Lyme Disease
Pathophysiology of Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is an
1) infection with Borrelia burgdorferi via tick bite
2) previous thinking held tick vector was Ixodes but transmission is now thought by some experts to be possible with additional tick species
3) occurs in stage I and stage II days to weeks after infection and in stage III months to years after infection (usually with preceding latency period
Signs and Symptoms
Stage I
1) characteristic expanding annular rash with central clearing (“bull’s eye or “target” rash) that occurs in only 40% of infections
Stage II
2) multiple secondary annular skin lesio...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 19, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease babesia bulls eye rash coinfections deer tick erythema migrans hyperbaric ixodes target rash Source Type: blogs
Parkinson’s Disease
Pathophysiology of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease marked by:
1) progressive slowing of all voluntary movements
2) muscular “cogwheel” rigidity
3) tremors at rest
4) mask-like facies
5) emotional lability
Signs and Symptoms
1) tremors disappear with voluntary movement
2) drooling
3) dementia (15%)
4) depression
5) micrographia
6) “pill rolling”
7) hesitancy when rising from chair
8) short shuffling gait
9) decreased blink rate
10) diminished arm swing
11) stooped posture
12) loss of postural righting reflexes
13) autonomic problems (constipation, i...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 16, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Neurology cogwheel rigidity dopaminergic neurons Lewy bodies mask like face pill rolling shuffling gate substantia nigra tremor tremors at rest Source Type: blogs
tests to consider in patients with encephalitis
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); serology- HIV, EBV, acute and convalescent phases St Louis encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, LaCrosse and West Nile viruses; acute and convalescent phase serum titers of myc. pneum, ricketsii ricketsiae, ehrlichia chaffensis, anaplasma phagocytophilum; rpr and fta; lyme (ELISA and Western blot), IgG for toxoplasma; serum cryptococcal antigen; complement fixing or immunodiffusion antibodie...
Source: neurologyminutiae - February 24, 2013 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update — 01-28-2013
You can keep your doctor and your insurance … if you can afford it. Some insurance brokers expect health insurance premiums to triple in the fall prior to full implementation of Obamacare. Oh, and if you can’t afford that insurance, plan to pay a punitive tax.
But don’t worry, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant thinks that everything is fine now. Everyone in America has health care. All they have to do is go to the emergency room.
Once no one can afford private insurance due to premium hikes, then government funding cuts can affect essential hospital services – like what is happening in Australia.
Should smokers and ...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - January 28, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
Babesia Infection – Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment
Pathophysiology of Babesia Infection
1) Babesiosis is caused by the intracellular protozoan parasite Babesia microti and in Europe B. divergens 2) most severe symptoms occur in immunosuppressed, diabet6ic, splenectomized, and elderly 3) now clinically important in the USA and Candada as a coinfection of Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and Bartonella (which are all transmitted via the bite of the Ixodes tick)
Signs and Symptoms
1) acute flu-like symptoms – fever, chills, sweats, muscle pain, fatigue, arthralgias, and headache 2) petechiae 3) jaundice/dark urine 4) if occurs as coinfection with Lyme disease, the clinical ...
Source: Inside Surgery - January 27, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease atovaquone babesia babesiosis bartonella coinfection ixodes Lyme microti tick Source Type: blogs
First Case of New Deer Tick Disease Reported in U.S.
CBS New York reports that Hazel Sanchez, a New Jersey woman, is the first known case of borrelia miyamotoi, a new disease spread by ticks. The disease is spread by the same ticks that spread Lyme disease. The woman's symptoms included confusion, weakness and weight loss. Fortunately, lab technicians at Hunterdon Medical Center found the bacteria in her spinal fluid and cured her with an antibiotic. Take a look:
The bacteria was first discovered by Yale researchers in 2011. It is likely that other Americans have been made ill by the virus. The New Jersey case is the first known U.S. case.
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Source: HealthNewsBlog.com - January 25, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: tick tick-disease ticks Source Type: blogs
USMLE Questions – Characteristic Disease Findings
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is designed to emphasize knowledge of clinical scenarios and clinical pearls, even on Step I. Listed below are some commonly encountered disease findings and characteristics.
Feature
Disease
45, X chromosome
Turner’s syndrome
5-HIAA increased in urine
Carcinoid syndrome
Aganglionic rectum
Hirschsrpung’s disease
Apple-core sign on barium enema
Colon cancer
Arched back (opisthotonos)
Tetanus
Argyll-Robertson pupil
Syphilis
Ash leaf on forehead
Tuberous sclerosis
Auer rods
Acute myelogenous leukemia
Austin Flint murmur
Aortic regurgitation...
Source: Inside Surgery - January 18, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Surgpedia USMLE diseases findings VMA water hammer pulse Source Type: blogs
Bradycardia
A 60'ish male presented with 2 weeks of intermittent chest pain. He has a history of MI and renal insufficiency. Now he feels weak. His pulse is 42 with a BP of 140/35. Here is his initial ECG:What is the rhythm, and what the etiology?His charts showed he had presented to a clinic 2 months prior with chest pain and had an identical ECG which was read as "no change from old". The ECG prior to that one, however, did not have bradycardia (so there really was a change from old). The patient had been sent home from clinic.Rhythm analysis: there is a regular rhythm with a QRS that is bor...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - January 10, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Transcript of Dr. Bihari Video
00:00 to 02.26—Dr. Bihari gives his background and credentials.
Dr. Bihari: My medical training started at Harvard Medical School. I graduated in 1957. Then I trained in Internal Medicine at one of the Harvard teaching hospitals in Boston, Beth Israel, and then in Neurology at Massachusetts General in Boston. Then I went to the National Institutes of Health for two years doing brain physiology—brain research. I did another residency training in Psychiatry in New York, at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and then, over the following five or six years, I got very involved in working in Drug Addiction. By 1974, I was...
Source: HONEST MEDICINE: My Dream for the Future - May 16, 2011 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: JuliaS1573 at aol.com (Julia Schopick) Tags: Anecdotal Treatments HONEST MEDICINE Integrative Medicine Low Dose Naltrexone Obituaries Source Type: blogs
Five Things I Learned About Lyme Disease
I know, I know, this is a diabetes blog. But those of you who follow me regularly are probably aware that a new chronic illness has entered our lives - Lyme disease. My husband was diagnosed shortly after we returned from Germany last summer, and ... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - February 2, 2010 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
Another Diagnosis in the Family (Lyme Disease)
Up until now it's been all about me and my #$%@ chronic illness. That wasn't so bad, for me. Far tougher is the realization that someone you love - someone who's been the rock of your existence - may not be so invincible after all. Although noth... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - September 15, 2009 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
