Infectious Diseases
Lyle D. Broemeling in Bayesian Analysis of Infectious Diseases, 2021
Many infectious diseases are contagious; that is, the disease can be passed between people. To contract certain infectious diseases someone only needs to be in contact with someone who has the disease, or one can catch the disease by eating or drinking from contaminated utensils. Someone can be a carrier in several ways. One can be an asymptomatic carrier or have a disease without ever developing its symptoms. It is possible for one to be an incubatory carrier and pass on the pathogens at any time during the hidden incubation period. One can be a convalescent carrier and transmit some of the infectious organisms remaining in the body even after recovery. It stands to reason that anyone suffering the frank symptoms of a contagion can pass it on to others while the disease is running its course. The following tables contain information about many of the present and now common global infections. As in the case of all diseases, certain symptoms may or may not be present. In addition, the tables are for general information and not for self-diagnosis of any disease (Table 3.1).
Liver disorders and gallstones
Martin Andrew Crook in Clinical Biochemistry & Metabolic Medicine, 2013
Viral hepatitis may be associated with many viral infections, such as infectious mononucleosis (Epstein–Barr virus), rubella and cytomegalovirus. However, the term is most commonly used to describe three principal types of viral infection in which the clinical features of the acute illness are very similar, although they have a different incubation period: Hepatitis A (‘infectious hepatitis’), transmitted by the faecal–oral route as a food-borne infection, is relatively common in schools and other institutions and has an incubation period of between 15 and 45 days. Relapses may occur, but it rarely progresses to chronic hepatitis.Hepatitis B (‘serum hepatitis’) is transmitted by blood products and other body fluids; it occurs more sporadically than hepatitis A. It has a longer incubation period, of between 40 and 180 days. Some patients may be anicteric; some may develop fulminant hepatitis or chronic active hepatitis and later cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma. They may become asymptomatic carriers of the disease.Hepatitis C (non-A, non-B hepatitis), which may be the result of sexual transmission or the transfusion of blood products, has an incubation period of between 15 and 50 days. It may progress to cirrhosis.
Current Epidemiological and Clinical Features of COVID-19; a Global Perspective From China
William C. Cockerham, Geoffrey B. Cockerham in The COVID-19 Reader, 2020
In general, the emergence of an infectious disease comprises three vital elements: infectious source, transmission route, and susceptible population.23 At present, SARS-CoV-2-infected patients are the main source of infection, producing a large quantity of virus in the upper respiratory tract during a prodrome period.24 Because of the mild clinical symptoms during the incubation period, patients can remain mobile and carry out routine activities, leading to the spread of infection. Asymptomatic carriers can also be a source of infection.25 The incubation period of the disease is 1–14 days, usually 3–7 days, and can even reach 24 days, making it difficult to screen for infections. Additionally, the disease is mainly spread by respiratory droplets and contact. Infections among 14 health workers confirmed the disease’s high infectivity and raised concerns that some people may be “super spreaders” of the virus.26
Epidemiology of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Africa in review
Published in Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2018
To date, STEC O157:H7 has been reported to cause intestinal and extra-intestinal disease symptoms in humans. Disease symptoms may take different forms such as diarrhoea,17 haemorrhagic colitis13,19 or haemolytic uremic syndrome.13 Haemolytic uremic syndrome, which is characterised by thrombocytopenia, haemolytic anaemia and nephropathy, may come as a complication of STEC O157H7 infection following prolonged illness or sometimes disease management such as the use of antibiotics.73 However, some humans do not show signs of disease despite infection and these are known as asymptomatic carriers.24,74 Disease syndromes by STEC O157:H7 in Africa have been reported to take the form of an epidemic13,16 whereby the 1992 outbreak in Swaziland and South Africa are reported to be the largest in Africa.75 However, sporadic forms of the disease have posed a threat to public health as well.19
Pathogenic gene variants identified in patients with retinitis pigmentosa at the referral center clinic of the University of Minnesota (UMN)
Published in Ophthalmic Genetics, 2023
Richard Sather, Jacie Ihinger, Tahsin Khundkar, Sandra R. Montezuma
With reference to Figure 1, there were 58/127 (45.7) patients in our cohort that did not have a diagnostic pathogenic variant identified who underwent genetic testing. 22/127 (17.3%) patients had only VUS (column 2) and 8/127 (6.3%) had negative results (column 3). For the remaining 28 patients (columns 1b and 1c), they had a pathogenic variant identified, but were not diagnostic for two reasons. For the 13/127 patients (column 1b), only one known pathogenic variant was found, while the corresponding allele was classified as VUS. To meet diagnostic criteria, both alleles must be identified as pathogenic and cis/trans configuration must be determined. The second reason was that the other 15/97 patients (column 1c) had a single pathogenic variant identified in an autosomal recessive gene. These patients would be considered asymptomatic carriers for that disease, and testing was otherwise non-diagnostic.
The sensitivity of DPD scintigraphy to detect transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis in V30M mutation depends on the phenotypic expression of the disease
Published in Amyloid, 2020
Maria C. Azevedo Coutinho, Nuno Cortez-Dias, Guilhermina Cantinho, Susana Gonçalves, Miguel Nobre Menezes, Tatiana Guimarães, Gustavo Lima da Silva, Ana Rita Francisco, João Agostinho, Laura Santos, Isabel Conceição, Fausto J. Pinto
In the recent multicenter study, DPD scintigraphy was compared with endomyocardial biopsy in 244 patients with different types of cardiac amyloidosis and showed a sensitivity of >99% (161/162) and a specificity of 64% (53/82) for ATTR amyloid, with false positives scans due almost exclusively to cardiac uptake in patients with AL amyloidosis [24]. The study included 48 patients with ATTRV30M amyloidosis, 23 showed no cardiac radiotracer uptake and 25 had positive scans. The authors did not evaluate the results according to the age of onset of symptoms or the duration of the disease nor did they provide details on the proportion of asymptomatic carriers. The median age of patients without cardiac retention was 37 years whereas in those with abnormal uptake was 68 years old. These values are in agreement with our observations. Similarly, the authors concluded that younger ATTRV30M patients had predominantly neuropathic phenotype without cardiac amyloidosis, while older patients tend to have amyloid cardiomyopathy. It seems that the vast majority of young patients had no cardiac involvement, which prevented them from detecting the limitations of scintigraphy in that particular subpopulation.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Cholera
- Hepatitis
- Typhoid Fever
- Infection
- Pathogen
- Signs & Symptoms
- HIV/AIDS
- Clostridioides Difficile Infection
- Covid-19
- Cell-Mediated Immunity