ORF Virus Treatment

Authors: Zachary Field, MD; Andrew Birr, MD; and Jacqueline Kropf, DO Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando, Florida Citation: Field Z, Birr A, Kropf J. Gas gangrene associated with Clostridium septicum infection. Consultant. 2020;60(2):59. doi:10.25270/con.2020.02.00007 A 66-year-old man presented to the emergency department with progressively worsening severe left hip and left lower extremity pain. His medical history included type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and chronic lymphedema. On presentation, he was afebrile, with a pulse of 110 beats/min and a blood pressure of 85/54 mm Hg. On physical examination, crepitus and skin sloughing was noted on the left upper thigh. Results of initial laboratory studies showed an elevated white blood cell count of 29,000/µL, an acidotic arterial blood pH of 7.19, and a decreased lactate level of 3.5 mg/dL. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the bilateral lower extremities revealed extensive soft tissue emph...

The first interstellar spacecraft could carry microscopic passengers. So the search is on for ideal candidates. Project Starlight is a NASA-funded mission to develop the technologies to enable interstellar space exploration. The approach is simple—these spacecraft will fly out of the solar system on the tip of a powerful Earth-based laser beam that accelerates the vehicles to a significant fraction of the speed of light. Of course, these craft will be tiny—weighing just a few grams each. But they are set to become Earth's most distant interstellar travellers, outpacing in just a few days the distance that the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft have travelled in decades. Now Stephen Lantin at the University of Florida and colleagues, say these spacecraft could be capable of carrying Earth's first interstellar astronauts. These astronauts will not be human, they say. Instead, Project Starlight spacecraft should carry much smaller and hardier creatures that will be capable of s...

As Americans prepare for Thanksgiving, another annual tradition is upon us: open enrollment on the health insurance marketplace. Millions of Americans can be thankful for access to health insurance via Healthcare.gov. Open enrollment began on November 1, 2021. Already, more than 1.6 million people in 33 states have newly enrolled or renewed their coverage on the marketplace, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Of these, approximately 287,000 were new enrollees, while the majority (more than 1.3 million) renewed their coverage from last year. Though the political debates about the Affordable Care Act have died down after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a third challenge to the law earlier this year, consumer interest in coverage remains strong. In total, nearly 2.5 million applications have been submitted, with 1.2 million submitted in the past week alone. Consumers who shop for health insurance on Healthcare.gov t...

Show Caption Hide Caption Former President Bill Clinton hospitalized in Southern California Clinton was admitted to a hospital in Southern California with a non-COVID-related infection, but "responding to antibiotics well." Staff video, USA TODAY Former President Bill Clinton continues to recover from a non-COVID-related infection after being hospitalized at the University of California Irvine Medical Center Tuesday. Clinton, 75, was admitted into the hospital's intensive care unit for a urinary tract infection that spread to his blood, clinically known as sepsis, according to multiple new outlets. A statement from Clinton's spokesman Angel Ureña said the former president is "on the mend" and "in good spirits" after receiving two days of treatment that included antibiotics and fluids administered through an IV. "His...

Phages are viruses that infect bacteria and can also be used to treat human infections. However, as with antibiotics, bacteria can readily evolve resistance to phage attack, highlighting a key limitation to the use of phages as therapeutics. Now, researchers from Yale University have shown that the naturally occurring phage A1-1 kills Shigella flexneri , a major cause of dysentery in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia and selects for phage-resistant mutants with reduced virulence. The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology . That serendipitous finding results from the fact that the phage's use of a particular surface receptor on the bacterium called OmpA, as a portal to enter and kill S. flexneri , means that bacteria that escape the phage's attack will either lack OmpA receptors, or that any remaining receptors will have mutated in ways that reduce virulence. "We sought to discover a phage that was naturally capable of binding to outer membr...

A complicated urinary tract infection (UTI) is a term to describe a UTI that doesn't respond to traditional treatments. This may be due to underlying medical conditions or other risk factors, such as age and anatomical differences. A UTI can involve any part of your urinary system, including the bladder, urethra, and kidneys. This infection may typically be treated with antibiotics. However, such therapies may not work as well in those who have underlying conditions that either interfere with traditional treatment measures or increase your risk of complications from the UTI. If you have a history of complicated UTIs or certain risk factors for them, call your doctor if you suspect early symptoms of this type of infection. Learn how a complicated UTI is treated, and other important information you need to know. A traditional ("simple") UTI tends to respond to antibiotic treatment within 24 to 48 hours . You must finish the entire prescription, however, even if you're f...

As we inch our way out of the pandemic, we should remember that pandemics and epidemics of infectious diseases have occurred throughout history. Reports from ancient Greece and Egypt describe epidemics of smallpox, leprosy, tuberculosis, meningitis, and a host of other infections. In fact, there is now evidence that even Ramses V, who ruled Egypt in the mid-1100s BCE, had smallpox and possibly died of it. In ancient times, few knew what was causing these infections, how they spread, or more importantly, how to protect people from becoming sick. Today, we understand infections more thoroughly. Furthermore, as we have seen with COVID-19, scientists know how to develop vaccines and medicines to help prevent and treat infections that once killed thousands, even millions. Nevertheless, as COVID-19 moves into the background, one thing we have learned from the pandemic is to never let our guard down. History tells us that infections will continue to be a troubling problem around the globe...