Diuretics have a long and distinguished history in the treatment of hypertension and heart failure. Clinical practice guidelines recommend that diuretics should be considered to be as suitable as other antihypertensive agents for the initiation and maintenance of antihypertensive treatment. However, diuretics may potentially cause electrolyte disturbances and metabolic side effects. Diuretic-induced hyponatremia is probably more prevalent than generally acknowledged. We present an unusual case of indapamide-induced hyponatremia and hypokalemia complicated by cardiac arrhythmia. The adverse drug reaction was reversible and non-life-threatening, but this case serves as a reminder that careful evaluation and constant monitoring are necessary when prescribing diuretics.

INTRODUCTION: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 is associated with a high mortality rate, though outcomes of the different lung compliance phenotypes are unclear. We aimed to measure lung compliance and examine other factors associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients with ARDS. METHODS: Adult patients with COVID-19 ARDS who required invasive mechanical ventilation at 8 hospitals in Singapore were prospectively enrolled. Factors associated with both mortality and differences between high (<40mL/cm H RESULTS: A total of 102 patients with COVID-19 who required invasive mechanical ventilation were analysed; 15 (14.7%) did not survive. Non-survivors were older (median 70 years, interquartile range [IQR] 67-75 versus median 61 years, IQR 52-66; CONCLUSION COVID-19 ARDS patients with higher compliance on the day of intubation and a longitudinal decrease over time had a higher risk of death.
COVID-19 ; Humans ; Lung Compliance ; Phenotype ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome/therapy* ; SARS-CoV-2

Dengue fever is one of the commonest tropical disease in the tropics. It can present with mild acute febrile illness to severe organ failure. Reported neurological complications of dengue include dengue encephalopathy, encephalitis, transverse myelitis and intracranial haemorrhage. Intracranial haemorrhage in dengue can present as subdural haematoma, extradural haematoma, intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage. We report here a case of subarachnoid haemorrhage in a patient with severe dengue. Our patient was a 30-year-old man who presented with acute febrile illness. He subsequently developed plasma leakage and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. He then had reduced conscious level. Computed tomography of his brain showed subarachnoid haemorrhage. He eventually succumbed to his illness.