Archive

Medical Category: Infectious Disease

Procalcitonin: Useful Test or Useless Pest to Improve Antibiotic Stewardship with Acute Respiratory Infections in the ED?

Background: In patients with an acute respiratory illness (ARI), it is often difficult to determine whether a bacterial infection is the underlying etiology and whether antibiotics are warranted. Excess antibiotic use carries risk of bacterial resistance, medical costs, and adverse drug ...

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Infectious Disease

Neutropenic Fever

Neutropenia: An absolute neutrophil count less than 500 cells/mm3 or less than 1000 cells/mm3 with a predicted decline to less than 500 cells/mm3 ANC = WBC x (neutrophil% + band%) Mild: 1000 – 1500 Mod: 500 – 1000 Severe: 100 ...

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Infectious Disease

Update in Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) Treatment: Macrolide Resistance

Background: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP), defined as lower bronchial tree infection in a patient that has not been hospitalized in the last 90 days is a commonly diagnosed disease. There are between 2-4 million episodes per year in the US with roughly ...

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Infectious Disease

Abscess Management: The Reformation of an Antibiotic Nihilist

Abscess management has evolved somewhat in the 14 years since my residency graduation. The point at which antibiotics are likely to be more helpful than harmful is not always easy to assess, and evidence based expert opinion has flip flopped ...

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Infectious Disease

Petition to Retire the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines

Friends, Concern regarding the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines dates back to their inception.  Guideline development was sponsored by Eli Lilly and Edwards Life Sciences as part of a commercial marketing campaign (1).  Throughout its history, the SSC has a ...

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Infectious Disease

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