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Every day, patients seek treatment for eye infections, which have a variety of causes and can affect any part of the eye. Eye infections usually are treated aggressively, because seemingly benign infections can quickly become serious and threaten vision. Symptoms that indicate an eye infection include chronic redness, persistent pruritus, flaking of the eyelid, eye discomfort or pain, blurred vision, eye discharge, and edema of ocular tissue. The following disease descriptions and case vignettes highlight a variety of eye infections, both common and uncommon, with which patients may present.

Rhodococcus equi is an emerging human pathogen. It is mostfrequently associated with pulmonary infections; however,manifestations may be protean. It can be easily mistaken fora diptheroid-like contaminant or a mycobacterium. Therefore,a high suspicion of R equi infection and specialized testing areencouraged. Vancomycin-based therapy is recommended.Because human infection with this organism is uncommon,thorough reporting will help identify further characteristicsof infection and will help in devising treatment guidelines.[Infect Med. 2008;25:391-393

A 41-year-old African American man presented with the chief complaint of a constant, dull headache for 3 days. The headache had a gradual onset and was associated with nausea and mild neck stiffness that was not relieved by acetaminophen. The man denied experiencing visual disturbances, fever, night sweats, weight loss, cough, shortness of breath, emesis, or weakness. He had no recent history of trauma or sick contacts.

AS IF WE DID NOT ALREADYknow, overcrowding and understaffingin hospitals play key rolesin the spread of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.Data culled from a literaturereview of 140 articles suggest thatovercrowding and understaffingresult in having too few staff membersserving too many patientswithout sufficient time resources.The consequences are overexposureof a single health care worker topatient contacts and lapses inhygiene on the part of health carepersonnel who literally have toomuch responsibility-among otherthings-on their hands.

Most travelers to third-world countries encounter healthrelatedproblems during their stay and may require medicalattention on returning home. Although malaria is still themost common diagnosis among travelers to the developingworld, several other infectious diseases, such as avian influenza,dengue fever, chikungunya fever, leishmaniasis, andmultidrug-resistant tuberculosis, are growing in importance.Clinicians need to stay informed about travel requirementsand vaccine recommendations for US citizens. [Infect Med.2008;25:352-386]

A new study confirmed the value of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay as a rapid method of screening for group B streptococci (GBS) colonization during parturition.1 Using real-time automated PCR assay, DNA amplification testing, and standard culture, Edwards and colleagues1 comparatively looked at the detection of GBS colonization in women who were in the 35th to 37th week of pregnancy and in women who were about to give birth. A true-positive result was defined as a positive molecular test and a positive culture finding. Compared with culture, the sensitivity rate of PCR was 91.1%, the specificity was 96.0%, the predictive value was 87.8%, the negative predictive value was 97.1%, and the accuracy was 94.8%. As anticipated, PCR assay was more sensitive than DNA amplification testing (91.1% vs 79.3%). Neither specificity, positive predictive value, nor detection of GBS prevalence was statistically divergent.

ABSTRACT: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often havepulmonary manifestations, such as interstitial lung disease.The most common cause of upper airway obstruction is cricoarytenoidarthritis. Patients often complain of a pharyngeal foreign-body sensation or hoarseness, but some present with severestridor. Bronchiolitis obliterans is characterized by a rapidonset of dyspnea and dry cough, with inspiratory rales andsqueaks on examination. This presentation, particularly in middle-aged women with seropositive disease, distinguishes bronchiolitisobliterans from other pulmonary manifestations ofRA. High-resolution CT may be more sensitive than pulmonaryfunction tests for detecting small-airways disease, and it frequentlyshows moderate to severe air trapping on expiratoryimages. (J Respir Dis. 2008;29(8):318-324)

We describe a case of sulfasalazine-induced pneumonitis ina complex medical patient.This case illustrates the potentialfor drug-induced pulmonarydisease and the vigilanceneeded in evaluating patientswith subacute respiratory decompensation.Proper recognitionand treatment mostlikely prevented the progressionof acute respiratory failureand, possibly, irreversiblelung injury or death.

A 35-year-old woman presented to the emergency department (ED) with vague abdominal complaints. The patient had a complex medical history that included diverticulosis and relapsing polychondritis. Initially, her polychondritis was limited to involvement of the ears and nose. Within the past few years, however, her polychondritis flares had been associated with progressive dyspnea, which prompted intermittent and then long-term use of high-dose oral corticosteroids.

I have seen conflicting recommendations concerning the use of throat cultures and empirical antibiotic therapy in patients with pharyngitis. When do you consider throat cultures to be indicated? Are your recommendations different for children than for adults?

What's Your Diagnosis - Continuing Medical Education Credit

Despite the availability of good clinical tools for identifying patients at risk for fracture, osteoporosis is underdiagnosed in clinical practice. This is the case even in patients who have already sustained a fragility fracture and are at very high risk for future fracture.

A 68-year-old woman was hospitalized because of confusion and agitation of sudden onset. Her history included dementia and multiple infarcts of both cerebellar hemispheres, bilateral basal ganglia, bilateral parietal lobes, and the right occipital lobe.

Infants who receive 3 additional months of treatment with the drug nevirapine are less likely to be infected with HIV by their mothers through breast-feeding (Emery G. Reuters. June 4, 2008).

This column was written in May, the month of this year that marks 25 years since the identification of the virus we now know as HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus.

Five years ago, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) conducted a case-control study in 9 sites (Italy, Spain, Northern Ireland, Poland, India, Cuba, Canada, Australia, and Sudan) of 1415 participants with cancer of the oral cavity and 255 with oropharyngeal carcinoma.1 Markers for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection were evaluated, including antibodies against HPV16 E6 and E7 proteins, which are common in cervical cancer, and HPV DNA in biopsy samples, detected by polymerase chain reaction assay.

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in HIV may be associated with multiple concurrent etiologies and with varying presentations, from chronic asymptomatic microvascular calcifications or vascular anomalies to intracerebral hemorrhage to thrombotic stroke.

In September 2006, the CDC recommended that the interpretation of "general consent" for medical care include HIV screening, which eliminated the need for a separate, written consent.