Ebola. MERS. Chikungunya. Infections often have strange-sounding names, but the effects they can have on patients may be devastating. It’s hard for emergency practitioners to keep up with the latest diagnostic and treatment recommendations, especially as infections seem to proliferate with greater frequency every year.

That’s where “Cruising the Infectious Disease Literature” comes in.

“The session will be a balance of information from the headlines with popular interest and practical new information from the literature that will help emergency practitioners with typical patients now,” said David Talan, MD, FACEP, professor emeritus at UCLA School of Medicine, chair emeritus in the department of emergency medicine, and faculty in the division of infectious diseases at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“The session is for people who want to be prepared to diagnose and treat infections,” he said.

Dr. Talan will touch on viral infections often heard about in the news, including Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and chikungunya virus.

He’ll also discuss infections stemming from lack of proper vaccines. For example, there’s a movement among some developed countries like the United States to not get vaccinated for measles. That’s led to ED visits due to outbreaks right here
in the United States, Dr. Talan said.

Dr. Talan will address outbreaks from menigococcus, bacteria that cause meningitis. The bacteria have been responsible for recent outbreaks at Princeton University and University of California, Santa Barbara, he said.

Dr. Talan will also discuss newer drugs available for common infectious diseases. For example, he said there’s a long-acting drug for serious skin infections that enables patients to go home after receiving a dose intravenously instead of having to stay at the hospital
a few nights.

Another area to be covered in Dr. Talan’s talk is sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Recent reports have provided new insights into STDs that can occur in the body in places not usually tested, Dr. Talan said. “There are problems with detecting STDs in the throat or other areas by our standard screening,” he said.

The infectious disease roundup will conclude with some talk about diseases previously thought to be due to infections that may have an infectious disease link, Dr. Talan said.

Dr. Talan
Cruising the Infectious Disease Literature
Monday, Oct. 27
4:30–5:30 p.m.
Room W178AB