A mistake that might have been my last

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7415.598

BMJ 2003;327:598 (13 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7415.598

Filler

A mistake that might have been my last

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the years 1943, 1944, and 1945 there occurred late springsub-epidemics of bubonic plague in the city of Chuanchow, inFujian province in south China. Hospital admissions were between88 and 69 each year.

I was called to see a patient in the emergency room of the hospital.She was a young woman, semi-comatose with a high fever and atender swelling in the left inguinal region. The usual practicewas to aspirate a speck of fluid from the bubo to confirm thepresence of bipolar staining bacilli of plague.

Unwisely, I did not wait for nursing assistance, but insteadsteadied the lymph node between two fingers and pushed in theaspirating needle. The patient jumped, and the tip of the needleemerged and grazed one of my fingers. The epithelium was broken,but there were no bleeding points.

I consulted a colleague with expertise in tropical medicine.He . . . [Full text of this article]

David Landsborough, retired medical missionary