Although influenza is a highly contagious acute respiratory illness of global importance, little is known about the disease in tropical countries. An influenza survey was conducted in three sentinel sites in Yangon, Myanmar from September 2003 to December 2004. Throat or nasal swabs were collected from 616 patients with influenza-like symptoms and tested using rapid diagnostic test kits and virus isolation. Influenza B virus was detected in 6 patients from September to October, 2003. Influenza A viruses were detected in 133 patients from June to September, 2004, and the 51 influenza A viruses isolated from 72 specimens were all A⁄H3N2. Influenza virus infections occurred mainly in the rainy season in Yangon, Myanmar, but continuous ongoing influenza surveillance is needed.

Standardizing Kampo medical findings is a significant challenge in Kampo medical circles. These findings are fundamental to Kampo diagnosis. This paper introduces our attempt to standardize these findings in a specialized Kampo medical service facility.
We started our project with verbal standardization. Nine medical doctors, all of whom were Kampo advisors or Kampo specialists, discussed issues such as subjective and objective findings, including those of the tongue, pulse, and abdomen, as well as the selection of target items, criteria for judgments on each item, and associated issues. When discussing the above issues, descriptions in prominent traditional Kampo texts were given most importance, and the wisdom of famous Kampo doctors since the Showa period was also given weight. In addition, we focused attention on clarifying the criteria for making judgments.
One hundred and twenty items were selected as subjective Kampo findings. We selected 12, 6 and 10 items as objective Kampo findings in the tongue, pulse, and abdomen, respectively, and provided criteria for judgments with each.
Our next challenge is to spread these standardizations in Kampo medical circles.

Introduction: During their clinical clerkship (CC), Japanese medical students’ literature searching skills were ambiguous. We conducted a questionnaire survey on students’ search processes to determine whether this skill improved after a lecture on conducting searches.　Method: This study was conducted from May to December 2019. The questionnaire survey was followed by a 90-minute lecture combining information and relevant activities. The questionnaire included students’ self-evaluation of their literature searching abilities, and references from their medical summaries and reports were compared to those of students from a 2018 group who did not attend the lecture.　Results: Sixty-seven students participated in the questionnaire survey and lecture. Questionnaire results demonstrated that the most frequently used search tool was PubMed. Regularly used types of literature were Japanese textbooks medical guidelines issued by the Japanese Medical Society, and English-language medical journal articles. The two major difficulties in conducting searches were the inability to critically appraise the literature and inadequate English reading skills.　The students’ satisfaction level regarding the lecture was found to be acceptable. After attending the lecture, students’ self-evaluation of their literature searching abilities improved significantly. Furthermore, compared to the 2018 group, references in students’ summaries and reports increased. Additionally, the number of English-language medical journal articles cited in reports was higher among students in the 2019 group than the 2018 group.　Conclusions: Although CC students can conduct literature searches, they struggle with critical appraisal and English-language comprehension. Interventions such as lectures may effectively improve their searching skills during CC.