Category: Infectious disease

Unveiling the unseen: the hidden costs of health care-associated infections

Many aspects of health care-associated infections are unseen. The bacteria that cause infections like C. difficile or catheter-associated urinary tract infections are invisible to the naked eye. Beyond the financial burdens of additional treatment and …

Eating our way to the next pandemic

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the first case of H5N1 avian influenza in a human who contracted the virus not from a bird but from an infected dairy cow. The next pandemic could be around the corner, and the food we choose to pu…

Long COVID and your brain: the effect of virus and vaccines

A bunch of symptoms, which may persist many months or even years after an acute COVID infection has cleared, have been described in the medical literature with increasing frequency since the onset of the pandemic. This constellation of findings has bee…

A critical care physician’s journey through long COVID [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join us for an insightful podcast episode featuring Sonali Mantoo, a critical care physician, as she shares her personal journey through long COVID. From her experience on…

Biotechnology and biological warfare [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We welcome Ketan Desai, a physician executive, as we’ll delve into the fascinating and concerning realm of biological warfare and bioterrorism. Join us as we explore…

When physicians disagree with medical journals [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join infectious disease physician Sami El-Dalati as we delve into the complex issues surrounding medical literature and clinical guidelines. Sami sheds light on the challe…

A potential discovery of highly fatal SARS coronavirus?

Has a highly fatal SARS coronavirus already been discovered? Maybe yes, but just its report is highly concerning. On January 4, 2024, a letter to the editor was uploaded to a preprint server which gave too few details but described a 100 percent fatal …

Sepsis protocols coupled with rapid host response technologies are the key to improving patient outcomes

Patients come into the emergency department (ED) with symptoms, not diagnoses. That’s when time is of the essence. Clinicians must quickly triage patients and establish an appropriate care pathway to obtain the best possible outcome. The time-sen…

Critical care physician battles long COVID with hope and grit

I recognize your anguish. Long COVID is new, and I will do my best to support you through this new and confusing illness. This is all I wanted to hear in my countless doctor’s visits. Some came close. The rest were baffled, given how healthy I wa…

Why the medical community should be invested in understanding chronic wasting disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible prion disease seen in the deer family – including mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, and moose – in countries throughout the world. The prion affects nervous system tissue in infected animals. E…