ID

Promising New Hepatitis C Medications Raise Hopes, Questions

January 17, 2013

By Carl M. Gay, MD

Faculty Peer Reviewed

A healthy 61-year old man with a history of chronic genotype 1b hepatitis C virus infection of unknown duration arrives for his semiannual appointment in the Hepatology Clinic. The patient has previously been offered treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, which he has declined on the basis of potential side effects and poor reported efficacy. He states that he has read that new treatment options for hepatitis C have recently become available…

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), first…

Morgellons: Real Disease or Delusion Turned Internet Meme?

October 3, 2012

By Robert Mazgaj

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Morgellons disease is an “unexplained dermopathy” characterized by fibers emerging from skin lesions, and associated with various cutaneous sensations. Inspired by a curious medical condition reported by a 17th century English physician, Morgellons was actually named in 2002 by Mary Leitao, a layperson, to describe the mysterious set of symptoms reportedly suffered by her then 2-year-old son. Leitao then launched the not-for-profit Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) along with a (no longer active) website, www.morgellons.org. MRF successfully petitioned members of…

RTS,S/AS01: Is This The Beginning Of The End Of Malaria?

April 12, 2012

By Nicole Sunseri

Faculty Peer Reviewed

In Africa, there lurks a stealthy and powerful beast. Is it a lion, a black mamba, or a crocodile? No, it is the Anopheles mosquito. Although less than the size of a paperclip, these insects inflict an incapacitating blow, inoculating their larger human prey with Plasmodium spp., the parasites responsible for malaria. According to the World Health Organization, the worldwide incidence of malaria infection in 2009 was 225 million cases with a death toll of 781,000 Most of these…

Cholera in Haiti

October 7, 2011

By Matt Johnson, MD

Faculty Peer Reviewed

In the fall of 2010, after Haiti was razed by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that left over 316,000 people dead, cholera was injected into the tumult to add to the growing list of Haiti’s struggles . Cholera is an ancient scourge whose origins are believed to come from the Ganges River delta of India . It affects up to 5 million people worldwide, with over 100,000 deaths per year . The cholera outbreak in Haiti was unexpected in…

Stemming the Tide: The Promise and Pitfalls of HIV Prevention Research

September 28, 2011

By Benjamin Bearnot

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Since the discovery of zidovudine (AZT) in the mid-1980s, advances in antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for patients with chronic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have, until recently, outpaced concomitant improvements in methods for HIV prevention. Over the past few years, HIV prevention research has been building an impressive head of steam. While a completely effective vaccine for HIV prevention has continued to prove elusive, results of a modestly successful (~30% protective) vaccine trial based in Thailand were announced in 2009,…

How Safe Is That Tattoo?

April 27, 2011

By Farzon A. Nahvi

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Once thought to be exclusively the domain of gang members, prisoners, and those in the military, tattoos are now increasingly popular with the general population. The increasing visibility of tattoos on high-profile individuals such as athletes, musicians, and actors, combined with the increasing acceptability of tattoos among professionals, have made tattoos a common part of modern culture. Nevertheless, tattoo artists are subject to little regulation, and tattoo art comes with some real…

The Porcelain Terror: Can a Toilet Give You Gonorrhea?

April 13, 2011

By Bradley Ching, Class of 2011

Faculty Peer Reviewed

What do every road trip, football game halftime, and trans-continental plane flight have in common? Usually a disgusting toilet paired with the urgent need of people to use them. While no one takes pleasure from these encounters, could they in fact be a risk for acquiring a sexually transmitted disease?

Gonorrhea or “the clap,” as it is lovingly nicknamed, is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae and…

Case of the Month: Vertebral Osteomyelitis and Psoas Abscess with Acinetobacter Baumanii: Report of an Unusual Case

April 6, 2011

By Michael C. Brabeck, MD, Adam Davis, MD, and Shaun Rodgers, MD

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Case:

A 56-year-old male was admitted to Bellevue Hospital Center with chronic back pain and a three month history of subjective fevers, decreased appetite, and a thirty pound weight loss. His past medical history was remarkable only for chronic alcohol abuse. He denied other substance abuse. There were no previous health care facility exposures, and the patient had no history of military…

The Resurgence of Pertussis: Is Lack of Adult Vaccination to Blame?

February 23, 2011

By Ijeoma Ejigiri, Class of 2011

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Whooping cough. 100 day cough. Pertussis. These are the various names for the disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. This small gram-negative coccobacillus, transmitted via respiratory droplets, is responsible for causing coughing paroxysms followed by a long inspiratory gasp, during which the characteristic high-pitched “whoop” occurs. These coughing paroxysms can last for ten weeks or longer, hence the moniker “100 day cough.” The paroxysmal phase is usually preceded by…

Meeting Perspectives: The 2010 Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Meeting

December 22, 2010

Neal H. Steigbigel, M.D.

The recent IDSA meeting reviewed many important and interesting findings. Topics spanned a wide array of subjects, many of which are of importance and interest to all physicians. These subjects included:

Treating severe Clostridial Difficile infection with fecal transplantation Isolation for extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL’s) bacteremia Update in multi-resistant gram negative infections Update on Pneumococccal infections Treatment dilemmas in immunocompromised hosts Update on invasive fungal infections

This high quality meeting has many simultaneous sessions and…

From the Archives: Should All Patients with Cellulitis Be Treated for Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus?

October 14, 2010

Please enjoy a post from the Clinical Correlations Archives, first posted 1/22/09

Commentary by Melanie Maslow, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine, NYUSOM, Chief, Infectious Diseases, New York Harbor Healthcare System, NY

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Cellulitis is an acute spreading infection of the skin extending to the deep subcutaneous tissue characterized by pain, swelling, erythema and warmth. Cellulitis in the non-neutropenic patient, in the absence of bite wounds, salt or fresh water exposure, and coexisting ulcers is…

Circumcision as Primary Protection?

October 8, 2010

Emily Taylor, MD

Faculty Peer Reviewed

The earliest documented evidence of circumcision is in artwork from the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt (2345-2181 BC) found in a wall relief from Saqqara in Lower Egypt. Circumcised North Americans were described by Columbus upon arrival to the continent; circumcision was practiced by Australian aboriginals, native South Americans, and Pacific Islanders. It is unknown if circumcision was common amongst some earlier ancestor of all these peoples, or if it evolved independently in societies…

Page 1 of 512 3 4 5 »

Clinical Correlations

ID

Promising New Hepatitis C Medications Raise Hopes, Questions

Morgellons: Real Disease or Delusion Turned Internet Meme?

RTS,S/AS01: Is This The Beginning Of The End Of Malaria?

Cholera in Haiti

Stemming the Tide: The Promise and Pitfalls of HIV Prevention Research

How Safe Is That Tattoo?

The Porcelain Terror: Can a Toilet Give You Gonorrhea?

Case of the Month: Vertebral Osteomyelitis and Psoas Abscess with Acinetobacter Baumanii: Report of an Unusual Case

The Resurgence of Pertussis: Is Lack of Adult Vaccination to Blame?

Meeting Perspectives: The 2010 Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Meeting

From the Archives: Should All Patients with Cellulitis Be Treated for Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus?

Circumcision as Primary Protection?

Categories

Blogroll

Trip Database

Meta

Subscribe to receive new blogposts