BACKGROUND Since the publication of the Prophlyactic Penicillin Study II in 1995, the management of penicillin prophylaxis for children with sickle cell disease (SCD) after 5 years of age has been controversial. In this study, we sought to describe current practice patterns of pediatric hematologists related to cessation of penicillin prophylaxis for children with SCD after 5 years of age. PR...

It is now almost 30 years since penicillin was introduced to combat the endemic treponematoses of childhood, prevalent in rural areas of many developing countries. Preparations such as PAM and benzathine penicillin were shown to produce effective blood and tissue concentrations of 4 days' to 3 weeks' duration after single intramuscular injections. Long-acting treatment thus became available whi...

In the US and northern Europe, the prevalence of pregnant syphilitic women is estimated at .1-.6%, while in South Africa it was 7.6% in 1982. In 1978, there 108 cases in the US which increased to 268 reported cases in 1985. The increase of congenital syphilis (CS) by 25% from 1985 to 1988 was attributed to the spread of crack cocaine in the US. The rate was 10.5 cases/100,000 live births in t...

Acute rheumatic fever is a nonsuppurative, immune-mediated consequence of group A streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat). Recurrent or severe acute rheumatic fever can cause permanent cardiac valve damage and rheumatic heart disease, which increases the risk for cardiac conditions (e.g., infective endocarditis, stroke, and congestive heart failure). Antibiotics can prevent acute rheumatic fev...

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is an event that alarms medical personnel owing to its adverse effects, including heightened morbidity and mortality rates, prolonged recovery times, increased lengths of hospital stay healthcare expenditure. The populations at high risk are elderly, critical patients, or complicated cases need surgery in which the hemodynamics not stable. Although gui...

A total of 24 patients with syphilis and HIV infection were treated from January 1997 to March 2003 at the Infectious Dermatology Outpatient Clinic of the Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The caseload consisted of 20 males (83.3%) and four females (16.7%), with a mean age of 38.04 years and mean T CD4+ count of 389.5 cells/mL. Syphilis...