Cases in Clinical Infectious Disease Practice

In the era of cost cutting and lack of adequate health insurance for many patients, clinical skills and time spent with patients are not adequately compensated. Yet, these dwindling and underpaid skills good history taking, observation of and listening to patients, and physical examination of patients remain very essential to making and reaching a complete and accurate diagnosis. Expensive laboratory and imaging diagnostics while very relevant, should not replace these age–old skills that have served to enhance and maintain the doctor–patient relationship and human connection, a connection that is often necessary for healing.

Cases in Clinical Infectious Disease Practice uses case studies to illustrate how the infectious disease clinician processes and integrates data to arrive at a diagnosis. This type of hands–on approach, invaluable in training programs, is utilized to take the reader through initial patient encounter, through the history and physical examination, to simple laboratory findings and stains, to a final diagnosis, in a way that is easily accessible to clinicians, students, and laboratory personnel working with clinical specimens.

 Appeals to practitioners of all levels, with focus on patients with common problems or complications of common infections without heavy technical language
 Emphasizes basic clinical skills including history taking, observation, epidemiology, and physical exam, as well as simple laboratory tests, explaining how they lead to a reasonable diagnosis
 Presents cases seen first–hand within the community setting, reflective of cases or situations a resident or student is likely to encounter in the real world after training

Cases in Clinical Infectious Disease Practice is an essential resource for clinicians, graduate and medical school students, and others conducting medical and clinical microbiology or infectious disease research on real patients.

About the Author
Okechukwu Ekenna, MD, MPH, D(ABMM), FACP is a Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Singing River Health System, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula, MS, USA and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL, USA

Acknowledgments
Preface/Introduction
How the book should be used and understood
Section One: Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
Section Two: Fever of Unknown Origin and Drug Induced Fever
Section Three: Dermatologic Manifestations of Infectious and Non–Infectious Diseases
Section Four: Diseases Acquired Through Close Contact with Animals
Section Five: Travel–associated Blood–borne Parasitic Infection
Section Six: Gulf Coast Tick Rash Illness
Section Seven: Acute and Chronic Subcutaneous Fungal Infections
Section Eight: Endocarditis with Unusual Organisms or Characteristics
Section Nine: Severe Systemic Fungal & Other Infections in AIDS Patients
Section Ten: Toxic Manifestations of Infectious and Non–infectious Diseases
Section Eleven: Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Seen Post Hurricane Katrina
Section Twelve: Miscellaneous Other Infections
Index
About the Author: (see inside cover)

––The cases presented were seen between 1997 and 2012, a 15 year period, and include inpatients and outpatients.

––The presentations reflect the time and period during which the patients (cases) were encountered. Diagnostic and treatment modalities, therefore, reflect those available at the time and place of care.

––All of these cases were consultations provided to physicians practicing in the community setting (whether hospital–based or in office practice).

––All personal identifiers have been removed (including names of institutions where care was provided), in order to protect the identity of the patients.  However, the dates of patient encounters (consults) have been included for context, as well as the season of the year, as these may be important epidemiologic clues to making a correct diagnosis.

––At the end of each case presentation, simple diagnostic clues will be addressed and any lessons learnt from the case.