Infectious Disease Alert articles from December 2004

Infectious Disease Alert archives from December 2004

Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia must be considered in patients with asthma-like symptoms and significant eosinophilia, who have resided in areas endemic for lymphatic filariasis. Source: Boggild AK, et al. Tropical Pulmonary...

S. aureus, erythrocyte hemolysins, and heme iron--a nice little package.(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: S. aureus preferentially utilizes iron of heme origin, whose availability is the consequence of erythrocyte hemolysins produced by the organism. Source: Skaar EP, et al. Iron-Source Preference of Staphylococcus aureus Infections....

Prepare your hospital for a very unusual flu season: vaccine shortages may wreak havoc with hospital EDs, absenteeism.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... WITH THE UNPRECEDENTED SHORTAGE OF influenza vaccine this flu season, hospitals are scrambling to prepare for what may be a record number of flu patients presenting to their already overcrowded emergency departments (EDs), and for staff...

Treatment of invasive aspergillosis: to combine or not to combine?(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: A retrospective review found evidence indicating improved survival when voriconazole was used in combination with caspofungin than when voriconazole was used alone in the treatment of patients with invasive aspergillos failing therapy...

Corticosteroids in tuberculous meningitis.(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: Adjunctive dexamethasone therapy of adolescents and adults with tuberculous meningitis was associated with improved survival, but not with reduced severe disability among those who did survive. Source: Thwaites GE, et al....

Chemotherapy-induced hepatitis B reactivation--a preventable complication.(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: Chronic carriers of hepatitis B receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy have about a 30-50% risk of reactivation of their HBV infection, which is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Source: Idilman R, et al. J...

Does tuberculosis increase HIV load?(Abstract & Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: Poor prognosis for HIV-infected individuals after TB may be due to preexisting high HIV load, rather than to the TB event itself. Source: Day JH, et al. Does Tuberculosis Increase HIV Load? J Infect Dis. 2004;190:1677-1684. ...

Increase in the reservoir of community-acquired MRSA, with implications for hospital-acquired infection.(Abstract & Commentary)(Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
December 1, 2004... Synopsis: Over a 7-year period, there was a dramatic increase in the isolation of community-acquired MRSA in the San Francisco area. Molecular typing showed movement of community-acquired strains into hospitals. Source: Carleton HA. et al....

CME questions.
December 1, 2004... 22. Which of the following is correct? a. Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia is caused by the agent of loa loa. b. The diagnosis of tropical pulmonary eosinophilia requires the detection of microfilariae in peripheral blood smears. ...

Flu shortage--who cares?(Updates)
December 1, 2004... ISN'T IT AMAZING HOW PEOPLE don't want something until they cannot have it. This year's nationwide shortage of flu vaccine, caused by manufacturing problems at the Chiron facility in England, has generated more bellyaching, finger pointing, and...

Can cutaneous zoster result in airborne transmission?(Updates)
December 1, 2004... Source: Suzuki K, et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2004:189:1009-1012. A FREQUENT QUESTION, WHEN A patient with localized cutaneous zoster is admitted to hospital, is the appropriate infection control precautions. Are standard and contact...

If it was a bear ... part II.(Updates)
December 1, 2004... ProMED-mail post November 5 and November 8, 2004; www.promedmial.org LAST MONTH, IT WAS POSTULATED in this column that brown bears, which rarely attack people, are less likely to harbor oral anaerobes than their meat-eating counterparts,...

Breakthrough fungal infection with voriconazole.(Updates)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Source: Imhof A, et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2004;39:743-744. OVER THE YEARS, WE'VE SEEN sequentially more resistant breakthrough fungal infections in immunosuppressed patients receiving prophylactic antifungal therapy. When fluconazole became...