Skip to main content

How to get into internship/residency in Australia? Tips and tricks for Malaysians' doctors! Part 2 of 2

Picture 1: Evening running after work Thank you for the overwhelming support in the first part of my article. So the question now is that? How can you apply for work in Aussie as a doctor? What are some of the tips and tricks to tackle this? In order to arrive to this step, you must first be qualified to apply for a job as a doctor in Australia. This means that you need to be eligible to be registered with AHPRA. Please refer to the flowchart in my first article to learn more about this ( click here ). Once you are eligible to apply for a job, next you need to know these: Each of the states in Australia would have their own recruitment campaign that will usually be made known online between May to July each year. You would need to create an individual account for each of the health system, e.g. Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, etc in order to lodge your application with their state department of health. At this point of time, you must know which hospital in that state that you...
Post a Comment

I was boosted, why am I reinfected with COVID again?

Back in July 2021, many including myself were under the impression that the COVID pandemic would see no end to it soon. Daily cases were ranging between 18,000 to 20,000 cases per day. Preventive measures were much tighter too back then; 14 days of mandatory quarantine was enforced for all COVID positive cases, and 10 days for those who were exposed and symptomatic. 

Don't let covid robs it all. I found myself while being in quarantine.

My first COVID experience

In my case, I was exposed to a fellow colleague at the ward pantry. I had to be in quarantine for 10 days. We had to do 3 swabs in total back then at the interval of day 3, day 7 and day 9 of exposure. My first two swabs were negative and only the third was positive. So I had to be quarantined for a further 14 days which totalled up my quarantine for a grand total of 24 days. 

Symptoms wise, I had mild fever and diarrhoea only at the time. It was however not too bad. I was generally pretty much feeling normal back then. Nothing disconcerting apart from boredom of being confined at my studio for 24 days. It was like living in a golden prison. My latest vaccination was with Sinovac, 2nd dose in June 2021 at the time (was not eligible for Pfizer due to history of severe allergy). 

I was grateful that I had good family, friends and colleagues who have given good support throughout my quarantine period. My family would help with the groceries and food supplies. My friends would check in on me and keep me accompanied throughout with video calls. Those are helping with my mental health.

Reinfection

Fast forward to today, this is my second reinfection with COVID. This time there was a major outbreak of COVID positive cases in my ward. Two of our staffs along with four patients were found to be positive. I had close contact with all of them since I was the only junior doctor working for the ward most of the time throughout the week. Inevitably, I would be in close contact and at higher risk due to all the procedures and examination which I need to perform daily for them. 

Roughly about 5 days after I was in contact with them, symptoms started to appear. First it was lethargy and headache. I took paracetamol and then it got worse with sore throat and fever. Knowing something is off, then I did the COVID test myself at home with the test kit. True enough it turned out to be COVID positive. 4 other friends of mine at work were also having the same symptoms and turned out positive.

So what's different this time? More symptoms and they are so much worse. The headache was barely relieved by paracetamol. Was shivering in cold for the first two days. Chesty cough is worsening by the days although I have no shortness of breath or desaturation in oxygen in level. What's more annoying is the nasal congestion and the constant lethargy that comes with it. Sleep was disrupted too because of it.

Mind you that I am now boosted with Pfizer on January 2021 after my last two Sinovac vaccine. Thanks god now that it's the fifth day of illness and my symptoms are improving although chesty cough is still there.

What's the science behind it?

  1. Reinfection is defined as getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 after 90 days of the previous infection [1]
  2. Fully vaccinated individuals and those previously infected with COVID each have a low risk of subsequent infection for at least 6 months [2]
  3. Data are presently insufficient to determine an antibody titer threshold that indicates when an individual is protected from infection [2]
  4. Protection however wanes after 3 to 5 months post vaccination, 88% to 67% for two doses of Pfizer vs 76% to 29% for two doses of Sinovac [3]
  5. Booster vaccine increases effectiveness of primary vaccines across all type of COVID vaccines as shown in the infographic below [4]

Infographic from the Ministry of Health Malaysia

Conclusion

While the number of positive cases are staggering, most of the cases are in Category 1 and 2. Fully vaccinated individuals with no co-morbidities are less likely to develop severe symptoms. COVID vaccine does not prevent infection, but it reduces the severity of the disease and mortality as a results of the disease. The truth is that, it is inevitable that many would eventually be infected and reinfected with the virus. But what is more important is that we must protect ourselves with COVID vaccine while observing new norms such as masking and social distancing although we are transitioning to the endemic stage.  

References

  1. United Kingdom Health Security Agency, 2021. Available on https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/02/04/changing-the-covid-19-case-definition/
  2. CDC, 2021. Science Brief: SARS-CoV-2 Infection-induced and Vaccine-induced Immunity. Available on https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/vaccine-induced-immunity.html
  3. Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2021. RECoVAM Study. Available on https://covid-19.moh.gov.my/semasa-kkm/2021/12/covid-19-booster-shots-recommended-to-restore-vaccine-effectiveness
  4. European Medical Agency, 2021. Heterologous booster COVID-19 vaccination. Available on https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/heterologous-primary-booster-covid-19-vaccination-evidence-based-regulatory-considerations_en.pdf
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to get into internship/residency in Australia? Tips and tricks for Malaysians' doctors! Part 1 of 2

Picture: My Queensland Health staff card The question that I often get asked is that: is it hard to get a job in Australia as a doctor? The answer is NO. It is not hard to land a job here in Australia as a qualified doctor. Let me explain it in detail in this write up.  Before that, some background info about myself, I am a class of 2020 graduate of Monash University with MBBS (Hons) and published first authorship paper. I did my house officer training in Malaysia with Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HUKM) before I decided to join Queensland Health for training in emergency medicine.  First and foremost, one need to understand that there are two important bodies for doctors in Australia: Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) : For registration and regulation of doctors and other healthcare professionals in Australia. Basically, you need to get AHPRA registration number in order to practice as a doctor in Australia.  Australian Medical Council (AMC) : F...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to get into internship/residency in Australia? Tips and tricks for Malaysians' doctors! Part 2 of 2

Picture 1: Evening running after work Thank you for the overwhelming support in the first part of my article. So the question now is that? How can you apply for work in Aussie as a doctor? What are some of the tips and tricks to tackle this? In order to arrive to this step, you must first be qualified to apply for a job as a doctor in Australia. This means that you need to be eligible to be registered with AHPRA. Please refer to the flowchart in my first article to learn more about this ( click here ). Once you are eligible to apply for a job, next you need to know these: Each of the states in Australia would have their own recruitment campaign that will usually be made known online between May to July each year. You would need to create an individual account for each of the health system, e.g. Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, etc in order to lodge your application with their state department of health. At this point of time, you must know which hospital in that state that you...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 3 of COVID Quarantine

It was just about a week ago when there was a COVID outbreak in my ward. All four patients who were under my care were tested COVID positive by PCR. At the time, COVID swab was done for every patient in the ward because one of our staff nurse was diagnosed as COVID positive. All of us were swab the day after and thankfully we were all negative. I was well until the 6th day of exposure. It was my off day, so I woke up rather late at 7am. It was not a pleasant morning to begin with. I had this nasal congestion with chesty cough and cold even with the aircond blasting at 24 degree celsius. My housemate is exhibiting similar symptoms too. So we then decided to do COVID test for ourselves and true enough, we were both positive that day. So how's life in quarantine so far? Pretty chill if I must say. The past few weeks in medical been really crazy. I was the only person who is responsible for the life of 180 patients across 6 wards during my oncall, and the only doctor working for the we...
Post a Comment
Read more