Where all your ID needs are met! Sort of.
Infective endocarditis is a rare enough disease in and of itself that many folks won’t see much of in their lifetimes, though the rise in IV drug abuse means this may not be the case in the future. Staphylococcus aureus and streptococci, as well as enterococci, tend to be the most common organisms associated with
Hyperammonemia is the accumulation of ammonia within the blood that leads to cerebral edema, herniation, and death in patients with inborn errors of metabolism and hepatic failure. These are the types of patients where we would commonly see such accumulation of ammonia. In absence of liver failure, inborn errors of metabolism, urea cycle disorders, or
When I say bat poop, caves, and Indiana, the answer is Histoplasmosis. In general, most people will not get disease even when inhaling any conidia, however those who have decreased cellular immunity (i.e. solid organ transplant and HIV) are at risk of pulmonary or disseminated disease. One of the difficult issues in those patients is
Unlike some of my previous recent posts (read: Leishmania, Hantavirus), I think this one is of value. The reason being this bug is not thought of (outside of medical school, when it is learned with Nocardia). Most of the time, this infection is diagnosed by the pathologist, after a surgery to remove what is thought
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
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
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
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
This is a difficult post to go over since there is so much data to comb through that will likely change as the years go by (as with any topic I write about, but more so about therapy for influenza). Stay tuned as the flu season comes upon us, as this post may be updated
Beta-Lactamases make my head hurt. They are so many of them and they impact the therapeutic options for a lot of the infections that we treat. Due to this resistance mechanism, there has been an influx of new beta-lactam/beta-lactamase combinations (ceftazidime-avibactam, meropenem-vaborbactam, etc) to overcome this phenomena. So first, this is a beta-lactam: The penicillin-binding
Dr. Germophile 