Pneumonia

ORLANDO -- Swabbing the oral cavity with chlorhexidine (Peridex) reduces the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia in some intubated intensive care patients, a Richmond, Va., researcher said here.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Offering hospitals a relatively small financial incentive improved their quality of care for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia, researchers here reported.

The authors report a case of adult-onset acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) presenting with a right upper lobe infiltrate associated with acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia (AFOP), which resolved spontaneously during the course of chemotherapy.

The authors report a case of idiopathic eosinophilic pneumonia in a man with sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis associated with features of sarcoidosis.

On a warm August day, a 79-year-old man is hospitalized because of progressive lethargy over the past week. Previously, he was alert and able to converse. He has no chest pain, dyspnea, or cough. His history includes hypertension of unknown duration, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a recent hospitalization for pneumonia.

Quinolones are commonlyused to treat a widevariety of infectious diseases,such as community-acquired pneumoniaand urinary tract infections. Somequinolones are also given as prophylaxisfor spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.These popular antimicrobial agents areassociated with several clinically significantdrug interactions, which can beclassified into 2 major categories1-3:

A 62-year-old woman was found on thefloor of her bathroom at home with herwheelchair partially on top of her.She was unresponsive except to painfulstimulus.

A 62-year-old woman presents with severe, sharp pain in her right mid chestthat worsens when she breathes. The pain began the previous night, shortlyafter she had been awakened by a shaking chill, followed by the sensationof fever. She also has a relatively nonproductive cough of recent onset.

The FDA has approved Ketek (telithromycin) fromAventis Pharmaceuticals to treat acute exacerbationof chronic bronchitis, acute bacterial sinusitis, and mild tomoderate community-acquired pneumonia. This is thefirst agent in a new class of antibiotics known as ketolides.Ketek has already been released in European, Latin American,and Asian markets.

A 48-year-old African Americanwoman with HIV infection who hadbeen hospitalized several days earlierfor presumed Pneumocystis cariniipneumonia (PCP) is readmittedbecause of worsening dyspnea and atemperature of 38.8oC (102oF).She also complains of painful swellingand erythema on her right arm.Her symptoms have worseneddespite treatment with trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole.