Medicina clinica
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The recent onset of epidemics caused by viruses such as Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, Lassa, coronavirus, West-Nile encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis, human immunodeficiency virus, dengue, yellow fever and Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever alerts about the risk these agents represent for the global health. Chikungunya virus represents a new threat. Surged from remote African regions, this virus has become endemic in the Indic ocean basin, the Indian subcontinent and the southeast of Asia, causing serious epidemics in Africa, Indic Ocean Islands, Asia and Europe. ⋯ Although chikungunya infection has a low mortality rate, its high attack ratio may collapse the health system during epidemics affecting a sensitive population. In this paper, we review the clinical and epidemiological features of chikungunya fever as well as the risk of its introduction into the Americas. We remark the importance of the epidemiological control and mosquitoes fighting in order to prevent this disease from being introduced into the Americas.
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To assess the interactions between weather and the impact of each individual meteorological parameters in the incidence of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) in Galicia. ⋯ Our study showed a statistical significant association with atmospheric pressure and with the daily relative humidity average. Since the local conditions of weather are widely variable, future studies should establish the relationship between weather patterns (including combinations of meteorological parameters), rather than seasonal variations, and the incidence of AMI.
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Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, a defect in insulin action or a combination of both. Periodontitis is now considered a chronic localized infection of the oral cavity that can trigger inflammatory host immune responses at local and systemic levels, and can also be a source of bacteremia. It is now known that periodontitis has an influence on the pathogenesis of certain systemic diseases. ⋯ There have been studies that show an improvement in both clinical and immunological parameters of periodontitis and glycemic control in long-term diabetes after treatment of periodontal disease. In addition, scientific evidence confirms that poorer glycemic control contributes to a worse periodontal condition. The interplay between the 2 conditions highlights the importance of the need for a good communication between the internist and dentist about diabetic patients, considering always the possibility that the 2 diseases may be occurring simultaneously in order to ensure an early diagnosis of both.
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We analyzed baseline and kinetic characteristics of lipid metabolism during the first month of bitherapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 (CHC-1). ⋯ Not every patient with CHC-1 has the same lipid kinetics during the first month of bitherapy, and it is necessary to achieve a sustained virological response and/or a FLM to keep higher plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol during this period. Those subjects without FLM could benefit from statins.