It was 3 years ago when I first encountered a patient with miliary tuberculosis in San Lazaro. And at 54, he was emaciated and almost dying when I met him. Dying with no one, not even a relative to be with.

I never got his name.

Three years later, I saw again another patient but this time he was or should I say is 18. True to its course, tuberculosis afflicts third world country like a plague from all age group.

So there I was, sitting across a crowded Emergency Room when lo and behold, like a beautiful rose, I saw tuberculosis again in the flesh. Something I will never forget.

And so goes the paranoia and the fear. Also something I will never forget. Just like the Meningo scare and all those dreaded infectious diseases. And it was only much much later after wearing two masks and bathing myself with alcohol that I realized I was talking to a person. A real live human being with wants, needs and dreams.

Lucky for this 18 year old guy though I told him, he had a family who can take good care of him. A family who is willing to shoulder the 6 month intensive treatment.

So I write again this ode for the generations after me so that you will never forget the lessons of pathology, microbiology and pharmacology. Be safe. Be paranoid. Be extra careful.

And finally the last most important lesson of all - be kind.

So I took the xray, referred the patient for a sputum exam and started treatment hoping that I would have done justice to that man in San Lazaro.

It is funny though that I never got the name of the person who taught me the most valuable lesson of all.