CDC: Men Should Wait 6 Months to Have Unprotected Sex After Possible Zika Exposure

CDC: Men Should Wait 6 Months to Have Unprotected Sex After Possible Zika Exposure

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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Probe Deeper if Symptoms Just Don’t Add Up

Probe Deeper if Symptoms Just Don’t Add Up

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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Concussion Rates Are Rising—and Adolescents Are Leading the Way

Concussion Rates Are Rising—and Adolescents Are Leading the Way

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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Common Symptoms Could Lead Patients with Elizabethkingia anophelis to Urgent Care

Common Symptoms Could Lead Patients with Elizabethkingia anophelis to Urgent Care

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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CDC Cautions Providers Over Multidrug-resistant Yeast Infections

CDC Cautions Providers Over Multidrug-resistant Yeast Infections

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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CDC Finds Strong Link Between Zika and Guillain-Barre

CDC Finds Strong Link Between Zika and Guillain-Barre

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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CDC Shifts Focus—and Ebola Funds—in Fight Against Zika

CDC Shifts Focus—and Ebola Funds—in Fight Against Zika

As concerns surface that a warm summer may spread Zika virus to New York City and Los Angeles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has opted to take $589 million earmarked for Ebola virus initiatives and apply it to fighting Zika instead. The CDC has also warned that the mosquito that carries Zika is on the move. While initial reports suggested that U.S. Zika cases were limited to individuals who had traveled to affected …

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U.S. Tuberculosis Cases Up for the First Time in 23 Years

U.S. Tuberculosis Cases Up for the First Time in 23 Years

After a decades-long slog toward elimination of tuberculosis in the United States, 2015 saw a slight increase in the number of domestic TB cases. While around half of all reported cases occurred in Texas, California, Florida, and New York, 29 states and the District of Columbia reported increases over 2014. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that lower funding of TB prevention programs may be on reason, urgent care clinicians faced with …

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Difficult Patients May Be More Difficult to Diagnose

Difficult Patients May Be More Difficult to Diagnose

As the difficulty in dealing with a patient goes up, diagnostic accuracy goes down, according to a new report published in BMJ Quality and Safety. The complexity of the ultimate diagnosis and the amount of time spent with the patient appear to have no bearing on the probability of making a correct diagnosis. The article is based on two studies in the Netherlands that showed physicians were more likely to misdiagnose patients who exhibited “disruptive …

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New Vaccines Recommended for Adults and Children in 2016

New Vaccines Recommended for Adults and Children in 2016

Urgent care practices that focus on helping patients stay up to date on immunization—such as occupational medicine and travel medicine providers, or those that cater to seniors and families with children—take note: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made a few changes in its recommendations this year. For adults, a recently licensed meningococcal serogroup B vaccine and human papillomavirus vaccine have been added, and the recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination has been revised from …

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