As far as modern-day villains go, a side salad may not seem all that menacing. Yet researchers now believe that such salads – or more specifically, the contaminated sprouts they contained – were behind the terrifying outbreak of bloody diarrhea and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in Northern Germany this past May. The likely chain of events,… Read More…
In a prospective cohort study of patients admitted to hospitals in Quebec and Ontario, 2.8% of patients had Clostridium difficile infection and 3.0% had asymptomatic C. difficile colonization during hospitalization. Most patients with C. difficile infection had the NAP1 strain. Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of health care-associated infectious diarrhea. After exposure to C…. Read More…
Rotaviruses cause more than half a million deaths each year, and approximately 23 percent of these deaths occur in India. There are two vaccines available for use to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants and children: RotaTeq and Rotarix. But RotaTeq was introduced in India only earlier this year, and access to it is limited. Oral… Read More…
In this week’s Case Record of the Massachusetts General Hospital, a 30-year-old man was seen in the emergency room because of the acute onset of diarrhea 2 days after his return from a trip to the Caribbean. He was afebrile, and the diarrhea was watery without blood. A diagnostic test was performed. Diarrhea is a… Read More…
