.90 from Popular bookstore.

It is a very interesting book, albeit it is quick thick. The thicker the better! I always like the biological topics when I was studying science from Form 1 to Form 3 but I never like the physics and chemistry topics. That's why I chose the arts stream.

There are so many diseases to read about in this book. Yet I have more than a dozen other MBA textbooks which I have yet to read.

I will be blogging about TB soon. I have been reading so much about TB trying to know as much as possible about this dreaded ancient disease. There was so much hype about H1N1 last year but nobody seems to care about this equally dangerous disease.

Or I would rather say it's worse than H1N1. Especially those of you who like to travel to exotic locations like India, Indonesia, China, Vietnam or any other South East Asian countries....you better watch out. Even Malaysia itself is a hotspot country for TB. And Penang itself has dozens of TB cases currently, according to the General Hospital. Ahh, you don't know about that, do you?

I want to shout out the danger of this disease in my next post. And I hope all of you would come tomorrow and read this post.

I always see people coughing here and there without covering their mouth and you never know what germs these people are spreading to you. Hence, I need to quench my desire by telling everyone about TB because I felt that there is not enough publicity being given about this disease which have killed so many people for the past few millenniums. Yes, millenniums! Even some of the ancient Egyptians died from this disease, according to the archaeologists.

Scientists have already successfully eradicated smallpox. Scientists almost won the war over TB before the 1980s but sadly, after the rise of HIV from the 1980s onwards, TB came back with a vengeance. In fact, I believe one day the entire human race would be wiped out by a plague and TB might be the culprit. Be afraid....

There are also recorded cases of multi-drug resistant TB especially in South East Asia and Eastern Europe and it is still spreading. Scientists are having headaches finding the cure for this multi-drug resistant TB because this bacteria is not affected by any antibiotic! It is extremely difficult to cure. It's like HIV being spread airborne! Hey I'm not kidding. Just be careful whenever you are on a plane. You never know if the person sitting next to you has the multi-drug resistant TB or not.

Please have some manners when you cough or sneeze.