Note:
(a) The website of New York Times (www.nytimes.com) does not have the English version of the essay, indicating the Chinese essay is original. In other words, the American writes in Chinese--or at least asks someone else to translate it before submitting for publication. (I note his own web site displays essays in Chinese. See next.)
(b) About. MyHealth Beijing, undated www.myhealthbeijing.com/about/
("I am a US board certified family medicine doctor working in Beijing since 2006. I currently see patients at Beijing United Family Hospital. * * * [Before 2006 I was in] San Francisco, where I received my ABFP diploma in family medicine from UCSF Santa Rosa. I received my MD at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and my bachelors degree in English literature from Columbia University. * * * I have a Postbaccalaureate Diploma in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine")
(i) ABFP = American Board of Family Medicine
(ii) Santa Rosa, California
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa,_California
(section 12 Education: "University of San Francisco (USF) - Santa Rosa")
(A) However, Dr Saint Cyr can not possibly come from University of San Francisco
(1855- ; private: a Jesuit Catholic university)
, simply because USF has "School of Nursing and Health Professions"--bit not school of medicine.
(B) Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency www.srfmr.org
("The Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency, a UCSF affiliate, is situated 50 miles north of San Francisco * * * [in] Sonoma County")
An affiliate does not belong to UCSF, just as Massachusetts General Hospital, an independent hospital with its legal identity, is an affiliate to (yet not part of) Harvard Medical School.
(C) University of California San Francisco www.ucsf.edu
Click "Patient Care" tab in the top horizontal bar for locations: besides main campus, there are "Northern California Specialty Clinics" which includes "Endocrinology and Diabetes at Santa Rosa."
But that (requiring certifications by different boards) is not where Dr Saint Cyr came from.
(iii) Santa Rosa Creek
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa_Creek
(22 miles long)
Quote: “in the year 1828, Padre Juan Amorós, a Franciscan from Mission San Raphael, baptized a [Native American tribe] Pomo maiden on the feast day of Saint Rose of Lima [qv]; he named the woman ‘Rosa’ and the location ‘Santa Rosa,’ establishing there a mission outpost (una asistencia). The ‘asistencia de Santa Rosa’ became the center of the colonial settlement that would eventually become the town of Santa Rosa
(iv) Spanish English dictionary
* rosa (noun feminine; Latin rosa): “rose”
* asistencia (noun feminine): "assistance"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/asistencia
作者: choi 时间: 6-13-2015 10:53
(c) The French surname Cyr: “Latin personal name Quiricus or Cyricus, Greek Kyrikos or Kyriakos, ultimately from Greek kyrios ‘lord,’ ‘master.’ This name was borne by a 4th-century martyr, a small child martyred with his mother St Julitta in 304 AD”
Actually in France, the surname is “Saint Cyr.” There are tens of communities in France whose name is “Saint-Cyr,” and the surname arose when inhabitants adopted the place name (as happened frequently in various cultures/ nations).
(d) atypical pneumonia, information from CDC (US Center for Disease Control and Prevention):
(i) "A common cause of bacterial pneumonia is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Other bacteria can cause pneumonia, including Mycoplasma pneumoniae [the usual suspect], Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae, Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) psittaci, and Legionella pneumophila. These bacteria are referred to as 'atypical' because pneumonia caused by these organisms might have slightly different symptoms, appear different on Xray, and respond to different antibiotics than the typical bacteria that cause pneumonia."
(ii) "Outbreaks of M pneumoniae occur mostly in crowded environments, like schools, college dormitories, military barracks, and nursing homes, where transmission is possible through airborne droplets from close person-to-person contact."
(iii) Mycoplasma Pneumoniae (name of a bacterium, the singular form of "bacteria"), which CDC prepares for doctors (as opposed to general public).
(A) Disease specifics: "M pneumoniae was first isolated from the sputum of a patient with primary 'atypical' pneumonia in 1944. The bacterium was considered to be a virus until it was observed that antibiotics[, which is useless against any virus] could be effective against it. * * * The cell volume of M pneumoniae is less than 5% of the cell volume of a typical bacillus, allowing it to pass through filters that are commonly used to remove bacteria. This small cellular mass also means that it cannot be detected by light microscopy and it does not produce visible turbidity in liquid growth media. Specialized media are used to grow M pneumoniae that allows for a visual confirmation of a positive culture. M. pneumoniae lacks a rigid cell wall, allowing it to alter its size and shape to suit its surrounding conditions. It is also intrinsically resistant to antimicrobials, like beta-lactams, that work by targeting the cell wall. Due to its lack of a cell wall, M. pneumoniae is extremely susceptible to desiccation; therefore, transmission of infection from person-to-person by airborne droplets only occurs through close contact. * * * is exclusively a human pathogen [and not infecting other animals] * * * primarily an extracellular pathogen * * * primarily lives on the surface of the respiratory epithelial cells" www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/atypical/m ... ease-specifics.html
(B) Diagnostic Methods: "culture, serology, or molecular methods: disadvantage for culture: time consuming, high potential for false negatives [because this bacterium is hard and slow to grow]; disadvantage for serology [which detects antibody]: Lacks specificity [because other diseases may bring up similar antibodies]; disadvantage for molecular methodology: expensive) www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/atypical/m ... nostic-methods.html
(C) Antibiotic Treatment & Resistance: "although the disease is usually self-limiting [meaning healing without treatment at all]. The disease [still] is treated with macrolide, tetracycline 四環素, or fluoroquinolone classes of antibiotics www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/atypical/m ... ent-resistance.html
(e) Dr Saint Cyr does not say how the diagnosis of atypical pneumonia was reached, so I remain skeptical about correctness of diagnosis. A pneumonia caused by M pneumoniae is mild, atypical in symptoms--so physicians think about it very late in the disease stage (when patients are recovering on their own), and usually are not willing to go through the troubles (money, lab expertise etc) to make the diagnosis.