I absolutely love this song. I tried to learn how to play it on guitar, but I think you may need 7 strings for it, at least when I checked back in the day. This week we are adding to last week’s topic and talking about when and what type of echo to get. There
Category: bacteremia
At any rate, at approximately one-quarter to twelve that night, I remember distinctly getting up from my chair and from the table, where my books lay, and taking off my suit coat. No sooner had I removed the left arm of my coat, than there was on the ventral aspect of my left wrist a
There are multiple associations in medicine where the mere mention of a location, occupation, or risk factor elicits a response with regards to the disease. In infectious disease, there are multiple such as “spelunking” being associated with histoplasmosis, IV drug abuser associated with MRSA endocarditis, or cows placentas being associated with Q fever. When it
Blood cultures are typically drawn in patients who present with sepsis due to concern for infection. While the trigger response to “fevers and leukocytosis” is to obtain blood cultures, the positive rate that has been quoted ranges from 4-7% (1), depending on the source. Indeed, blood culture contamination is a frequent problem that is encountered
Coagulase negative staphylococcus are generally skin commensals we tend to ignore when they pop up in one set of blood cultures as they tend to represent contamination of the blood culture bottles rather than true bacteremia. The most commonly seen is Staphylococcus epidermidis. The reason they are called “coagulase negative staphylococcus” is these organisms, compared
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
If you get nothing from this, just remember: TMP-SMX, fluroquinolones, minocycline. These tend to be good antibiotic options for this bug. Also, make sure if you isolate this from a trach or a endotracheal tube that there are signs of infection before you proceed with treatment as this can colonize plastic! Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a
Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is a cause of severe morbidity and mortality, especially when it is complicated by infective endocarditis. The mortality of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is 20% (1) and that of infective endocarditis due to Staph aureus is much higher. Guidelines for the treatment of MRSA SAB (2) recommends the use of echocardiography, with TEE
Enterococcal infections and bacteremia incidence have been increasing over the past decades, with enterococcal endocarditis representing 10% of all cases of infective endocarditis (1). This makes it the third most common organism implicated in IE, after Staphylococcus and streptococcus, and it is more prevalent in patients who are not drug abusers. Enterococcal bacteremia by itself
Blood cultures are the gold standard for evaluating patients with suspected bacteremia. They are an indispensable tool in evaluating diseases such as infective endocarditis, septic shock, meningitis, and pneumonia. By far, it is relatively simple to interpret the results (its either positive or negative) though whether it represents a clinically relevant entity or contamination is
Dr. Germophile 