2020–2021 BCSC Basic and Clinical Science Course™
1 Update on General Medicine
Chapter 14: Infectious Diseases
Highlights
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Vancomycin-resistant strains of enterococci and staphylococci are a significant cause of life-threatening infection in hospitalized patients.
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DNA probes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) provide more sensitive diagnostic tools for detecting gonorrhea, syphilis, and Lyme disease, as well as chlamydial, mycobacterial, fungal, and many viral infections.
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Treatment of patients in the early stages of HIV infections has improved. All individuals between the ages of 15 and 65 years should be screened for HIV.
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The treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis consists of intravitreal ganciclovir or foscarnet and oral valganciclovir.
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Newer antibiotics such as ansamycin, ceftaroline, ceftobiprole, daptomycin, delafloxacin, evernimicin, linezolid, teicoplanin, telithromycin, and quinupristin/dalfopristin provide expanded antimicrobial coverage over previous antibiotics and offer treatment options for multidrug-resistant infections. Teixobactin appears to represent an entirely new class of antibiotic.
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Zika virus and Ebola virus have emerged recently as causes of significant ocular disease.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 1 - Update on General Medicine. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.