Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases

Cambridge University Press, 2008-06-30
EAN 9780521871761, ISBN10: 052187176X

Hardcover, 576 pages, 28.6 x 22.5 x 2.9 cm
Language: English

Infectious disease ranks only behind trauma in the prevalence of cases seen on a daily basis in the emergency room and takes lives from every culture and socioeconomic class. The changing epidemiology of infectious diseases is a considerable challenge to any physician, as acute, nearly eradicated, and tropical diseases now enter American emergency rooms on a daily basis. This book is a new clinically oriented reference book for the management of such infections in the emergency room and focuses on all diagnostic protocols and treatment strategies that emergency room physicians need to be proficient in when managing patients battling infectious disease. The orientation of the book is uniquely organ-based, with coverage of all viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic disease. The narrative is supplemented with explanatory photos, diagnostic tables, and charts of drug regimens and will prove an invaluable reference for physicians confronting the various manifestations of infectious disease.

"A very useful reference that belongs in every emergency room physician's library...It does a wonderful job by combining clinical findings and physical tests with helpful illustrations...Should be read and re-read by practicing emergency room physicians. It compares favorably to the old standbys." --Doody's Review Service "With over 80 nationally and internationally esteemed contributors, Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases, edited by Rachel Chin, provides a practical, clinically oriented systems-based overview of viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic diseases with an emphasis on emergent diagnosis and treatment...Each disease-oriented chapter reviews epidemiology and pathophysiology, clinical features, differential diagnosis, laboratory and radiographic findings, treatment and prophylaxis, complications and admission criteria, and pearls and pitfalls. While brief, the chapter reviewing antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral agents provides user-friendly tables listing indications for use, as well as potential toxicities and need for dosage adjustment in renal or hepatic failure. Identification of the specific causative microorganism by the microbiology lab may allow selection of targeted pharmacologic agents, thereby decreasing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Thus, the importance of ordering the correct laboratory test and interpreting the results accurately can not be emphasized enough, and the chapter that reviews the various types of tests offered by the laboratory and the indications for testing is quite useful. Clearly, the strength of the text is its breadth of coverage...the text is an excellent and thorough adjunct resource for the emergency physician who confronts a broad spectrum of infectious disease." --Annals of Emergency Medicine