Browse Infectious Disease Articles by Topic

Researchers Make the Case for STD Screening in Pediatric EDs

Considering the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in adolescents and young adults, should pediatric EDs screen for STDs when these patients present to the ED? From a cost-effectiveness standpoint, the answer is yes, according to a team of researchers who examined this issue recently.

With STDs at an All-Time High, Advocates Push Expedited Partner Therapy

While STD clinics and primary care clinicians detect and treat many of these cases, there is no question EDs play an outsize role in caring for patients with STDs, particularly among disadvantaged populations. However, evidence suggests many EDs are not using all the tools at their disposal to facilitate treatment and curb transmission.

Vaccines Are Available, but the Search for COVID-19 Therapeutics Continues

Right after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for one drug, feds pressed pause on distributing another.

Determining the ‘Culprit’ Artery

How would one interpret the ECG in the figure, obtained in the ED from a middle-aged man with new chest pain?

Aducanumab-avwa Injection (Aduhelm)

The FDA has approved a new, but controversial, treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Using Procalcitonin to Limit Antibiotic Treatment for Sepsis Reduces Infection-Related Adverse Events

By shortening the duration of antibiotic therapy, a procalcitonin-guided protocol decreased the rate of infection-associated adverse effects, decreased costs, and reduced mortality in patients with sepsis.

Air Filters and Asthma

Children with asthma showed improved small airway mechanics following indoor filtration of particulates (2.5 µm and greater) using high-efficiency particulate air filtration devices.

The Effect of Antiviral Drugs on COVID-19 Outcomes and Mortality

The WHO Solidarity Trial Consortium found remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon regimens produced “little or no effect” on relevant outcomes.

Has the Unmasked Person Beside You Been Immunized for COVID-19?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent recommendation that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can shed their masks and drop social distancing in many public situations was a bridge too far for some critics.

40 years of HIV: From Fear and Stigma to Effective Treatment

A constantly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system directly, human immunodeficiency virus was isolated as the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in 1984. There was initial optimism that a vaccine would be forthcoming, but it was not to be.