For a number of years I have referred in my lectures to the word I have termed “Pseudomonaphobia”. Basically, this is an irrational fear of the organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) when isolated from a culture of a wound in the foot. I really believe that this arises in most Podiatrists during the residency interview process … Read more
With this entry onto the blog I am trying something new. The IT team at Data Trace has been working on a way to post a PowerPoint slide show to the blog. We believe it is now ready to go. For this first PowerPoint, I am posting the lecture I gave at DFCON 2011 in … Read more
I have blogged a number of times about the questions surrounding some of the unknown, unproven issues surrounding the treatment of osteomyelitis including duration of antibiotic therapy and the “need” for surgical debridement. It continues to amaze me how it does not matter where, or to whom I lecture, if I ask the question “How … Read more
I just returned from the DFCON meeting in Los Angeles, always my favorite scientific conferences of the year (I have blogged about it previously https://www.leinfections.com/diabetic-foot/the-olmos-award-and-dfcon-2010/). My topic this year was “Drugs and Bugs 2011”. Since I gave a similar talk last year I had to try to find a few “hot” topics to update the … Read more
I know that sometimes my posts can be a bit esoteric discussing the minutia of antibiotic dosing, findings in the literature, etc. So, to change gears a bit, I would like to make this a rather basic clinical discussion. I know that some of you may find this too simplistic but given the number of … Read more
For part 2 of this posting on the new Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) MRSA Guidelines I would like to comment on some of the Executive Summary points made about MRSA bone and joint infections and also vancomycin dosing recommendations. I will use a similar format as before with posting the actual text and … Read more
After an extended, deliberative writing and review process the brand new Infectious Diseases Society of America clinical practice guidelines on the treatment of MRSA have finally been published (full text at http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/01/04/cid.ciq146.full.pdf+html). I really feel that this document is a MUST READ for anyone interested in treating infections of the lower extremity. For right or … Read more
One of this blog’s readers, Dr. McLeod, asked the following: My question is: Does one need to prescribe antibiotics after I+Ding an abscess? I use to work at a county hospital in Oakland, California where there was a high MRSA rate. At that time (2005), we were being taught not it is unneccessary to prescribe … Read more
Well, the comments have come in and this is what I received – my comments, if any, are in italics: – Interesting question as I just received a memo from the dental school at the University asking my preferences regarding antibiotic prophylaxis with implant (hardware) patients and dental surgery. The letter outlined the 2003 decision … Read more
With this blog entry I am going to try something a bit different. I know that there is a good readership of my posts but, to date, I have been somewhat disappointed in the number of comments and interactions I have received from you, the readers. I stated in my very first post: The whole … Read more