#infectious disease
Too funny
In case you’ve been here with the love of your life – here’s the Medblr Master Post on tick removal and prevention.
Happy Spring everyone…
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Finished coloured pencil illustration - portrait of a man with leishmaniasis - by @claire_carswell
This is mucocutaneous leishmaniasis - a neglected tropical disease caused by the trypanosome parasite Leishmania, spread through sandfly bites. There are different types of leishmaniasis, ranging from mostly cutaneous presentations, to visceral leishmaniasis - which causes liver failure and death. This disease is treatable, but because the vast majority of people who are impacted by it live in incredibly impoverished areas, too many people are disfigured, disabled or killed by it.
A baaaaaaad bug, Pseudomonas aeruginosa…the number one cause of death in patients with cystic fibrosis, so make sure you know how to properly treat it!
download all of my med school study guides here!
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When Viruses Become More Virulent
The evolution of virulence depends on the biology and interplay of infection and transmission, writes Joel O. Wertheim, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine, in the journal Science.
Virulence is the degree to which a pathogen weakens, sickens or kills its host. More virulent pathogens may be less transmissible because in killing its host, it reduces the opportunity for transmission. But both virulence and transmissibility are forever linked: To maintain or increase infectiousness, a pathogen must be virulent.
In his Science article, Wertheim describes the emergence of a more virulent and transmissible variant of HIV that has spread to 102 known cases, mostly in the Netherlands. These findings, he says, have relevance to SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s possible that the coronavirus is evolving toward a more benign, highly transmissible infection, similar to common cold viruses, but that outcome is not guaranteed.
SARS-CoV-2 has displayed an extraordinary ability to rapidly alter its transmissibility and virulence, and how those two factors interact over the coming months will dictate whether SARS-CoV-2 will benignly fade away or continue to be an evolving, global public health threat.
– Scott LaFee
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