Background: Skin, soft tissue, and joint infections are common in pediatric patients and can require invasive procedures to drain purulent fluid. Atypical pathogens (fungal and acid-fast bacilli [AFB]) are important but rare causes of these infections with reported case rates as low as 0.6-1.6 cases/100,000 a year. Despite the rarity of these infections, costly atypical […]

Background: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are frequently used to deliver intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy. Infectious disease (ID) physicians are often consulted prior to PICC placement, but whether their engagement influences PICC appropriateness and complications is not known. Methods: Using data from the Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety Consortium on PICCs placed in hospitalized medical patients […]

Case Presentation: A 12-year-old healthy female presented for three weeks of abdominal pain, loose non-bloody stools accompanied by night sweats and an eight-pound weight loss. Initial exam was only significant for diffuse abdominal pain. An abdominal X-ray demonstrated a unique appearing paravertebral stripe which prompted a follow up MRI abdomen/pelvis. MRI imaging revealed a 5.8 […]

Case Presentation: A 21-year-old man with no previous medical history presented to the emergency department with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea for one week. Labs were significant for white blood cell (WBC) count 3.4 k/ul with decreased lymphocytes along with mild elevation of transaminases and lipase. He was thought to have viral gastroenteritis and was discharged. […]

Case Presentation: Talaromycosis (formerly known as Penicilliosis) is a rare fungal disease that predominantly affects immunocompromised patients, such as those with HIV and low CD4 cell counts, from endemic regions (e.g., Southeast Asia). There have been a limited number of cases reported worldwide, with a travel-related exposure. We present a case of an immunocompetent patient […]

Case Presentation: A 63-year-old man was admitted to the hospital medicine service at a quaternary center for painful oral lesions that appeared 6 months prior. The lesions had started as multifocal soreness in the mouth floor 2 weeks after having undergone dental work. He was then evaluated by local oral surgery team who performed biopsies […]

Case Presentation: A 42-year-old man was diagnosed with AIDS after presenting to his PCP for subacute subjective fevers, unintended weight loss, headache, and generalized malaise. He was referred to infectious diseases and was started on Biktarvy for ART as well as Bactrim and Zithromax for prophylaxis for a CD4 count of 18 cells/mm3 and HIV […]

Case Presentation: A 23-year-old male was transferred to a tertiary medical center for abnormal CT head imaging after presenting with 1 week of left-sided headache. He reported that his headache was waking him from sleep and was associated with morning vomiting. He denied fevers, chills, cough, or weight loss. His neurological exam was unremarkable, as […]

Case Presentation: A 60-year-old African woman presented to the emergency department with three days of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. She had recently returned from a ten-month trip through rural Ethiopia where she consumed unpasteurized milk and well water with exposure to goats, cats, and livestock. Her medical history was otherwise unremarkable. On exam, she […]

Case Presentation: A 79 year old man with a history of prostate cancer s/p transurethral resection of the prostate complicated by urethral stricture, urinary retention, and incontinence, congenital unilateral kidney, recurrent deep vein thromboses (DVT) not on anticoagulation, and bilateral knee replacements presented with swelling and redness of his right leg following a 6-hour drive […]