Prevention strategies and medical interventions for travelers should be individualized according to a risk assessment that considers both the itinerary and factors that are dependent on the prospective traveler. A structured approach to patient interaction ( Table 265-1 ) is…
Sexually Transmitted Infections Definition Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) include a wide variety of organisms that are transmitted through intimate contact involving skin or mucosal surfaces of the oropharynx, vagina, penis, and rectum. STIs can generally be divided into five broad…
Definitions Urinary tract infection (UTI) is bacterial or fungal infection of urine with associated signs or symptoms. The clinical presentation varies from cystitis (bladder or lower tract infection) to pyelonephritis (renal or upper tract infection) and urosepsis (systemic inflammatory response…
Definition Enteric infections are endemic in many low-income countries but may also be contracted from contaminated food or water in developed countries. Symptoms may range from minimal gastrointestinal distress to life-threatening watery diarrhea or dysentery. Epidemiology Worldwide, enteric infections are…
The Burden of Health Care–Associated Infections Epidemiology The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines health care–associated infections as infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving health care treatment for other conditions. Nosocomial infection is a term…
Definition Healthy individuals possess robust antimicrobial defense systems that include physical barriers in the form of skin and mucosal membranes, innate immune defenses that are conserved through evolution, and adaptive (“acquired”) immune defense systems ( Chapter 35 ). These systems,…
Overview of Fever Definition The traditional definition of a normal temperature as 98.6° F (37.0° C) came from a study more than 150 years ago, when 98.6° F (37.0° C) was the mean temperature from over 1 million axillary temperature…
Selecting Antimicrobial Therapy Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy It is rare that antimicrobial therapy is instituted for a serious infection with full knowledge of the identity and antibiotic susceptibilities of the specific pathogen, so empirical antibiotic therapy typically must be initiated based…
The human microbiome has received considerable attention as a previously underappreciated factor in human health and disease. Alterations in the microbiome are associated with several clinical conditions, and restoration of a normal intestinal microbiome can be beneficial in selected situations.…
Infectious diseases have profoundly influenced the human genome and the course of human history. As of early 2023, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; Chapters 335 to 337 ) infection has caused nearly 7 million deaths worldwide. Beginning in…