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Azulfidine

By I. Olivier. Ohio Valley College.

Vaccination significantly reduces the risk of bacteremia of any cause beyond the postoperative period cheap azulfidine 500 mg fast delivery, and vaccinated patients carry a lower risk of infection than non-vaccinated ones (57) proven 500 mg azulfidine. Pneumococcal Vaccine Efficacy of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in preventing postsplenectomy infections has not been determined. Most virulent pneumococcal serotypes tend to be the least immunogenic, and the efficacy of vaccine is poorest in younger patients who would be at the highest risk (58,59). Studies indicate that 30% to 60% postsplenectomy patients never receive the pneumococcal vaccine (55,56). Pneumococcal vaccination should be performed at least two weeks before an elective splenectomy (60). If this could not be done then patients should be vaccinated as soon as possible after surgical recovery and before discharge from hospital. Unimmunized patients who are splenectomized should be immunized at the first opportunity. The immunogenicity of the vaccine is reduced if it is given after splenectomy or while the patient is receiving cancer therapy (58). For this reason the manufacturer recommends that the immunization be delayed for at least six months following immunosuppressive chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Revaccination is recommended for persons two years of age or older who are at highest risk for serious pneumococcal infections. Revaccination in three years may be Severe Infections in Asplenic Patients in Critical Care 355 considered in asplenic individuals two years or older. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is used for routine vaccination of children younger than 24 months and children 24 to 59 months with high-risk medical conditions including asplenia (61). In order to expand the spectrum of protection against pneumococcal disease, consideration should be given to use of both vaccines in all age groups. Haemophilus Influenzae type B Vaccine The Haemophilus vaccine has been shown to be immunogenic in patients with impaired splenic function associated with sickle cell anemia (62). The specific concentration of antibody required in patients lacking a spleen is not known. Previously non- vaccinated persons older than 59 months having high-risk condition like functional or anatomic asplenia should be given at least one pediatric dose of a HiB conjugate vaccine (63). Meningococcal Vaccine The quadrivalent, unconjugated capsular meningococcal vaccine (type A, C, Y, and W135) is immunogenic in the asplenic patient but less so in those patients who are also treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy (64). Vaccine is recommended for persons with increased risk of meningococcal disease, including persons with functional or anatomical asplenia. The efficacy and importance of meningococcal vaccination in splenectomized individuals is unknown. The antibody levels rapidly decline in two to three years and postsplenectomy patients will always be at risk, revaccination may be considered five years after receipt of the first dose. The quadrivalent conjugated meningococcal vaccine is used for routine immuni- zation of adolescents and persons 2 to 55 years of age who are at increased risk of meningococcal disease, which includes asplenia (65). The exact duration of protection is unknown but is longer than polysaccharide vaccine. Influenza Vaccine Annual administration of influenza virus vaccine is recommended in asplenic or hyposplenic individuals to prevent the primary disease as well as complications of secondary bacterial infections (33). Chemoprophylaxis The first one to three years after splenectomy is the most important time for the risk of infection and mortality. Therefore, the institution of antibiotic prophylaxis in this period is likely to reduce morbidity and mortality. The risk of infection declines significantly beyond that time, and continuing antibiotic prophylaxis would provide lesser benefits. Since most patients are unwilling to take antibiotics lifelong, they should be persuaded to take antibiotics for at least three years, in addition to vaccines as described above. The likelihood of a second or third infection is high in the first six months after a first infection and antibiotic prophylaxis could offer the most benefit in this period for patients who have had a first severe infection (66). Some guidelines advocate continuing the antibiotic prophylaxis in children for five years or until the age of 21. Compliance is a problem in long-term prophylaxis in adults as is the inevitable selection for colonization with nonsusceptible pathogens. A single daily dose of penicillin or amoxicillin is the regimen of choice, but these antibiotics will not protect against organisms resistant to penicillin. Cefotaxime or ceftriaxone have been recommended as presumptive treatment for symptomatic patients who have been taking antibiotic prophylaxis or those with strains known to show intermediate resistance to penicillin (33,67). Self-treatment The other strategy is the provision of standby antipneumococcal antibiotics, i. Working party of the British Committee for Standards in Hematology Clinical Hematology Task Force. Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of infection in patients with an absent or dysfunctional spleen. Purpura fulminans and symmetrical peripheral gangrene caused by Capnocytophaga canimorsus septicemia: a complication of dog bite. An asplenic woman with evidence of sepsis and diffuse intravascular coagulation after a dog bite.

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Enteric fever is most commonly due to Salmonella typhi discount 500 mg azulfidine visa, but also can be caused by S cheap 500 mg azulfidine free shipping. A larger proportion (69%) has been imported during foreign travel especially from Mexico and India (98). Confirmatory diagnosis of typhoid fever requires blood culture isolation that is positive in approximately 80% of cases or approximately 90% with bone marrow culture (97,101). Stool and urine cultures are occasionally positive, 37% and 7%, respectively, but do not constitute definitive evidence of systemic infection. Adjunctive therapy with high-dose corticosteroids has been shown to decrease mortality in severely ill typhoid fever patients with delirium, obtundation, coma, or shock (104). The majority (95%) of amebic liver abscesses will present within the first two to five years after leaving the endemic region (93,105,106). The differential diagnosis must also include bacterial liver abscess, echinococcal cyst, and hepatoma. Therapy with parenteral metronidazole results in mortality rates of <1% in uncomplicated liver abscesses (93). However, complicated amebic liver abscesses with extension into the thoracic cavity, peritoneum, or pericardium have case-fatality rates of 6. Dysentery and Severe Gastrointestinal Fluid Losses Dysentery is characterized by a toxic appearance, fever, lower abdominal pain, tenesmus, and frequent small-volume loose stools containing blood and/or mucus with large numbers of fecal leukocytes on microscopic exam. Etiologies of dysentery can be divided into amebic (Entamoeba histolytica) versus bacillary [Shigella spp. Shigellosis is the most common etiology and is associated with fatality rates as high as 9% in indigenous populations in endemic regions and 20% during S. Predictive factors associated with increased risk of death in shigellosis (age older than one year, diminished serum total protein, thrombocytopenia, and altered consciousness) reflect the importance of sepsis in shigellosis-related deaths (108). Diarrhea-related mortality in noninflammatory diarrhea has been significantly reduced globally with the institution of oral rehydration therapy. Dysentery-related deaths have not been significantly reduced and require antimicrobial therapy and supportive intensive care in addition to appropriate rehydration (106,107,109,110). Noninflammatory diarrhea due to cholera may present in a returning traveler with life- threatening dehydrating illness with profound fluid and electrolyte deficits (111). Imported Vibrio cholerae is rare in the United States; however, an appreciation of regional risks of epidemic strains (El Tor in South/Central America and Africa, non-O1 V. Fulminant Hepatitis Fulminant hepatitis manifests as severe acute liver failure with jaundice and hepatic encephalopathy (112). Hepatitis B accounts for 30% to 60% with coinfection with delta virus in 30% to 40% that has been demonstrated to increase disease severity (116). Hepatitis C association with fulminant non-A, non-B hepatitis has been reported in Japan but is very uncommon in Western countries (117,118). Hepatitis E, a virus transmitted via an enteric route, has an increased fatality rate in pregnant women (119). Early indicators of a poor prognosis and the potential need for liver transplantation in viral hepatitis include age <11 years or >40 years, duration of jaundice before onset of encephalopathy less than seven days, serum bilirubin >300 mmol/L, and prothrombin time >50 seconds (120). Early diagnosis of acute hepatitis is important, given evidence of specific benefit from antiviral therapies including lamivudine in acute Hepatitis B and interferon therapy for Hepatitis C (121–125). Other less common causes of fulminant hepatitis include Yellow fever virus and leptospirosis. A resurgence in yellow fever in Africa and South America emphasize the continued threat from this agent for unvaccinated travelers (126). Severe yellow fever is fatal in >50% of cases and continues to be a cause of deaths in returning travelers (127–130). Leptospirosis has widespread distribution and is usually transmitted to humans through contact with surface water contaminated with urine from infected animals (131). Travelers returning with leptospirosis typically present with a mild or moderate illness. A recent randomized controlled trial demonstrated equal efficacy of seven-day intravenous therapy with ceftriaxone (1 g daily) and penicillin G (1. Fever with Eosinophilia Eosinophilia in the returning traveler is not uncommon and requires an initial assessment of 3 the absolute eosinophil count (eosinophilia >450/mm ), consideration if travel-related (i. Critically important is a determination of whether the eosinophilia is related to the patient’s current symptoms since most causes of eosinophilia in travelers result in either asymptomatic or mild disease; although the predictive value of peripheral eosinophilia has limitations (139). A tenet of tropical infectious diseases is that patients may present with multiple infections, an acutely ill traveler with moderate eosinophilia may have malaria as the cause of the symptoms and asymptomatic hookworm infection as the etiology of the eosinophilia. Infectious etiologies of fever and eosinophilia that may present with potentially life-threatening illnesses include acute schistosomiasis (acute serum sickness-like disease termed Katayama fever or acute neurologic sequelae of myelitis or encephalitis), visceral larva migrans, tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, acute fascioliasis, and acute trichinosis (138). Schistosomiasis is the most common of these infections with reported high infection rates (mean 77%) in groups of travelers exposed to fresh water in endemic regions occasionally resulting in severe acute infection approximately four to eight weeks postexposure (140–142). Definitive diagnosis of schistosomiasis requires identi- fication of the ova in stool, urine, or tissue specimens.

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