Where all your ID needs are met! Sort of.
Depending on where you practice, I think it is safe to assume there is a “nickname” for the combination of vancomycin/piperacillin-tazobactam (VAN/PTZ). “Guerilla-cillin,” “Parkla-mycin” or just “the big guns” this is a very common combination that is thrown up front for sepsis or health-care acquired infections (the debate of whether this is an appropriate approach
Stop me if I have mentioned this before, but HIV therapy is actually quite simple these days. No longer do patients have to take a “cocktail” of medications (whatever that means, I typically think of the alcoholic cocktail) with regimens being streamlined into one simple pill: Atripla, Odefsy, Genvoya/Stribild, Triumeq, and the (relatively) new kid
A 72yo male with history of hypertension, kidney stones, and recent diagnosis of acute prostatitis presents with malaise and myalgias. According to the patient, he has been feeling unwell for the past month. He had a recent outpatient visit for dysuria, the UA was positive for leukocyte esterase. A DRE revealed acute prostatitis and he
I have to admit, this is not a very sexy topic to write about. Indeed, next to diabetic foot infections, these tend to, shall we put it, do not arouse my interest. Nevertheless as the population ages, more and more people will end up with a knee or hip replacement and you are more likely
Cell-free DNA (also known as circulating-free DNA) was discovered in human blood in 1948 (1), and it generally comprises fragments of nucleic acids that circulate in the blood without any cells attached to it (in other words, just DNA out in the wild). This did not catch on as a diagnostic modality until 1997, when
Morgan DJ, Zhan M, Goto M, Franciscus C, Alexander B, Vaughan-Sarrazin M, Roghmann MC, Pineles L. The Effectiveness of Contact Precautions on Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Long-term Care Across the United States. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Oct 23;71(7):1676-1683. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz1045. PMID: 31637429. This was a cohort study of long-term VA facilities (aka the CLC) evaluating
The antibody of childhood is largely a response to the dominant antigen of the virus causing the first Type A influenza infection of the lifetime. As the group grows older and subsequent infections take place, antibodies to additional families of virus are acquired. But the striking feature is…the antibody-forming mechanisms have been highly conditioned by
Vibrio Vulnificus is one of those board questions that pops up occasionally. The stem usually goes along the liens of “a cirrhotic eats raw oysters/goes to the beach and has a severe skin and soft tissue infection.” This is usually followed by a question about the etiology. There have been some news stories regarding this
Hantaviruses are a thing. I am sure the vast majority of those who come across this post will not know or even see a case of hantavirus (as far as I am concerned, though keep reading). Basics Bunyaviridae is part of a larger family of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers (those other viruses include the
Dr. Germophile 