Infectious diseases endocarditis

The excessive proteins, normal or abnormal, bind to the clotting factor (nonspecific) infectious diseases (endocarditis) liver disorders cancer... 

Baddour LM, Wilson WR, Bayer AS, et al. Infective endocarditis Diagnosis, antimicrobial therapy, and management of complications a statement for healthcare professionals from the Committee on Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease, Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, and the Councils on Clinical Cardiology, Stroke, and Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia, American Heart Association endorsed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Circulation 2005 111(23) 394M34. 

Reprinted from Bayer AS, Scheld WM, Endocarditis and intravascular infections. In Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, Vol 1, 5th ed., p. 870. Copyright 2000, with permission from Elsevier. 

FIGURE 71-1. Pathogenesis of infective endocarditis. (From Scheld W. In Atlas of Infectious Diseases External Manifestations of Systemic Infections. Philadelphia Current Medicine, Inc. Copyright 1997. Used with permission.)... 

Adapted from Fowler G, Scheld WM, Bayer AJ. Endocarditis and intravascular infection. In Mandell CL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds., Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 6th Ed. New York Churchill-Livingstone, 2005, 975-1022. 

Bacteriostatic and bactericidal agents are equivalent for the treatment of most infectious diseases in immunocompetent hosts. Bactericidal agents should be selected over bacteriostatic ones in circumstances in which local or systemic host defenses are impaired. Bactericidal agents are required for treatment of endocarditis and other endovascular infections, meningitis, and infections in neutropenic cancer patients. 

Systemic lupus erythematosus Progressive systemic sclerosis Polymyositis/dermatomyositis Infectious diseases Bacterial endocarditis Tuberculosis Syphilis... 

Suggested Alternatives for Differential Diagnosis Influenza, infectious mononucleosis, hepatitis, leptospirosis, infective endocarditis, malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, ankylosing spondylitis and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, collagen vascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, malignancy, and osteomyelitis. 

Endocarditis is often referred to as either acute or subacute depending on the clinical presentation. Acute bacterial endocarditis is a fulminating infection associated with high fevers, systemic toxicity, and death within days to weeks if untreated. Subacute infectious endocarditis is a more indolent infection, usually occurring in a setting of prior valvular heart disease. 

Biofilms play key roles in several chronic human infections including infectious kidney stones, bacterial endocarditis, and cystic fibrosis lung infections, and the roles of biofilm formation in these diseases have been reviewed [27]. Biofilms also serve as environmental reservoirs for... 

There are a number of nonspecific laboratory tests that are useful to support the diagnosis of infection. The inflammatory process initiated by an infection sets up a complex of host responses. Activation of complements, such as C3a and C5a, initiates inflammation and sets off a cascade of changes and the subsequent release of mediators, all of which can be measured and monitored. Serum complement concentrations, particularly C3, usually are consumed as part of the host defense mechanism and subsequently are reduced during the early stages of an acute infectious process. Acute-phase reactants, such as the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the C-reactive protein concentration, are elevated in the presence of an inflammatory process but do not confirm the presence of infection because they are often elevated in noninfectious conditions, such as collagen-vascular diseases and arthritis. Large elevations in ESR are associated with infections such as endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and intraabdominal infections. ... 

Associations of several autoimmune diseases with atherosclerosis have been observed and a role for LDL oxidation especially in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been suggested (Frostegard et al. 2005 Hayem et al. 2001 Svenungsson et al. 2001). OxLDL forms immune complexes with p2GPI, which can be detected in the plasma of patients. OxLDL/p2GPI complexes have been demonstrated in patients with syphilis, infectious endocarditis, diabetes melli-tus, antiphospholipid syndrome and chronic nephritis, indicating that oxidation of LDL and the formation of complexes with p2GPI is not restricted to SLE. It is hypothesized that these autoantibodies accelerate the development of atherosclerosis in autoimmune patients. 

The usual infectious dose is considered to be 10 organisms through inhalation. Symptoms are not specific to the disease, and it may be mistaken for a viral illness or atypical pneumonia. The incubation period is from 10 to 20 days. Patients may experience fever, cough, and chest pain as soon as 10 days after exposure. Although somewhat rare, other symptoms that may appear include chills, headache, weakness, malaise, severe sweats, hepatitis, endocarditis, pericarditis, pneumonitis, and generalized infections. Patients are not critically iU and, in most cases, the illness lasts from 2 days to 2 weeks. 

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