A New Weapon against Hospital-Acquired MRSA Infections

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus can live on our skin and in our noses without causing disease. Such a condition is called bacterial colonization, to contrast it from infection in which the bacteria causes illness. When the skin is broken or when host immunity is weakened Staph. aureus can enter the blood stream or other body spaces and cause life-threatening infection. Because medical procedures frequently involve puncturing or cutting the skin, Staph. aureus a...
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Avian Flu (N7N9) Makes Leap from Bird to Man

Do you remember the H1N1 swine flu that made tens of millions sick and killed thousands of people in 2009? Well, one if its cousins, a bird flu with the name H7N9, is causing some death and consternation in China. This strain has long been circulating among birds, but since earlier this year people have become ill with this respiratory virus, all so far in China. This week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM...
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A New Hope for Hepatitis C Infection

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that is usually spread through contact with infected blood. Prior to 1992, when testing of donated blood and organs became commonplace, many people were infected through blood transfusion and organ transplants. Now the most common method of infection is the sharing of needles or other equipment for injecting drugs. About 3.2 million people are estimated to have chronic hepatitis C infection in the U.S. Over decades, chronic infection can lead to liver failure a...
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This Year’s Flu Season Isn’t Mild

The last two years have graced us with atypically mild flu seasons. This year we’re not so lucky. The flu season seems to have started early, and at least on the East Coast is quite severe. This week Boston has declared a public health emergency as their emergency departments became swamped with flu cases. In Pennsylvania, a hospital erected a tent outside its emergency department for the increasing number of flu patients. The number of flu cases is increasing in California too, though we may ...
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Revenge of the Parasites

Malaria is a life-threatening illness marked by high recurrent fever, shaking chills, and severe headache. Though malaria is now treatable, even with treatment it sometimes progresses to coma and death. Survivors frequently suffer recurrent symptoms and can be debilitated. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2010 there were 216 million people infected with malaria. Hundreds of thousands of them died, though precise estimates are lacking. Malaria has plagued people for tens of thou...
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Fourteen Deaths Linked to Fungal Meningitis from Tainted Injections

This week you’ll have to learn a little medical jargon, and I know that you love that. The meninges (men-IN-jees) are the membranes that line the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is inflammation of those membranes, usually caused by an infection. Meningitis can lead to brain damage, deafness, and sometimes death. Meningitis is usually caused by viruses or bacteria. OK? That wasn’t so bad. Recently an outbreak of meningitis has come under the attention of investigators. 170 patients in the la...
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Ninth Hantavirus Case Linked to Yosemite

In 1993 in the Four Corners region of the US Southwest a woman developed a cough and progressive shortness of breath and died shortly thereafter. A few days later, her fiancée, a young physically fit man developed similar symptoms was rushed to a hospital and also died. A series of laboratory tests failed to identify any known infectious agent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Special Pathogens Branch was notified. Further testing revealed a previously unknown strain of han...
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Get Your Flu Shot

Temperatures are dropping. Children are returning to school. (Parents are elated.) Families are planning a last summer outing on Labor Day. It must be time for flu shots. This season’s influenza vaccine has shipped from manufacturers. Our office just received th...
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