British Surgery of Corfu

06/08/2025

🇬🇷🇺🇸 Award winning actor and Greek citizen Tom Hanks and Greek American wife Rita Wilson in Story: greekgateway.com/news/tom-hanks-and-rita-wilsons-greek-orthodox-faith/

22/07/2025

COMMON HOLIDAY AILMENTS
CYSTITIS or “Honeymooner’s Disease”

This is another common holiday ailment that , if left untreated, can ruin a holiday
The commonest urinary tract infection is cystitis or infection of the bladder. The lay term “honeymooner’s disease” derives from the fact that often occurs after sexual activity.
Sexual activity may increase while one is on holiday for obvious reasons . The increased sexual activity can lead to bacteria being introduced into the urethra and then travel up to the bladder causing an infection.
Another reason that contributes to a higher incidence of cystitis during a holiday is increased moisture of the ge***al area due to excessive sweating for a number of reasons ( environmental temperature, increased physical activity etc) and also increased moisture of the area due to swimming
The incidence of cystitis is a lot higher on women compared to men (the ratio is 10/1) for several reasons the main one being the shorter distance of the female urethra to the bladder compared to men.
What are the main symptoms of cystitis?
The commonest symptoms are:
1) Pain or burning sensation when one passes urine
2) Increased frequency to pass urine
3) An “urgency” to pass urine
4) Occasionally blood in the urine
5) Female patients will say that they have a feeling of not completely emptying their bladder after they have just been to the toilet
6) Cloudy or a strong smelling urine
7) Sometimes low abdominal or pelvic pain

What is the treatment of cystitis?
When you are on holidays it is probably advisable to take antibiotics , as this mode of action will make it more likely to get rid of your symptoms sooner rather than later
Your doctor is likely to test a urine sample before he starts the antibiotic treatment and send the sample to the lab for what we call “culture and sensitivity” ( try to identify the responsible germ and what antibiotic it is sensitive to)
What antibiotic is suitable depends on a number of factors .
One of these factors is the lab result. But as this will take a few days to come back , the doctor might have to start treating you to ease your symptoms and discomfort before the result becomes available.
Another factor of determining the right antibiotic is where you are when the infection started .
Let me explain this in more detail: In UK the vast majority of UTIs is treated with two antibiotics: Trimethoprim 200mg and Nitrofurantoin.
Any of these two antibiotics will get rid of more than 90% of the infection for patients with cystitis in UK
In Greece trimethoprim is obsolete due to bacterial resistance and nitrofurantoin has a lot less of a success rate compared to UK. Therefore the antibiotic choice in Greece is likely to be different than in UK.
Other remedial measures that might improve your symptoms is drinking plenty of clear fluids , cranberry capsules or juice etc
One should not forget to complete the course prescribed by her/his doctor

Dr.John Yannopapas, M.B.Ch.B
General Practitioner
British Surgery Corfu
tel: (+30) 2661097811
Email: Yannopapas@yahoo.com

19/07/2025

COMMON HOLIDAY AILMENTS
EAR INFECTION
Ear infection is by far the commonest holiday complain. During the month of August almost 40% of patients who consult me suffer from one
Generally speaking there are 3 types of ear infections:
a) Otitis Externa ( infection of the outer ear –the external auditory canal)
b) Otitis Media (infection of the middle ear)
And
c) Otitis Interna ( inner ear infection)
When you are on holidays the one you are more likely to experience is the Otitis Externa , which is described quite accurately in lay terminology as “swimmer’s ear”
It can be considerably painful and distressing (especially for children) and if left untreated it can ruin a holiday
On the bright side though, it is highly unlikely to cause permanent ear damage or serious harm when one compares it with the other two types of otitis ( media and interna)
The external auditory canal is a dark area, it is not exposed to direct light. When you are on holidays in a warm country it is not uncommon for the environmental temperature to reach 35 degrees Celcius or more
When you spend time in the water then you add the moisture factor
You may swim for ten minutes . Then you come out of the water and with strong sunlight and environmental temperature 35 degrees , your body will dry in a few minutes
Your ear canal however will remain dark, moist and warm and that is a perfect environment for the bacteria to grow and cause “swimmer’s ear”
Treatment of the swimmer’s ear in a hot country requires more than ear drops . Oral antibiotics are often needed as well as anti-inflammatories to settle the inflammation and pain killers to deal with the pain
Treatment in northern countries often requires only ear drops as the all important factor of high environmental temperature is usually missing
For the same reason (lower environment temperature) we very rarely see “swimmers’ ears” in May and October , as the environmental temperature is a lot lower compared to July and August.
Over the years we acquired huge experience dealing with this type of ear infection, as without exaggeration we have dealt with thousands of cases over the last thirty years
The vast majority of them (more than 95%) will have to fly back to their own country within days ( anything from a day to 1 week)
Therefore one has to choose the correct cocktail of antibiotic, ear drops, anti-inflammatories and pain killers to secure that the ear canal will be open ( sometimes in severe cases of otitis externa the ear canal swells badly and “closes” –one side of the canal wall is in contact with the opposite side)
Over the course of these thirty years we have been exchanging emails with patients who flew back to their home country and managed to acquire useful and unique experience through their feedback. This has helped us calibrate further our management .
At present we get more than 99% of our patients to fly safely back home and more importantly do so pain free

Dr.John Yannopapas
email:yannopapas@yahoo.com
tel :(+30) 26610 97811

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCDKxmux2w
Simply Amazing. I think a new Super Power is going to lead the World and is called China

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