The American journal of medicine
-
The appropriate approach to the diagnosis and management of acute infectious diarrhea is determined by the frequency and setting of the illness, the recognizable causes or syndromes, the cost and yield of available diagnostic tests, and the treatability of the disease. Acute diarrhea affects everyone throughout the world from one to more than six times each year, depending on age, location, and living conditions. The range of identifiable viral, bacterial, and parasitic etiologies is great, and the cost of indiscriminate use of etiologic studies for diagnosis is prohibitive. ⋯ Several special circumstances may prompt a consideration of parasites (including Giardia, Entamoeba, Strongyloides, Cryptosporidium), Vibrio, Yersinia, Clostridium difficile, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, food-borne agents, or sexually transmitted pathogens. The practical value of specific identification of rotaviruses (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Rotazyme, or electron microscopy) is primarily epidemiologic, particularly in hospitalized infants or young children. Using such a selective approach to fecal culture will greatly increase its yield and can reduce the cost per positive result from $1,000 to less than $150.
-
Studies throughout the world demonstrate the effectiveness of prophylactic antibiotics in vaginal hysterectomy and cesarean section. Febrile morbidity is reduced by more than one half, and pelvic infections are reduced one third to one fifth, respectively. Prophylactic antibiotics are most beneficial in high-risk cesarean section, such as in patients in labor and with ruptured membranes. ⋯ First- and second-generation cephalosporins are the antibiotics most frequently used. In vaginal hysterectomies, a single preoperative dose, and in cesarean section, three perioperative doses seem to be adequate. Infections occurring despite prophylactic antibiotics are often caused by resistant organisms.
-
Comparative Study
Patient cost in the treatment of postsurgical female pelvic infection.
Soft tissue female pelvic infections, that is, postpartum endomyometritis, pelvic cellulitis, and salpingitis, are frequently polymicrobial, involving aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The most common antibiotic regimen employed for the treatment of these patients is clindamycin and an aminoglycoside. Single-agent therapy, utilizing the newer beta-lactams, is more economical, potentially less toxic, and as effective.
-
New products, new procedures, new information, and new legislation will have a significant impact on management and prevention of respiratory infections in children. Current areas of investigation include the changing epidemiology (increased number of children in day care), concern about morbidity of common infections (hearing impairment and effect on development of speech and language due to otitis media), and new modes of microbiologic diagnosis (antigen detection). New antimicrobial agents have wider spectrums of activity, increased concentrations in body fluids, and lesser toxicity than available drugs. ⋯ Increased usage of chemoprophylaxis for prevention of recurrences of acute otitis media follows publication of impressive results of recent studies. New conjugate polysaccharide vaccines are immunogenic in young infants. Finally, and of major importance to children, physicians, and manufacturers, is vaccine liability legislation, now in congressional committee.
-
Upper respiratory tract infections are the most common types of infectious diseases among adults. It is estimated that each adult in the United States experiences two to four respiratory infections annually. The morbidity of these infections is measured by an estimated 75 million physician visits per year, almost 150 million days lost from work, and more than $10 billion in costs for medical care. ⋯ Forty years ago, Streptococcus pneumoniae accounted for the majority of infections. Today, a broad array of community-acquired pathogens have been implicated as etiologic agents including Legionella species, gram-negative bacilli, Hemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus and nonbacterial pathogens. Given the diversity of pathogenic agents, it has become imperative for clinicians to establish a specific etiologic diagnosis before initiating therapy or to consider the diagnostic possibilities and treat with antimicrobial agents that are effective against the most likely pathogens.