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General practitioner's section
 
Avoid Antacids in Fever Patients
O P Kapoor
 

Most patients with fever may complain of slight indigestion, nausea or gas. However, do not prescribe antacids to them.
Antacids interfere with the action of chloroquine which is often given for malaria. Antacids also interfere with the action of ciprofloxacin, which is the modern treatment for patients with enteric fever.

Therefore, the best policy is not only to avoid prescribing antacids, but also to make sure that the patients do not take any Gelusil or Digene tablets, (which many patients keep at home) along with the medicines prescribed by you for fever.
 

SCREENING FOR HERPES SIMPLEX MAY NOT BE ETHICAL

Apart from the infection being mostly asymptomatic and the lack of a cure, universal screening would be inappropriate because adequate information for exercising the right of autonomy would not be met, testing would not benefit babies, and equity might be jeopardised if all patients did not have access to specialists in venereology, say the authors.

BMJ, 2004; 329 : 618.

MAOBIs CAN BENEFIT PATIENTS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors (MAOBIs), such as selegiline, may be beneficial in patients with early Parkinson's disease. They were also less likely to need additional levodopa or to develop motor fluctuations, and they were not more likely to die or experience side effects.

BMJ, 2004; 329 : 593.