Infectious disease consultation contributes to optimal antibiotic use as well as improved treatment outcomes in many infectious diseases, especially severe infections like bacteremia. However, communication and language matter in consultations between clinicians. Communication barriers are even more complex among professionals who speak Korean, since there are significant challenges for practicing medicine while relying on language translations. This review aims to address some of the components that should be included in infectious diseases consultations for Korean-speaking specialists.
Bacteremia ; Communicable Diseases* ; Communication Barriers ; Consultants* ; Humans ; Referral and Consultation ; Specialization ; Translations

Fibrofolliculoma is a benign follicular neoplasm which usually occurs in multiple and rarely solitarily. We have found only seven cases of previous reports of solitary fibrofolliculomas worldwide and only two in Korean literature. Herein we report on a 40-year-old female patient with a solitary flesh-colored bean sized mass on the scalp which histopathologically proved to be a fibrofolliculoma.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Scalp

BACKGROUND: Norwegian scabies is a highly infectious disease characterized by crust formation, different from ordinary scabies, and is caused by Sarcoptes scabiei. After the patient in our case was diagnosed with Norwegian scabies, active measures were taken to prevent its transmission within the hospital. Methods: A 66-year-old female patient was admitted to the general ward of a university hospital on January 23rd, 2008 and 6 days later, she was found to have been infected with Norwegian scabies all over the body. For epidemiological investigation, those who had been in contact with the patient were identified and interviewed. The patient was advised to follow the contact precaution, and linen the patient used was cleaned thoroughly. The surrounding environment was decontaminated by applying surface disinfectant. Preventive cream against the Norwegian scabies was distributed to staff members and patients who had been exposed to the patient, and appointed a dermatologist to educate them on how to use of medicine, what the mechanism of the disease is, what cautions must be taken, and how to write an ex post facto report. RESULTS: After the confirmation of the 1st case, no additional cases have been reported in the hospital during the ensuing 2 months. Therefore, prompt prevention and infection control activities against Norwegian scabies can be thought to have been successful. CONCLUSION: Whena patient with an uncertain skin disease is admitted, pertinent measures must be taken from the moment the patient is admitted and contact precaution should be applied both to the patients and the staff members. When a scabies patient is detected in an institution, the medical staff must enforce as much active preventive measures as possible, and by doing so, there will be a better chance to prevent the outbreak of scabies in the hospital.
Aged ; Bedding and Linens ; Communicable Diseases ; Cross Infection ; Female ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Medical Staff ; Patients' Rooms ; Sarcoptes scabiei ; Scabies ; Skin Diseases

Intussusception can develop at any age but about 95% of patients are children under 2 years-old. Adult intussusception is a rare condition. Unlike children, nearly all adults with intussusception have a lead point such as benign or malignant small bowel tumors, intestinal tuberculosis, or Meckel's diverticulum. First case is a 48-year-old male who was admitted with 2 days of diffuse abdominal cramping pain and no other associated gastrointestinal symptoms. Barium enema revealed ileocolic intussusception with a round cecal mass after barium reduction. An ileocecectomy was performed electively. The pathologic report was cecal cyst, which was an intraluminal structure with an epithelial lining of colonic mucosa. The second case, a 53-year-old male, was admitted with 1 week of diffuse abdominal cramping pain and watery diarrhea. Barium enema revealed ileocecal intussusception. Emergency surgery (ileocecectomy), revealed a polypoid small bowel mass. The pathologic report was lipoma. Recently, we experienced two cases of adult intussusception and report these cases with a brief review of the literature.
Adult* ; Barium ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Colic ; Colon ; Diarrhea ; Emergencies ; Enema ; Humans ; Intussusception* ; Lipoma ; Male ; Meckel Diverticulum ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane ; Tuberculosis

For the patients suffering from extensive deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the placement of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter in conjunction with anticoagulant therapy has been used to prevent pulmonary embolisms. However, for the patients who anticoagulant is contraindicated or if this is complicated, the use of an IVC filter without concurrent anticoagulation may become the sole treatment for pulmonary embolisms. In this situation, the thrombi trapped in the IVC filter may cause significant clinical problems. We report here on a case of IVC filter thrombosis that was successfully treated by aspiration thrombectomy after placing another filter proximal to the previous filter.
Humans ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Thrombectomy* ; Thrombosis* ; Vena Cava Filters* ; Vena Cava, Inferior* ; Venous Thrombosis

Since the start of the antibiotic era, syphilis has become rare. However, in recent times, it has tended to be prevalent concomitantly with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and coinfection in North America and Europe. Now, such cases are expected to increase in elsewhere including Korea. A 40-year-old male patient visited hospital complaining of a headache for about one month. Brain computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, showed leptomeninged enhancing mass with edema an right porisylvian region, which was suspected to be glioma. Patient underwent a blood test and was diagnosed with syphilis and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Partial cortical and subcortical resection were performed after small craniotomy. The dura was thick, adhered to the brain cortex, and was accompanied by hyperemic change of the cortex. The pathologic diagnosis was meningovascular syphilis (MS) in HIV infection. After the operation, the patient was treated with aqueous penicillin G. Thereafter, he had no neurological deficit except intermittent headache. At first, this case was suspected to be glioma, but it was eventually diagnosed as MS in HIV coinfection. At this point the case was judged to be worth reporting.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Adult ; Brain ; Coinfection ; Craniotomy ; Edema ; Europe ; Glioma ; Headache ; Hematologic Tests ; HIV ; HIV Infections ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neurosyphilis ; North America ; Penicillin G ; Syphilis

Ochrobactrum anthropi is an aerobic, gram-negative, motile, non-lactose-fermenting, oxidase-producing, and urease-positive bacillus. We reported a case of aortic valve endocarditis due to O. anthropi in a hemodialysis patient. To our knowledge, this is the first case of O. anthropi endocarditis in a hemodialysis patient in Korea. The organism was resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics and susceptible to ciprofloxacin, amikacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin and carbapenem. We treated O. anthropi endocarditis with meropenem for 6 weeks and the patient recovered completely.
Amikacin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Aortic Valve ; Bacillus ; Ciprofloxacin ; Endocarditis ; Gentamicins ; Humans ; Korea ; Ochrobactrum ; Ochrobactrum anthropi ; Renal Dialysis ; Thienamycins ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a prevalent pathogen, with 98~100% of Korean adults showing prior exposure by serology. A primary infection, such as CMV infectious mononucleosis, is very rare. CMV infectious mononucleosis often presents an initial diagnostic problem. Patients are often hospitalized with a wide variety of clinical diagnoses including fever of unknown origin without pharyngitis and lymphadenopathy. CMV gastrointestinal infections are rare in previously immunocompetent individuals. The most common sites involved are the colon and rectum, although lesions of the stomach have also been described. It is unusual to see CMV infectious mononucleosis and CMV gastrointestinal infection in the same patient. Our patient received symptomatic treatment and fully recovered. We present a case of CMV infectious mononucleosis with gastric ulcers in a previously healthy adult.
Adult ; Colon ; Cytomegalovirus ; Fever of Unknown Origin ; Humans ; Infectious Mononucleosis ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Pharyngitis ; Rectum ; Stomach ; Stomach Ulcer

BACKGROUND: Necrotizing fasciitis is a life-threatening infectious disease with rapidly progressive involvement of the affected site. Because of the high mortality rate of this disease, early diagnosis, surgical exploration, and administration of appropriate antibiotics are necessary. The present study aimed to further review the changes in the clinical and microbiological characteristics of necrotizing fasciitis using patients' medical records from consecutive databases of 3 hospitals in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with necrotizing fasciitis who were clinically diagnosed between May 2001 and February 2012 in 3 university hospitals in Korea. In total, the data of 83 patients were analyzed, including those of 20 patients from our previous study in 2006. An organism found in a blood culture or surgical specimen was regarded as a causative organism. RESULTS: Of the 83 patients, 68(81.9%) had community-acquired infections. Ninety microorganism species were indentifed by culture. Streptococcus was the most commonly identified pathogen. Non-fermentative gram-negative bacteria and Candida species have recently emerged, especially in immunocompromised hosts. CONCLUSIONS: Gram-positive organisms are still the most common pathogens of necrotizing fasciitis. However in our study, various gram-negative bacteria with different levels of susceptibility to antibiotics, as well as Candida species, were responsible for the necrotizing fasciitis. Initial empirical antimicrobial agents for necrotizing fasciitis should be considered depending on the individual patient's condition.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Candida ; Communicable Diseases ; Community-Acquired Infections ; Early Diagnosis ; Fasciitis, Necrotizing* ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Hospitals, University* ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Mortality* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Streptococcus

A case of a 42-year-old man who had massive and refractoty bleeding from multiple gastric ulcers complicating gastric amyloidosis and a case of a 62- year-old woman who had massive hematochezia from rectal amyloidosis in predialytic chronic renal failure patients are reported. Emergency total gastrectomy and simple ligation were performed in two patients. Two patients were confirmed by showing apple green birefringence under the polarized microscope with Congo-red stain through stomach and rectal specimen. Immunoelectrophoresis and protein electrophoresis of serum and urine showed no significant findings. 2 cases of gastrointestinal amyloidosis presenting massive bleeding in predialytic chronic renal failure patients were discussed with brief literature.
Adult ; Amyloidosis* ; Birefringence ; Electrophoresis ; Emergencies ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Ligation ; Stomach ; Stomach Ulcer