ISSUE 01
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 Welcome to Pacemaker! Welcome to Pacemaker – Man-
chester Medical Society’s brand new student newspaper! Whether you’re a fresher or have already been here for what feels like an age, we hope that there’s something in here for you. MMS is full of smart and enthu-
siastic students like you who engage in hard work and play – why not give such a great group of students a voice and a space to be creative? See inside for patient perspectives, reporting on some of the biggest medical head- lines, a detailed account of life as a urologist, an events calendar (back page) and much more. Additionally, we are really looking forward to hear- ing from students of all years and welcome your contributions! This Welcome Issue of Pacemaker has been a team effort, and could not have been made to happen without a great group of people pulling togeth- er along with the support of Medsoc. Here’s to a great year!
- Olivia George, Editor
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Image by Yousef AlEbrahim Pacemaker gives students a chance
to make themselves heard - you could try and get people excited about your favourite hobby, have a little rant about something that annoys you, or talk to academics and staff for inter- view pieces!
West Africa’s Ebola Epidemic By Cressie Moxey
The 2014 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has been a predomi- nant feature of recent headlines. With more than 4,000 cases reported so far and having taken the lives of over 2,400, the Ebola epidemic of West Africa has been the deadliest on re- cord.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is making an estimate of
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE... THE ASHYA KING CASE
Five-year-old boy, Ashya King, diag- nosed with a brain tumour, disappeared from Southampton General Hospital with his parents on Tursday 28 Au- gust.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATES
Government backing furthers plans to rapidly expand the number of physician associates working within the National Health Service.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 SUMMER SWOTTIN’
LIVING WITH ANXIETY AND HYPOCHONDRIA
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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A UROLOGIST THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MEDICINE WHO IS YOUR PBL TUTOR?
AND MUCH MORE!
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20,000 cases before the end of the out- break. However, the true potential of the outbreak is unknown. The WHO suggests the outbreak can be tackled in six to nine months, but that is based on receiving the resources required to tackle the problem – something which is currently not happening. Dr Chris- topher Dye at the WHO comments that, “At the moment we’re seeing about 500 new cases each week.”
Don’t miss out on an amazing op-
portunity to share your ideas with the medical school (and, of course, get some good CV points)! - Tom Sharp, Medsoc Tech Sec
With around 2000 medical stu- dents spread across Stopford and 4
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an ini- tial announcement in March this year of an EVD outbreak in Guinea and accounts of cases in neighbouring Li- beria and Sierra Leone. In April, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report tracking back to Patient Zero of the outbreak: a two- year-old child from Gueckedou in Guinea, on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone. The toddler died on 6 December 2013 followed by moth-
base hospitals in the North West re- gion, Pacemaker will hopefully bring everybody in our large student com- munity closer; keeping everyone up- dated with the latest news and events. Get involved! - Tariq Ramtoola, Medsoc President
er, sister and grandmother all within the month. Whilst the exact reservoir of Ebola that infected Patient Zero remains unknown, fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered natural hosts.
Having caused devastation in
Guinea, the virus spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. On 8 Au- gust, experts at the WHO declared the West African Ebola epidemic to be an international health emergency. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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