COVID-19 aside, international travel is easier and more prevalent than ever before, and illness associated with travel is common. Although most infections contracted overseas are self-limiting and mild, they often present with non-specific symptoms such as fever, making them very challenging to initially differentiate from more severe diseases. Key Points Causes of Fever There are
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a species of lentivirus that can infect humans and subsequently causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). At the end of 2018, 37.9 million people were living with HIV worldwide. Infection HIV is spread via the transmission of bodily fluids, such as blood or semen. Routes of transmission include: Replication Once inside
A CNS infection is one that involves the central nervous system in some way. This includes the meninges, cerebellum, ventricular system and spinal cord, among others. Meningitis is the most common form of CNS infection. You should have a low threshold for starting empirical treatment in suspected cases of meningitis or encephalitis, particularly in patients
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in adults are extremely common in both primary and secondary care and it is inevitable that you will be diagnosing and treating these many times in your career. Introduction UTIs are normally ascending infections and can affect any part of the urinary tract: urethra (urethritis), bladder (cystitis), epididymis (epididymitis), prostate (prostatitis),
As a junior doctor, it is your statutory duty as a medical professional to alert the local public health team to a new or suspected diagnosis of a notifiable disease or condition. Often for infectious diseases, this is handled by the microbiology or infectious disease teams so do check the local policy at your hospital.
In this article, we will focus on more practical concerns when managing a patient with pneumonia for junior doctors. Covid-19 is not discussed here. History Basics: fever, productive cough with yellow-green sputum, shortness of breath & pleuritic chest pain In the context of patients with underlying respiratory disease, ask what about the sputum & SOB
A lot of your time as an FY1 will be spent on the phone to various other specialities. You’ll come across patients with infections in all your rotations, and – if they don’t present with one – it may develop during admission. So, it’s a good idea to make talking to Microbiology as productive (and
Diarrhoea is a very common complaint and may be the reason for a patient’s admission, or develop as a new problem during an inpatient stay. Diarrhoea related to inflammation of the stomach and small bowel is termed gastroenteritis, whilst inflammation of the large bowel is colitis. However, these are umbrella terms that describe syndromes, not
Please read an overview of the management of sepsis before reading this article. Neutropenic sepsis is defined as a temperature of greater than 38°C or any symptoms and/or signs of sepsis, in a person with an absolute neutrophil count of 0.5 x 109/L or lower. It is a common and potentially life-threatening complication of neutropenia.
Sepsis is an infection with evidence of organ dysfunction. Septic shock is when a patient with sepsis is hypotensive despite appropriate fluid resuscitation. Introduction One study has shown that for every hour delay in receiving treatment mortality increases by 7.4%. There is NO diagnostic test for sepsis. Your Trust will likely have a Sepsis Screening
