Can we, should we, eradicate the meningococcus?

an we , should we , eradicate the meningococcus ? artin

The eradication of infectious agents is an attractive means of disease control that, to date, has been achieved for only one human pathogen, the smallpox virus. The introduction of vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis into immunisation schedules, and particularly the conjugate polysaccharide vaccines which can interrupt transmission, raises the question of whether disease caused by this obli...

Can we eradicate Cysticercosis?

Man is the only known definitive host of the tapeworm Taenia solium and becomes a carrier by eating undercooked pork contaminated with “Cysticercus cellulosae” (cysticerci). Pigs act as intermediate host and acquire cysticercosis by ingestion of eggs or proglottids from human feces, which develop into cysticerci within tissue mostly without causing clinical symptoms in the host. Cysticercosis o...

Yes, We Can! (Should We?).

We Can, but Should We?

We can, but should we? After recently reflecting upon our profession as pediatric critical care physicians , I concluded that this one complex question gets asked many times throughout the day – or at least it should. A recent report discussed an emerging paradigm in pediatric critical care medicine (1). With more and more chronic patients filling our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), perha...

Should we eradicate Helicobacter pylori in non-ulcer dyspepsia?

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES Forty two epidemiological studies compared the prevalence of H pylori infection in dyspeptic patients and asymptomatic controls (see website fig 1). Meaningful studies should use the following design: an appropriate definition of dyspepsia; adequate sample size; dyspeptic subjects and controls sampled from the general population; and results adjusted for potential confou...