Practice Management
Just days after the World Health Organization declared Zika virus is no longer a “global emergency,” a new case that appears to have been transmitted locally was reported in Texas—marking the first time such a domestic case has occurred outside of Florida. More than 250 people in Texas have been infected previously, but all those cases could be traced back to travel in a region where the virus is prevalent, or having sexual relations with …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to stress that immunization—plus everyday hygiene—is the best way to avoid potentially deadly flu. Urgent care providers are in an especially good position to try to influence patients, as anyone feeling bad enough to seek immediate care may be susceptible to suggestions on how to avoid feeling even worse down the road. The CDC recommends six steps providers can take to encourage even reluctant patients to …
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The University of Missouri is just one location seeing a dramatic increase in cases of mumps, currently; 31 cases have been confirmed there, with test results still to come on 27 more people. Harvard University and the State University of New York have also reported outbreaks, and a scattering of towns in Arkansas have reported over 400 cases since this summer. With mumps being a self-limiting viral infection, the best urgent care clinicians can do …
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Calling it “an emerging threat,” the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging healthcare providers in all settings to “act now to better understand, contain, and stop the spread of” infection caused by drug-resistant Candida auris. CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, notes that C auris can be fatal, making the new drug-resistant strain especially concerning. The CDC recently issued its first report of 13 cases in the United States (in …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has again revised its recommendations on how long men who could have been exposed to the Zika virus should wait before trying to conceive, or to have unprotected sex at all. The CDC now says man should wait 6 months—up from 8 weeks—before having sex without a condom even if they have no symptoms. The new guidance is intended to minimize the likelihood of transmitting the virus before …
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It was a case that easily could have presented in any urgent care center, and one that shows the importance of probing beyond social and medical history, including a patient’s profession and hobbies if necessary. The patient presented with a 7-year history of breathing difficulty that had recently worsened. The only related detail seemed to be that he had been diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP, also known as farmer’s lung and hot tub lung) 5 …
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Adolescents—and parents and other adults who supervise their athletic endeavors and physical activities—should be getting more education about the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of concussions, according to a new study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers evaluated the health records of 8.8 million Humana members, 43,884 of whom were diagnosed with a concussion. The highest incidence was in the 15-19 age group, followed by 10- to 14-year-olds. More than half (56%) …
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Sudden fever, shortness of breath, chills…just the kind of “funk” that leads countless patients to the urgent care center. Well-informed providers are learning to look a little closer at such patients, though, with 21 people having died this year already from a usually obscure bacterial infection. Elizabethkingia anophelis is marked by symptoms often synonymous with the common cold, though its outcomes can be far more serious. Scores of cases have been reported in Illinois, Michigan, …
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Urgent care centers see their share of patients seeking relief from yeast infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning healthcare facilities around the country of a multidrug-resistant type of yeast that has caused deadly hospital infections across the globe. Most commonly, Candida auris has caused healthcare-associated invasive infections such as bloodstream infections, wound infections, and otitis. Officials started taking note of international reports of C auris infections when it became clear …
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An outbreak of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Vancouver, WA—in which four times the number of cases reported in a typical year have been reported—appears to be related to an outbreak of Zika virus in the area, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC notes that Brazil, in which the mosquito that carries Zika is found in great numbers, also saw an increase in cases of Guillain-Barre following a spike in Zika infections. …
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