Infectious Disease

A46-year-old white man is hospitalized with increasing dyspnea of 3weeks’ duration. He has a history of stable chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease secondary to heavy smoking (2 packs of cigarettes a day for 27years, discontinued 6 years previously) and uses inhaled bronchodilators.

For 3 days, a 42-year-old man has had episodic dullchest pain. The anterior precordial and retrosternalpain intensifies with inspiration and movement. He has nohistory of recent viral infection, hypertension, coronaryartery disease, cardiac surgery, diabetes mellitus, or hyperlipidemia.There is no family history of cardiovasculardisease.

Use this ABCDE mnemonic to distinguishnecrotizing fasciitis, which usuallyrequires surgery, from cellulitis,which can be treated with antibioticsalone:

For the past month, a 19-year-old woman has had abdominalpain, diarrhea, intermittent fever, and occasionalvomiting. She now seeks medical attention because earlierin the day she noticed a large amount of blood in herstool. She denies trauma, travel to a foreign country, andillicit drug use. She drinks alcohol occasionally but hasnot done so for the past 3 months.

A 38-year-old overweight woman presents with an asymptomatic rash ofat least 2 months’ duration that had not responded to a combinationcorticosteroid/antifungal agent. She has mild hypertension and type 2 diabetesmellitus that is being managed with diet and exercise. She is otherwisehealthy.

In response to Dr Joseph Schube’s inquiry about a puzzlingurine culture that showed &#946-hemolytic streptococci (CONSULTANT,July 2002, page 974), I suggest that he consider oralintercourse as a possible source of the infection.

When a patient with diabetes presentswith a foot wound, prompt and aggressiveintervention is required topromote healing and to prevent progressionthat could lead to a leg amputation.Fortunately, the majority ofdiabetic foot wounds heal rapidly withlittle difficulty.

In Dr Navin Amin’s “What’s Wrong With This Picture?”case of a girl with infectious mononucleosis who had severepharygnitis and worsening dyspnea (CONSULTANT, December2003, page 1657), the patient was given parenteralhydrocortisone and later oral prednisolone.

A 7-year-old girl presents for evaluation of a pink, polypoid, 2 x 2-mm lesionon her inner lower lip, which has been present for several weeks. The child isasymptomatic and denies any trauma to the mouth.

My patient is a woman in her midtwentieswho recently presented with anerythematous, slightly pruritic lesionon her thigh.

A 64-year-old woman complainsof neck fullness that has increased inthe last few months. She has occasionaldyspnea but denies fever, cough, andhemoptysis. Hypertension is well-controlledwith propranolol.

Under what circumstances would the result of a monospottest be negative, while results of an Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) early antigen and a virus capsid antigen IgG testare positive?

An estimated 20million Americansare currentlyinfectedwith humanpapillomavirus (HPV). Assuch, HPV is now the mostprevalent sexually transmitteddisease (STD) in thiscountry. Answers to commonquestions like the onesabove are therefore of particularinterest to physicians.The issue of when and howto use testing for HPV hasbecome especially crucial.

My patient is a 42-year-old man who complains of fatigue. He says that drinkingsome kind of “sports drink” makes him feel better.

A 73-year-old man is admittedto the hospital with pulmonary tuberculosis.A 3-drug fixed combination-isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide-and ethambutol are given.Within an hour, a global urticarialrash erupts (A and B).

For nearly 3 years, my patient has had frequent recurrences (now, almost monthly)of erythematous, slightly pruritic lesions on the lower back, inguinal area, orbuttocks-but never on the genitalia.

An 84-year-old man complains of worsening angina pectoris that started3 months earlier. The patient has had aortic stenosis for about 10 years. Healso has diabetes, which is controlled with oral agents.

A 53-year-old woman, who has a remote history of acne, says that facial rednessappears each time she has a migraine. Her migraine medication, fiorinalwith codeine, ameliorates the headache, but the erythema lingers for days.

A 47-year-old man has had a posterior neck mass for severalmonths. The mass is not painful and has not changed color, but it continues toenlarge.

Long-standing chorioretinal scarring in both eyes didnot affect a 67-year-old woman’s vision. The scars wereroundish, irregular, and yellowish white with interior pigmentation(A and B).

A painful scalp eruption of 4 days’duration brings an 81-year-old man toyour office. He has taken a lipid-loweringagent and an antihypertensivefor years but has not started any newmedications recently. One week earlier,he had a haircut. He denies recenttrauma to the scalp.

Q:What is the most common radiographicpresentation of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB)among persons with HIV infection?

A 9-year-old boy, who has no significantmedical history, presents with a generalizedpruritic eruption of 2 weeks’ duration.One week earlier, another practitionerruled out scabies and treatedhim presumptively for varicella.

Francisella tularensis is anonsporulating, nonmotile,aerobic gram-negative coccobacillusthat is usually transmittedto humans frominfected rabbits and other small animalsvia ticks, fleas, or deer flies orby direct contact

When a patient complains of dizziness, ask him or her todescribe symptoms without using the word “dizzy.”

For 2 weeks, a 58-year-old woman has experienced increasingfatigue with activity. She has needed to nap duringthe day, has not been able to perform her usual activities,and has missed 3 days of work. She also complains of“muscle aches”-mainly in her back. She denies headache,dyspnea, fever, hot or cold intolerance, and alteredmentation.

Impetigo developed on the face of a 7-year-old boy who had chickenpox. Thepatient was given a 10-day course of oral cephalexin and mupirocin ointment;the infection resolved promptly.

For 2 days, a 35-year-old woman has had a tender eruption on the right palm.She takes no medications. The patient recalls that 1 or 2 years earlier a similarrash cleared following a course of antibiotics.

A 67-year-old woman has had an ulcer on her left heel for at least several weeks.She applied a homemade dressing and cut her shoes to try to relieve pressureon the ulcer; however, in the past week, areas around the ulcer have becomepainful. These areas, as well as the dorsum of the foot, are red and swollen.

Ask patients with nonhealing colostomy wounds if theyare cleaning the area with hydrogen peroxide.