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Latest Infectious Diseases Articles on PCE's The Exchange
Influenza Forecast 2021-2022
Posted By: 
Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
September 28, 2021
Influenza activity for the 2020-2021 season was extremely low, due to several factors. As last year's flu season occurred during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several important preventive measures were in place to help "slow the spread" of the coronavirus, and not surprisingly, these measures prevented widespread influenza in the US. These measures included masking; social distancing; avoiding large crowds—especially indoors—spending more time outdoors; self-monitoring for symptoms (with... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
FDA Rules on COVID Booster Shot - 09/17/2021
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
September 24, 2021
In a meeting last week, a panel of advisors to the Food and Drug Administration recommended against widespread approval of a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Public Health
The COVID-19 Delta Variant: What We Know Now
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
August 10, 2021
Just when I was feeling somewhat "bullet-proof" against COVID-19—having received the mRNA vaccine doses in December 2020 and January 2021—well, I’m not... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
CDC Data and Clinical Considerations for Additional COVID Vaccine Doses in Immunocompromised People
Posted By: 
Mary Knudtson, DNSc, NP, FAAN
August 04, 2021
There has been discussion of whether people with immunocompromising conditions should receive a 3rd dose of the mRNA COVID vaccine. The CDC presented at the... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Public Health
What to Do With Patients who Report Allergic Symptoms Following the First Dose of an mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine
Posted By: 
Amanda Michaud, MMS, PA-C
July 16, 2021
A major concern to public health officials is incomplete vaccination with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine series. One reason for incomplete vaccination is if patie... Continue Reading
Filed under: Allergy/Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine
Post-COVID Health Conditions
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
June 08, 2021
As we climb out of this pandemic, a new syndrome is emerging: Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC), also known as post-COVID conditions or long... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
An Exciting Prospect for an Old SSRI in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Posted By: 
Richard S. Pope, PA-C, MPAS
May 25, 2021
Can an old selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), fluvoxamine, prevent individuals infected with COVID-19 from severe clinical decompensation? This 4... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Miscellaneous
COVID-19 Infection: Matters of the Heart
Posted By: 
Ylenia A. Quiaoit, DNP, ACNP-BC
April 20, 2021
Though the respiratory tract is the main target of COVID-19, its potential impact on the cardiovascular (CV) system is a very serious matter, portending a hi... Continue Reading
Filed under: Cardiometabolic, Infectious Diseases
Pandemic Influenza H5N8 Has Jumped From Birds to Humans
Posted By: 
Lawrence Herman, DMSc, MPA, PA-C
March 16, 2021
Just when we all thought that the new COVID-19 variants now circulating in the US from the UK (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351) were our biggest concerns,... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Common ECG Manifestations of COVID-19
Posted By: 
Ben Taylor, PA-C, PhD, DFAAPA
March 02, 2021
Since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the focus has been on the respiratory system, but COVID-19 can also cause a multitude of cardiac compli... Continue Reading
Filed under: Cardiometabolic, Infectious Diseases
My Experience With COVID-19 – An NP’s Perspective, Part 2
Posted By: 
Martha Kingman, FNP-C, DNP
February 05, 2021
In my previous post, I wrote about becoming ill with COVID-19 and how the initial symptoms impacted me. In this post, I'll be discussing home care tips that... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, NPs & PAs, Pulmonary Medicine
My Experience With COVID-19 – An NP’s Perspective, Part 1
Posted By: Martha Kingman, FNP-C, DNP
February 02, 2021
Even as an NP practicing 20 years in a pulmonary clinic, I was not prepared for how ill I became when I contracted COVID-19 just after Christmas 2020. ... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, NPs & PAs, Pulmonary Medicine
CDC Releases an Update to Sexually Transmitted Infection Treatment
Posted By: 
Lawrence Herman, DMSc, MPA, PA-C
January 15, 2021
We have all been so focused on COVID-19 that many of us missed the updated guidelines on the treatment of two sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Nei... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Women's Health
Another COVID-19 Vaccine Approved!
Posted By: 
Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
January 08, 2021
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by the FDA on December 11, 2020 for any person aged 16 years and older. This vaccine requires everyone to receive tw... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Out of the Woods? Considerations and Follow-up for When COVID Goes Away
Posted By: 
Daniel Thibodeau, MHP, PA-C
December 18, 2020
As we approach the 1-year mark of COVID becoming globally prominent, we are, unfortunately, also getting into the next surge of cases. At some point, this de... Continue Reading
Filed under: Cardiometabolic, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Will You Get a COVID-19 Vaccine?
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, DMSc, MPA, PA-C
November 27, 2020
In a post earlier this week, I wrote about public skepticism concerning COVID-19 vaccines, with some surveys showing an estimated 50-50 split in terms of whe... Continue Reading
Filed under: Allergy/Immunology, Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Public Health
COVID-19 Vaccine Trials: Reality Check
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, DMSc, MPA, PA-C
November 24, 2020
There is both good and bad news with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials. As a preface, know that approximately 90% of vaccine trials fail to lead... Continue Reading
Filed under: Allergy/Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Public Health
The 2020 Pandemic Thanksgiving: Creating a “Safer” Gathering for Family and Friends
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
November 20, 2020
What is the best plan for safely gathering with family and/or friends this Thanksgiving, given the ongoing pandemic and rising numbers of hospitalizations an... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
The 2020 Pandemic Thanksgiving: Creating a “Safer” Setting for the Big Meal
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
November 17, 2020
What are some options for hosting a Thanksgiving meal with family and/or friends, while reducing some of the known risks associated with sharing meals? Infec... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Cutaneous Manifestations of COVID-19
Posted By: 
Lakshi M. Aldredge, MSN, ANP-BC, DCNP
November 13, 2020
The COVID-19 virus has certainly perplexed the medical world with its various clinical presentations, responses to treatment, and the devastating toll it has... Continue Reading
Filed under: Dermatology, Infectious Diseases
What Is the Difference Between the Flu and COVID-19?
Posted By: Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
October 23, 2020
With flu season right around the corner, healthcare providers are going to be challenged with differentiating flu from COVID-19. Th... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
ACR Recommendations for Adult Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Context of COVID-19
Posted By: Richard S. Pope, PA-C, MPAS
October 09, 2020
Since COVID-19 will continue to be with us for some time, patients on disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may discontinue therapy on their own due... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology
Recommending Isolation and Quarantine Timeframes for Coronavirus: Why Is There So Much Confusion?
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
August 18, 2020
I have been working in a drive-through coronavirus testing site since March; part of this entails calling patients with positive COVID-19 test results to dis... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Skin Manifestations of COVID-19
Posted By: 
Kristine Kucera, PA-C, MPAS, DHS
July 28, 2020
By now it is well known that COVID-19 is an illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that may lead to serious respiratory disease. The most common sy... Continue Reading
Filed under: Dermatology, Infectious Diseases
Would You Volunteer to Enroll in a COVID-19 Vaccine Trial?
Posted By: 
Lawrence Herman, PA-C, MPA
July 10, 2020
There are more than 160 COVID-19 vaccines currently in development, with the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccine (an attenuated altered adenovir... Continue Reading
Filed under: Allergy/Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Breastfeeding and Coronavirus: My Experience From the Frontlines With an Infected Mom
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
June 19, 2020
One of the challenging features of COVID-19 is its ability to sweep through families. In my experience, this is more prevalent in multigenerational family li... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Women's Health
Coronavirus Transmission and Superspreading Events: Can What We’ve Learned Help Inform Future Guidelines?
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
June 16, 2020
Across the United States, businesses are starting to open under government-guided restrictions. The reopening guidelines vary from state to state and even fr... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
World Health Organization Halts Hydroxychloroquine Trial
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, PA-C, MPA
May 29, 2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) is but another organization to halt a COVID-19 therapeutic trial due to safety concerns. Specifically, WHO suspended the... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases
What’s Changed for Basic and Advanced Life Support During COVID-19
Posted By: Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
May 22, 2020
How we do CPR and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) has changed in the last several months. The American Heart Association collaborated with other organiz... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases
Silent Hypoxia in COVID-19 Patients
Posted By: Mary Knudtson, DNSc, NP, FAAN
May 12, 2020
Emergency rooms in New York are finding COVID-19 pneumonia in some patients who have no shortness of breath. Clinicians have reported that when they did x-ra... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine
Asthma and COVID-19
Posted By: Mary Knudtson, DNSc, NP, FAAN
May 05, 2020
The early data on mortality from COVID-19 infections are showing that asthma is not one of the top risk factors. The top ten COVID-19 comorbidities (in rank... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine
Single HCV Screening for All Adults
Posted By: Ben Taylor, PA-C, PhD, DFAAPA
April 21, 2020
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a contagious hepatic disease that lives in blood and bodily fluids, and can be passed from person to person through infected blood... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine
Global Commitment and Pandemic Prevention
Posted By: 
Heather M. Hylton, MS, PA-C
April 07, 2020
Several years ago, I was fortunate to hike in the Zambia bush where I was accompanied by a naturalist who spoke of the many issues related to wildlife trade... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Miscellaneous, Public Health
The Cardiovascular Impact of COVID-19
Posted By: Daniel Thibodeau, MHP, PA-C
April 03, 2020
On Wednesday, March 18th, the American College of Cardiology held a we... Continue Reading
Filed under: Cardiometabolic, Infectious Diseases
COVID-19 and the Curve
Posted By: Daniel Thibodeau, MHP, PA-C
March 31, 2020
As of the writing of this post, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been confirm... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
The Difference Between Isolation and Quarantine
Posted By: Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
March 27, 2020
There seems to be confusion between what it means to isolate versus quarantine people. According to the CDC, the definitions of isolation and quarantine are:... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Social Distancing During COVID-19
Posted By: Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
March 24, 2020
Social distancing is a measure recommended by public health officials that aims to restrict sick people from coming in contact with healthy people to slow th... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Upside Down: Influenza B Appears to be Waning While Influenza A is Increasing
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, PA-C, MPA
March 13, 2020
In a typical flu season, influenza A activity begins between November and January and fades after a few months. Concurrently, influenza B occurs with increas... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
You're Darned if You Do, You're Damned if You Don't
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, PA-C, MPA
February 28, 2020
Sorry, but I believe we are past the point of being worried about scaring people about the novel coronavirus 2019, now simply COVID-19 (in various forms of c... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Coronavirus Update: Transmission – What Do We Know?
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
February 14, 2020
On January 30, 2020, the first confirmed case of person-to-person 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) transmission was reported in the United States. Also on... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Coronavirus Update: Thoughts on Its Origin
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
February 12, 2020
We've known for years that influenza virus occurs in both humans and animals—including swine and birds—and... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Infectious Disease Update – Novel Community-acquired Human Coronavirus: CDC Guidelines for Providers
Posted By: 
Susanne J. Phillips, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
February 07, 2020
As we know, there is currently no vaccine or specific treatment for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) first reported from Wuhan, China. CDC screening recomme... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Infectious Disease Update – Novel Community-acquired Human Coronavirus
Posted By: Susanne J. Phillips, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
February 04, 2020
On Thursday, January 23, 2020, Chinese authorities closed Wuhan's airports, train stations, bus stations, and ports. By now, several other citie... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Influenza-like Illness Activity Has Been High for Weeks…and Continues to Increase
Posted By: Lawrence Herman, PA-C, MPA
January 03, 2020
The CDC reports that influenza-like illness activity has been high for weeks, and is continuing to increase. Combined with the fact that influenza B (Victori... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Managing Patients With Suspected Vape-Related Lung Problems
Posted By: Debra A. Danforth, DNP, APRN, FAANP
December 03, 2019
We have been hearing about more and more cases of lipoid pneumonia linked to marijuana oils in e-cigarettes. According to the CDC, as of November 2019, there... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Pulmonary Medicine
Measles and Immunity
Posted By: Ben Taylor, PA-C, PhD, DFAAPA
November 19, 2019
Measles is a highly contagious viral illness, currently targeted for eradication given the favorable biologic characteristic that humans are the only reservo... Continue Reading
Filed under: Allergy/Immunology, Infectious Diseases
Beware: The “Ankle-biter” Mosquitoes
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
September 24, 2019
It's the end of summer and the mosquitoes are biting. Two invasive (non-native) mosquito species have been identified in California and other parts of the Un... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Lyme Arthritis—From High Index of Suspicion to Diagnosis and Treatment
Posted By: Richard S. Pope, PA-C, MPAS
August 20, 2019
An effusion of the knee(s) is the most common manifestation of Lyme arthritis, a late stage of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick involve... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology
Procalcitonin Levels in the Management of COPD Exacerbations
Posted By: Ben Taylor, PA-C, PhD, DFAAPA
May 10, 2019
The use of procalcitonin-based protocols to guide the decision to administer antibiotics has been evaluated in infections of different origins and settings.... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine
Using Policy to Impact HPV Vaccine Rates
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
May 02, 2019
For more than 10 years we have had a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent several types of cancer. I understand the reluctance to accept a vaccine whe... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Women's Health
Measles Outbreak – A Public Health Concern
Posted By: Daniel Thibodeau, MHP, PA-C
April 26, 2019
The modern world was turned upside down in 1997 when researcher Andrew Wakefield suggested there was a direct correlation between the MMR (measles/mumps/rube... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine, Public Health
Fluoroquinolone Use and the Potential Risk for Aortic Aneurysm or Dissection
Posted By: Ben Taylor, PA-C, PhD, DFAAPA
April 05, 2019
Fluoroquinolones have long been a popular class of antibiotics for use in a myriad of infections. There are even newer fluoroquinolones that have been develo... Continue Reading
Filed under: Cardiometabolic, Infectious Diseases
Who Should Be Responsible? Social Media and Accurate Vaccine Information
Posted By: 
Lawrence Herman, MPA, PA-C
March 08, 2019
The World Health Organization recently listed what they call “vaccine hesitancy”—the reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated despite the availability of... Continue Reading
Filed under: Infectious Diseases, Public Health
Here We Go Again: Measles in Seattle This Time
Posted By: Susan M. Tiso, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
January 31, 2019
As of January 31, 2019, there were 42 confirmed cases of measles in the Pacific Northwest. This includes 41 cases in Clark County, the epicenter for the outb... Continue Reading
Filed under: Health Policy and Trends, Infectious Diseases, Preventive Medicine