Malaria infections are classified broadly into three clinical categories: (1) asymptomatic parasitemia, which generally does not require treatment for those living in endemic areas; (2) uncomplicated malaria, defined as parasitemia (typically low, though perhaps elevated in those who are semi-immune…
Epidemiology The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.7 billion people are latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis worldwide . Approximately 10 million active tuberculosis (TB) cases emerge annually, resulting in 1.2 million deaths and making TB the leading cause of…
Many immunocompromised patients are managed in intensive care units (ICUs) every year, with infection being a leading cause of ICU admission. Common examples of such infections include community-acquired pneumonia, bacteremia, and central nervous system (CNS) infections. The incidence of infections…
Introduction The burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remains a global public health issue, with an estimated 1.8 million new infections and almost 800,000 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)–related deaths in 2018. Around 38 million people are currently living with…
Acute viral infections can produce a variety of clinical manifestations and differing degrees of severity. The vast majority of viral infections range from asymptomatic to mild, occur in the community, and are self-limited. Rarely, acute viral infections cause severe disease,…
Medical advances continue to improve the prognosis of patients with cancer and other immunodeficiencies. In the past 50 years, the field of transplantation has greatly affected the management of patients with cancer and renal, cardiac, and liver diseases. Moreover, advances…
Infectious endocarditis: General information Infectious endocarditis (IE) is a rare disease with a yearly crude incidence of 1.5–11.6 episodes per 100,000 persons (3–9/100,00 in developed countries), increasing dramatically with advanced age and male sex and with varying epidemiology between high-…
Infections of the head and neck range in severity from minor to life threatening. A scoring system reflecting the need for hospitalization of such patients has been proposed. The intensivist is called upon to manage such patients either when they…
Infections are a leading cause of admission to intensive care units (ICUs). Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are both the primary cause of admission to the ICU and a complication that develops for patients with other critical illnesses. A…
Central nervous system (CNS) infections represent life-threatening conditions that require emergent evaluation and frequently treatment in a critical care unit. These infections may be challenging to identify, as numerous noninfectious conditions mimic CNS infections. Even when an infectious syndrome is…