Microbiology Nuts & Bolts
  • Home
  • Basic Concepts
    • What is infection?
    • Normal flora
    • Diagnosing infection
  • Microbiology
    • Basic bacterial identification
    • Interpreting bacteriology results
    • Interpreting serology results
  • Infection Control
    • What is infection control?
    • Universal precautions
    • MRSA
    • Clostridium difficile
  • Clinical Scenarios
    • Respiratory infections
    • Urinary infections
    • GI infections >
      • D&V
      • CDAD
    • CNS infections
    • Skin & bone infections
    • Sepsis
  • Antibiotics
    • Antimicrobial Stewardship
    • How antibiotics work
    • How to choose an antibiotic?
    • Reviewing antibiotics
    • Antibiotic resistance
    • Testing antibiotic resistance
    • Penicillin allergy
    • Theraputic Drug Monitoring
  • Guidelines
  • Lectures & Lecture Notes
    • Medical Students
    • Curriculum for the Foundation Program
    • Foundation Year 1
    • Foundation Year 2
    • Other Lectures
  • The Bug Blog
  • Buy the book...
  • NEW Edition Updates
  • Peer Reviews
  • Our Facebook page
  • Want to know more?
  • Contact

4 Key Points to Diagnosing, Investigating & Treating Tropical Infections

24/2/2014

 
Fever in a Returned Traveller
Having been asked by junior doctors to help them diagnose fever in returned travellers, I thought I’d blog. Essentially most microbiologists follow the British Infection Society’s 2009 recommendations for fever in returned travellers. This document is very detailed, however it is not really a handy aid for the ward based doctor, so something simpler, based upon travel destination could be used.


Read More

No One is Immune to Malaria

18/2/2014

 
According to the WHO about 3.3 billion people (half of the world's population) are at risk of malaria; globally there are over 200 million cases a year with an estimated 660,000 deaths.

In the UK, there are on average 1,600 cases and 7 deaths per year. It is not particularly common therefore it is easily missed. Any patient/returned traveller who has visited an endemic country (see map) who presents with a fever and flu-like symptoms should have malaria on the differential diagnosis for what might be causing their illness.

Read More

How to Remember Antibiotic Spectrums of Activity?

11/2/2014

 
Antibiotic Spectrum of Activity
I am often asked “how can doctors remember the different
antibiotic spectrums of activity”? This is a difficult task as there are so many. Personally I have never found lists of medical information that helpful, I would much rather come up with a mnemonic. However, I’m stumped for a mnemonic to remember antibiotic spectrum of activity, so a list it must be. What I have done though is reduce a very long list into six short related lists, which I hope are easier to remember.


Read More

9 points to learning how antibiotics work and how resistance occurs

5/2/2014

 
Many medical students I teach are desperate to know how
antibiotics work and how resistance to these antibiotics occurs. I try to reassure them that this knowledge is not really necessary for being a good doctor, unless you want to become a Microbiologist; I can only assume this question is asked a lot in medical school exams.

First, a quick reminder of the anatomy of bacteria. The flagella and plasmid have no role in antibiotic mechanisms of action or how bacteria mount resistance.

Read More

    RSS Feed

    Blog Author:

    David Garner
    Consultant Microbiologist
    Surrey, UK

    Please DO NOT advertise products and conferences on our website or blog

    Categories

    All
    Antibiotic Resistance
    Antibiotics
    Basic Concepts
    Clinical Scenarios
    Guidelines
    Infection Control
    In The News
    Microbiology

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All
    Antibiotic Resistance
    Antibiotics
    Basic Concepts
    Clinical Scenarios
    Guidelines
    Infection Control
    In The News
    Microbiology

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.