Infectious Disease Alert articles from January 2003

Infectious Disease Alert archives from January 2003

FDA approves Claritin for OTC use for seasonal rhinitis. (Pharmacology Watch).
January 1, 2003... After years of legal wrangling, the FDA has approved loratadine (Claritin, Schering-Plough) as an over-the-counter (OTC) product for the treatment of seasonal rhinitis. Loratadine is considered a nonsedating antihistamine, and its OTC approval...

Effects of losartan on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with isolated systolic hypertension and LVH. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).
January 1, 2003... Source: Kjeldsen SE, et al. JAMA. 2002;1491-1498. SINCE THE EARLY 1990S IT HAS BEEN recognized that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an important prognostic indicator for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. More recently, it has...

Increase in nocturnal blood pressure and progression to microalbuminuria in type 1 diabetes. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).
January 1, 2003... Source: Lurbe E, et al. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:797-805. IT HAS BEEN NOTED THAT AMONG persons with type 1 diabetes (DM-1), hypertension (HTN) often develops concomitantly with occurrence of microalbuminuria (MAU). Closer investigation with...

HRT, lipid, and glucose metabolism in diabetic and nondiabetic postmenopausal women. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).
January 1, 2003... Source: Crespo CJ, et al. Diabetes Care. 2002;25:1675-1680. LIKE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES, type 2 diabetes (DM-2) increases in postmenopausal women. Prospective randomized interventional trials have not shown a benefit for hormone...

Effects of long-term treatment with ACE inhibitors in the presence or absence of aspirin. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).
January 1, 2003... Source: Teo Koon K, et al. Lancet. 2002;360:1037-1043. BOTH ANGIOTENSIN CONVERTING enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and aspirin (ASA) have a proven valuable track record in a variety of cardiovascular preventive and therapeutic areas. One of the...

Long-term risks associated with atrial fibrillation: 20-year follow-up of the Renfrew/Paisley study. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Source: Simon S, et al. Am J Med. 2002;113:359-364. MOST OF THE STUDIES OF ATRIAL fibrillation (AF) that address cardiovascular (CV) consequences provide only short-term or intermediate-term insight (6 months-24 months). Long-term...

Olfactory impairment in older adults. (Clinical Briefs in Primary Care).
January 1, 2003... Source: Murphy C, et al. JAMA. 2002;288:2307-2312. 12. DESPITE WIDESPREAD ATTENTION to the demographics and management of hearing and visual impairments in older adults, there has been little study of olfactory impairments (OLF). Olfactory...

Bartonella quintana: what a lousey bug!
January 1, 2003... Abstract & Commentary Synopsis: Bacteremia due to B quintana is prevalent among homeless individuals in many cities and is often asymptomatic and chronic or intermittent. Source: Foucault C, et al. Bartonella quintana bacteremia among...

Staphylococcal bacteremia: methicillin resistance and mortality revisited.
January 1, 2003... ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY Synopsis: A meta-analysis of 31 published studies of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia found that MRSA bacteremia was associated with a significantly higher mortality than MSSA bacteremia. Source: Cosgrove SE, et...

Caspofungin for invasive candidiasis.
January 1, 2003... ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY Synopsis: Caspofungin was superior to amphotericin B deoxycholate in the treatment of patients with invasive candidiasis. Source: Mora-Duarte J, et al. Comparison of caspofungin and amphotericin B for invasive...

Bites in the night: a rabies immunization update on people and animals.
January 1, 2003... CONFERENCE COVERAGE AN EXCELLENT UPDATE ON RABIES WAS PROVIDED BY Charles E. Rupprecht, the Rabies Section Chief of the CDC, during the Symposium, Control of Zoonoses: A Veterinary Perspective at the recent 51st annual American Society of...

MRSA hits footballers hard in Texas. (Updates).
January 1, 2003... Source: ProMED-mail post. November 14, 2002; www.promedmail.org. SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE school year, about 50 kids attending a local district high school in Pasadena, Texas, have developed infections due to methicillin-resistant...

Online pharmacies cater to special interests. (Updates).
January 1, 2003... Source: Tsai AC, et al. Am J Med. 2002;113:424-427. ON-LINE PHARMACY RETAILING and the mail-order prescription business continue to grow briskly, in part due to the aging baby boomer generation's need for drugs. One technology consultant...

West Nile virus--multiple modes of transmission.
January 15, 2003... ABSTRACTS & COMMENTARY Synopsis: Two means of transmission of West Nile virus are newly described--sharps injury and transplacental infection. Sources: CDC. Laboratory-acquired West Nile virus infections--United State, 2002. MMWR Morb...

MRSA, fluoroquinolones, and mutations.(methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
January 15, 2003... ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY Synopsis: Genetic mutations associated with resistance to fluoroquinolones were frequently detected in MRSA. Source: Sierra JM, et al. Correlation between the activity of different fluoroquinolones and the...

Metapneumovirus.
January 15, 2003... ABSTRACTS & COMMENTARY Synopsis: Evidence indicates that a novel paramyxovirus, the human metapneumovirus, may be an important cause of respiratory tract infection. Sources: Jartti T, et al. Metapneumovirus and acute wheezing in...

Lack of association of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination with autism.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY Synopsis: A study of all children born in Denmark from 1991-1998 showed no association between vaccination with measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism. Source: Madsen KM, et al. N Engl J Med....

PID without sex?(pelvic inflammatory disease)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY Synopsis: A case of Plesiomonas shigelloides pyosalpinx occurred in a swimmer. Source: Roth T, et al. Pyosalpinx: Not always a sexually transmitted disease? Pyosalpinx caused by Plesiomonas shigelloides in an...

Bodegas bust bugs? (Updates).(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... Source: Markel H. New York Times. November 12, 2002; F6 WITH AN INCREASING NUMBER of Silicon Valley immigrants and foreign residents seeking consultation (although some of this has diminished with the downturn in the economy the past year),...

TNF in HIV/HBV coifected adults. (Updates).(tenofovir, human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... Source: Ristig MB, et al. J Infect Dis. 2002;186:1844-1847. HIV CLINICIANS HAVE LONG BEEN lobbying for more data on the effectiveness of tenofovir (TNF, Viread[R]) in HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis B. TNF is a nucleotide...

Attention readers. (Updates).(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... American Health Consultants is happy to announce that we are opening up our Primary Care Reports author process to our readers. A biweekly newsletter with approximately 5000 readers, each issue is a fully referenced, peer-reviewed monograph....