Infectious disease emergencies

Patient visits to the primary care physician are prompted most often by an infectious disease. The clinician must be aware of the common and serious infections present in the community and must institute proper diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Diagnosis and treatment of streptococcal infections, staphylococcal infections, pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infection, bone and joint infections, sinusitis, clostridial infections, and tetanus are discussed.     

Infectious disease emergencies

This article reviews principles of recognition and management of a selection of commonly encountered infectious disease emergencies, including sepsis, necrotizing soft tissue infections, acute meningitis, and the emerging issue of severe Clostridium difficile colitis. Less common but potentially deadly environmentally acquired or zoonotic pathogens are discussed, as are special patient populations, including the febrile returning traveler and the asplenic patient.     

Infectious agents and atherosclerotic vascular disease

The pathological changes underlying occlusive vascular disease show considerable overlap with those caused by a range of infections. Particular viral and bacterial pathogens have long been suspected of playing a part, directly or indirectly, in the process leading to atherosclerosis. We review recent evidence of links between infections and ischaemic heart disease, particularly in the case of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. Possible mechanisms for these associations are discussed.      

Infectious disease of simian herpes B virus

The epidemiology and the method of diagnosis were elucidated for simian herpes B virus (SHBV) infection. It is important that usefulness was demonstrated for the methods of DNA diagnosis having high sensitivity and specificity for SHBV and HSV-1, 2 types, and of detectable serological diagnosis for each specific antibody. The methods allowed the final diagnosis of the human infection due to the reactivation of latent SHBV and the HSV infection from human to monkey. These results would be able to become important and fundamental knowledge for the sero-epidemiological analysis of the infectious stile.