Tropical Medicine Flashcards
What group of microorganisms?
African trypanosomiasis
(sleeping sickness), American trypanosomiasis
(Chagas disease), amoebiasis, babesiosis,
coccidiosis and microsporodiosis,
cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, leishmaniasis—
cutaneous and visceral (kala-azar), malaria,
toxoplasmosis, trichomonas
Protozoan
What group of microorganisms?
Cysticercosis ( Taenia
solium, T. saginata ), echinococcus (hydatid
disease
Cestodes (tapeworms
What group of microorganisms?
Schistomiasis (bilharziasis),
clonorchiasis, paragonimiasis
Trematodes (flukes):
What group of microorganisms?
Ascariasis, enterobiasis
(pinworm), Dracunculus medinensis (Guinea
worm), filariasis, hookworm, larva migrans
(cutaneous and visceral), strongyloidiasis,
trichinosis ( Trichinella spiralis ), trichuriasis
(whipworm)
HIV
seroconversion infection.Nematodes (roundworms):
Problems in the returned tropical traveller:
Most will present within 2 weeks except ____
HIV
seroconversion infection.
Problems in the returned tropical traveller:
Common infections encountered are
dengue
fever, giardiasis, hepatitis A and B, gonorrhoea
or Chlamydia trachomatis, malaria and helminthic
infestations.
Problems in the returned tropical traveller:
An important non-infection problem requiring
vigilance is _________ and ______________
deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and
thromboembolism.
returned tropical traveller:
What to do in patients with mild diarrhea:
Stool microscopy and culture
• Look for and treat associated helminthic
infestation (e.g. roundworms, hookworms
Etiology of Moderate or prolonged (>3 weeks)
diarrhoea
Usually due to Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica,
Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella, Yersinia enterocolitica
or Cryptosporidium
Consider exotic causes such as _______, ______, ______ in unusual
chronic post-travel ‘gastroenteritis
schistosomiasis,
strongyloidiasis and ciguatera
What type of rash:
dengue, HIV, typhus, syphilis, arbovirus infections, leptospirosis, Q fever
• Maculopapular:
What type of rash:
________ viral haemorrhagic fevers,
leptospirosis, dengue
_______: typhoid
_________typhus (tick and scrub), anthrax
_________ African trypanosomiasis, syphilis
- Petechiae:
- Rose spots
- Eschar:
- Chancre:
An Australian study of fever in returned
travellers 3 revealed the most common diagnosis
was
_____ (27%) followed by________ (24%), _______(14%), ________ (8%) and bacterial pneumonia (6%).
malaria
respiratory tract infection
gastroenteritis
dengue fever
The common serious causes of fever are
malaria, typhoid,
hepatitis (especially A and B), dengue fever and
amoebiasis
Most deaths from malaria have occurred after
at least ________ days of symptoms that may be
mild. Death can occur within 24 hours
3 or 4
Be vigilant for ________—can present with a
toxic megacolon, especially if antimotility drugs
are given
amoebiasis
If well but febrile, first-line screening tests:
— full blood examination and ESR
— thick and thin films
Malaria
• Incubation period: P. falciparum _____ days; others
12–40 days
• Most present within 2 months of return
• Can present up to ______
7–14
2 or more years
What needs to be ruled out in patients with malaria?
G6PD deficiency?
How to treat?
P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae
(Riamet)
4 tablets with food at 0, 8, 24, 36, 48, 60 hours
(i.e. 24 tablets) in 60 hours
+
primaquine dose by weight to achieve a total dose
of 6 mg/kg. For most people this equals 30 mg (o)
daily for 14–21 days
How to treat?
P. falciparum uncomplicated
Riamet (as above) or quinine sulphate 600 mg (o) 8 hourly, 7 days \+ doxycycline 100 mg (o) 12 hourly, 7 days or clindamycin 300 mg (o) tds, 7 days (children, pregnancy)
How to treat
complicated (severe):
artesunate 2.4 mg/kg IV statim, 12 hours, 24 hours,
then once daily until oral therapy (Riamet) is possible
or
quinine dihydrochloride 20 mg/kg up to 1.4 g IV
(over 4 hours) then after 4-hour gap 7 mg/kg IV 8
hourly until improved (ECG/cardiac monitoring)
then
quinine (o) 7 days
• Insidious onset
• Headache prominent
• Dry cough
• Fever gradually increases in ‘stepladder’ manner
over 4 days or so
• Abdominal pain and constipation (early)
• Diarrhoea (pea soup) and rash—rose spots (late)
• ± splenomegaly
Typhoid fever
How to diagnose Typhoid fever?
- On suspicion—blood and stool culture
* Serology not very helpful
How to Tx Typhoid fever
• Azithromycin l g (o) for 7 days
or
• Ciprofloxacin 500 mg (o) bd for 7–10 days
What is the dx?
• Subclinical
• Mild, uncomplicated episode of diarrhoea
• Fulminant lethal form with severe water and
electrolyte depletion, intense thirst, oliguria,
weakness, sunken eyes and eventually collapse
Cholera
fever + vomiting + abrupt onset
‘rice water’diarrhoea
cholera
Mx of cholera
Treatment
• In hospital with strict barrier nursing
• IV fluid and electrolytes
• Doxycycline
VIRAL HAEMORRHAGIC FEVERS
These include:
yellow fever, Lassa fever etc., dengue
fever and chikungunya
In yellow fever,
Milder cases may present with flu-like symptoms and
relative bradycardia, what sign?
Faget’s sign
Signs and symptoms of yellow fever
abrupt fever then prostration, jaundice and abnormal
bleeding from the gums and possibly haematemesis
These rare but deadly tropical diseases usually
commence with a flu-like illness, gastrointestinal
symptoms with thrombocytopenia, anaemia and,
if severe, findings consistent with disseminated
intravascular coagulation leading to bleeding and
possibly shock and frank haemorrhage
Lassa fever, Ebola virus, Marburg
virus, Hanta virus
Also known as ‘breakbone’ fever, it is widespread in
the south-east Pacific and endemic in Queensland. A
returned traveller with myalgia and fever <39 ° C is
more likely to have dengue than malaria.
Dengue fever
vector of DFS
Mosquito-borne ( Aedes aegyptii ) viral infection
DX:
Abrupt onset fever, malaise, headache, nausea,
pain behind eyes, severe backache, prostration
DFS
DFS, what type of rash?
_____________ →
trunk (hand pressure for 30 seconds causes
blanching
Maculopapular rubelliform rash on limbs
Kind of erythema in DFS
Generalised erythema with ‘islands of sparing’
Diagnosis of DFS
• Dengue-specific IgM serology—best on day 5
• PCR
• FBE: leukopenia; thrombocytopenia in
haemorrhagic form
This is an alpha-viral mosquito-borne infection with
a similar clinical picture to dengue fever; it can cause
haemorrhagic fever. It is encountered in tropical
South-East Asia, Indian Ocean islands and parts of
Africa.
Chikungunya
Dx of Chikungunya
Positive serology
presents with fever, nausea and
vomiting then progressing to stupor, coma and
convulsions.
Encephalitis
Encephalitis:
Mosquito-borne cases include
Japanese
B encephalitis and West Nile fever
the Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei,
a soil saprophyte that infects humans mainly
by penetrating through skin wounds, especially
abrasions.
Melioidosis
Where is Melioidosis obtained?
It is mostly acquired while wading in rice
paddie
Presentation of Melioidosis
It may manifest as a focal infection
or as septicaemia with abscesses in the lung, kidney,
skin, liver or spleen.
It is called the ‘Vietnamese time
bomb’ because it can present years after the initial
infection, as seen in Vietnamese war veterans
Melioidosis
Fever, headache, cough, pleuritic pain and
generalised myalgia
Melioidosis
Dx of Melioidosis
Blood culture, swabs from focal lesions,
haemagglutination test
Tx of Melioidosis
Treatment (adults) 8 • Ceftazidime 2 g IV, 6 hourly or • Meropenem 1 g IV, 6 hourly or • Imipenem 1 g IV, 6 hourly • All for at least 14 days, followed by oral cotrimoxazole ± doxycycline bd + folic acid for 3 months
Prevention of Melioidosis
Traumatised people with open wounds (especially
diabetics) in endemic areas (tropical South-East
Asia) should be carefully nursed
Plague (Black Death), which is caused by the Gramnegative bacterium _______ , is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas
Yersinia pestis
2 forms of plague
bubonic plague and pneumonic plague
painful suppurating inguinal or axillary lymphadenitis (buboes)
bubonic plague
flu-like symptoms
with haemoptysis, septicaemia and a fatal
haemorrhagic illness ( ± buboes
pneumonic plague
Plague:
There is a rapid onset of high fever and prostration
with black patches of skin due to _______
subcutaneous
haemorrhage.