Hooked On ID with Rutul Dalal, MBBS, MD, FACP, FIDSA

August 21, 2023

2 min read

Why am I hooked on ID? It's a great question! It might sound clichéd, but my love for this specialty grew as I turned 10.

My mom, who is now a retired microbiologist, gave me a microscope on my 10th birthday. Growing up as a kid in India, I often hung around in her lab and played around with microscopes, and I was enthralled looking at various bacteria and other microscopic things. I wondered how these small, microscopic creatures wreak havoc with the human body, often leading to severe illnesses. My mom said back then that these microscopic creatures have been there for millions of years, way before humans, and would be there long after humanity is gone, too.

Fast forward many years later. The real event that piqued my interest was in medical school in India. I was doing my general medicine rotation, and a 12-year-old boy was brought in comatose by his parents. He was bleeding from all his orifices, and I saw the medical team intubate and try to resuscitate the boy. I was part of that medical team, and after a couple of hours, unfortunately, the boy passed. The investigative lab reports showed heavy parasitemia due to Plasmodium vivax — the causative parasite for malaria. I still can feel the angst suffered by the parents on that day. If they had brought the boy a few days earlier, we could have possibly saved him. The boy's parents were just giving him over-the-counter medicines for his cyclical fevers. After that episode, I decided I would pursue a specialty that can truly make a difference to the population at large.

Moving on to residency, I discovered that the only subspecialty that touches almost all organ systems and interacts with all other subspecialties is ID. You deal with the entire body compared with other subspecialties such as cardiology or gastroenterology. The other thing that enamors me about this specialty is that you can watch the patient who was brought in acutely sick — sometimes almost dying due to an infection — walk on two feet upon discharge. That gives me immense satisfaction.

As long as we humans are on this planet and long after we are gone, so will be these microorganisms, and there will be continuous interaction between these entities and the battle will continue. I and my other fellow ID colleagues across the globe look forward to these interactions and intervene when our help is summoned.

The other thing I would like to add is that the decisions we make about an individual patient affect the whole community at large — such as drug resistance and infection control. This is very unique to ID. In short, ID is a complete and inclusive specialty.

What's your story?

— Rutul Dalal, MBBS, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Infectious diseases physician
Medical director of infectious diseases
Penn State Health
Eastern Pennsylvania Region