Clinical medicine (London, England)
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Case Reports
Lessons of the month 3: Gone but not forgotten - Osler - a reminder of the syndrome not bearing his name.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most frequently implicated microbial agent in community acquired bacterial pneumonia and meningitis. It is also responsible for between 1 and 3% of cases of native valve infective endocarditis, with mortality rates up to 60%. Osler first described the association between pneumococcal pneumonia, endocarditis, and meningitis secondary to bacteria that he described as 'micrococci', subsequently elucidated to be S pneumoniae by Robert Austrian, and the syndrome bears his name. We report a case of fulminant pneumococcal native aortic valve endocarditis and perforation in a young male patient with chronic alcoholism and splenectomy who exhibited poor compliance to pneumococcal prophylaxis.
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People with diabetes occupy approximately 18% of all acute inpatient hospital beds in the UK, compared with 6.5% of the general population. For those undergoing surgery, having diabetes is known to be associated with increased harms, however harm is defined. ⋯ Because of the multiple causes for possible harm, communication between members of the healthcare team at each stage of this journey and with the person with diabetes is essential. Recently, the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death has shown that the care of people with diabetes undergoing surgery needs to be improved, and they have made several recommendations that trusts should adopt to minimise the harms in this vulnerable population.