Among the most common causes of infection outside health-care institutions, community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Community aquired-MRSA) most often affects the skin and soft tissues. Besides causing significant morbidity, community-aquired MRSA is increasingly associated with serious and often fatal necrotizing pneumonia or fasciitis, endocarditis, and sepsis. The authoritative links on this resource help you to keep up to date with new diagnostic tests and treatments for community-aquired MRSA, as well as the latest news about local outbreaks and infection control strategies.
A novel H1N1 influenza virus has emerged from swine and is causing a worldwide pandemic. Children and young adults have been most affected, in terms of both numbers of cases and severity of disease. Perhaps the most striking feature of the pandemic so far is that fewer than half of those hospitalized or killed by this virus have had identifiable prior medical conditions or risk factors. Diagnostic and treatment options
for infection with the H1N1 swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) continue to... More »
THAT BLUE LIGHT KILLS methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was demonstrated in the article “Visible 405 nm SLD Light Photo-Destroys Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) In Vitro,” in the December 2008 issue of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. Concerns about the clinical safety of the wavelength used (405 nm, spectral width 390 to 420 nm), which contains traces of ultraviolet light, led Chukuka Enwemeka, PhD, and colleagues from the School of Health Professions,... More »
Health care–associated pneumonia (HCAP) is a relatively new term used to describe pneumonia that develops in patients who have recently been exposed to nosocomial and drug-resistant pathogens as a result of hospitalization or residence in a nursing home, for example. A recent study found that about 25% of patients hospitalized with pneumonia had HCAP, and that the mortality rate was higher in those with HCAP than in those with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). More »
I advise my patients who are carriers of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to keep their fingernails trimmed. Long nails make the subungual spaces good havens for bacteria. S aureus, including MRSA, has been isolated from the subungual spaces of the hands of many at-risk patients who are MRSA carriers More »
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor that is usually well tolerated with few adverse effects, but it has been implicated in the development of Fanconi syndrome and renal insufficiency because of its effects on the proximal renal tubule. Vancomycin nephrotoxicity is infrequent but may result from coadministration with other nephrotoxic agents, such as aminoglycosides. We report the cases of 2 patients receiving tenofovir as part of an antiretroviral... More »
A 53-year-old woman with metastatic ovarian cancer presented with excessive tearing of the left eye that was associated with redness and swelling. More »
Infective endocarditis (IE) starts as a vegetation on the valvular structures. The infection can extend to the adjacent periannular areas and erode into nearby cardiac chambers, leading to an aorto-cavitary fistula (ACF).1,2 More »
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) must be recognized now as one of the most common causes of infections acquired in the community. The majority of these infections involve the skin and soft tissue structures and confer significant morbidity on those affected. More »
Microbes collect on fabric, objects, and surfaces in the hospital environment, but what role do they play in disease transmission, and how can a more sterile environment be maintained? The current findings sometimes leave us with more questions than answers. Food for thought was presented at a poster session that focused on nosocomial infections and environmental contamination at the joint 48th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Infectious Diseases... More »
