Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is an infectious disease of the upper respiratory tracts caused by Gramm negative Bordetella pertussis which assimilate with ciliary epithelium and produce toxins. Although the pertussis vaccinations are obligatory for the infants, there is more and more outbreaks in the last years. Like in the UK and USA in 2012. Read full text »

Malaria is still one of the most common infectious diseases in endemic regions of tropical climate and causes the death of about 1 million people every year. The regions typical for the malaria occurrence are: central Africa, south Asia, and some countries of South America. (3) Areas of malaria prevalence are closely associated with occurrence of Anopheles mosquitoes. This species is typical for each malaria zone.(2)

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Clostridium difficile infection is a serious medical problem. Frequent relapses and terrible consequences such as pseudomembranous colitis make the lives of infected patients miserable. Scientists in the UK have however discovered a mixture of bacteria which guarantees a success of a Clostridium difficile eradication therapy. The new possible remedy surprisingly contains three novel species of bacteria.

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Recently the world has held breath as the new dangerous disease was discovered. The Adult-Onset Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AOIS) resembles Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) not only in its name, but more importantly in its clinical course. Patients, who were born almost exclusively in Thailand or Taiwan present with symptoms of multiple opportunistic infections. Authors of the study (1) on AOIS, published in the August issue of prestigious New England Journal Of Medicine, claim there is no evidence on the viral etiology of the disease. However, as some media hailed AOIS as “HIV 2.0”, the tension remains. Read full text »

Written for www.physiciansweekly.com by Reginald F. Baugh, MD
Professor and Chief, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Department of Surgery
University of Toledo Medical Center

Clinicians are often challenged with managing MRSA infections, but the Infectious Diseases Society of America has released new guidelines that provide a framework to help determine how to evaluate and treat individuals with uncomplicated and invasive infections caused by MRSA.

Approximately 530,000 tonsillectomies are performed each year in the United States, making these surgeries the second most routinely performed operation on children. The two most com­mon indications for tonsillectomy are recurrent throat infections and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The overall incidence rate of tonsillectomy appears to have significantly increased in the past 35 years, with SDB as the primary indication for surgery.

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Written by:
JORGE A. GUZMAN, MD
Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit
Cleveland Clinic Foundation


Jorge A. Guzman, MD, has indicated to Physician’s Weekly that he has received grants/research aid from bioMerieux, speakers fees for bioMeriuex, and consulting fees for Pfizer.

Written for Physician’s Weekly.

Sepsis is a potentially fatal condition that strikes an estimated 750,000 people each year in the United States. Defined as the body’s reaction to infection (whether bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic), sepsis is the most common underlying cause of mortality in non-coronary ICUs. It can rapidly lead to systemic inflammatory reactions and, eventually, organ dysfunction or failure. People who are at greatest risk of developing sepsis include patients who are very young or very old, those with compromised immune systems, those who are hospitalized and are very sick, and individuals with invasive devices (eg, urinary catheters or breathing tubes).
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For the first time in history scientists have developed a vaccine against malaria. It is the effect of 24 years of work which results were revealed at the end of 2011. The development of vaccine called RTS S has been ranked to 10 biggest developments of the previous year by the Science magazine. Read full text »

In the UK alone, 500 000 people are infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and still, most of the patients are not diagnosed. Therefore, HCV infection is a major cause of liver transplantation there. A few years ago, scientists have found monoclonal antibodies which gave hope for the acquisition of an effective vaccine. Now, the first results of the testing of vaccines based on adenoviral vectors have occurred. Read full text »

Nowadays, look is very often the determinant of success both in personal and professional life. Slim people are better perceived by the society which put more trust in them. That is why so much interest is devoted to all treatments improving appearance. Read full text »

Until now, detecting of dangerous for people pathogen, which is Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), involved a long-lasting research. Recently faster method of detecting the microbe is available to use. It is approved in the USA NucliSENS EasyQ test which enables the diagnosis in 2 hours.
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