Infectious Disease Alert – December 1, 2004
December 1, 2004
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Tropical Pulmonary Eosinophilia
Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia must be considered in patients with asthma-like symptoms and significant eosinophilia, who have resided in areas endemic for lymphatic filariasis. -
S. aureus, Erythrocyte Hemolysins, and Heme Iron — A Nice Little Package
S. aureus preferentially utilizes iron of heme origin, whose availability is the consequence of erythrocyte hemolysins produced by the organism. -
Treatment of Invasive Aspergillosis: To Combine or Not to Combine?
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 with amphotericin B. -
Corticosteroids in Tuberculous Meningitis
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. -
Chemotherapy-Induced Hepatitis B Reactivation — A Preventable Complication
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. -
Does Tuberculosis Increase HIV Load?
This is an observational cohort study that compared HIV patients who acquired TB or bacterial pneumonia with comparison of those 2 groups of patients without TB or bacterial pneumonia, respectively. Poor prognosis for HIV-infected individuals after TB may be due to preexisting high HIV load, rather than to the TB event itself. -
Increase in the Reservoir of Community-Acquired MRSA, With Implications for Hospital-Acquired Infection
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. -
Updates by Carol A. Kemper
Flu ShortageWho Cares?; Can Cutaneous Zoster Result in Airborne Transmission?; If It Was a Bear. . . Part II; Breakthrough Fungal Infection With Voriconazole. -
Prepare Your Hospital For a Very Unusual Flu Season
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Pharmacology Watch: ACE Inhibitors and Receptor Blockers: Which is Inferior?
The Infection Risk of Acid-Suppressing Drugs; Is Rosuvastatin As Safe As Other Statins?; Which Estrogen Preparation is the Safest?; FDA Actions. -
Clinical Briefs in Primary Care supplement