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Antiviral therapy: as early as possible
10~15mg/kg every 8 hours for 14~21d
5~10mg/kg every 12hours for 14~21d
immune therapy: interferon
symptomatic therapy
High fever: physical regulation of body temperature
Seizure: antiepileptic drugs
high intracranial pressure-20%mannitol
Infections: antibiotic drugs
On the basis of the laboratory evidence and case reports, amphotericin B has been the traditional mainstay of PAM treatment since the first reported survivor in the United States in 1982.
Treatment has often also used combination therapy with multiple other antimicrobials in addition to amphotericin, such as fluconazole, miconazole, rifampicin and azithromycin. They have shown limited success only when administered early in the course of an infection. Fluconazole is commonly used as it has been shown to have synergistic effects against naegleria when used with amphotericin in-vitro.
While the use of rifampicin has been common, including in all four North American cases of survival, its continued use has been questioned. It only has variable activity in-vitro and it has strong effects on the therapeutic levels of other antimicrobials used by inducing cytochrome p450 pathways.
In 2013, the two most recent successfully treated cases in the United States utilized drug combinations that included the medication miltefosine as well as targeted temperature management to manage brain swelling that is secondary to the infection. As of 2015 there were no data on how well miltefosine is able to reach the central nervous system. As of 2015 the U.S. CDC offered miltefosine to doctors for the treatment of free-living ameobas including naegleria.
Ataxia usually goes away without any treatment. In cases where an underlying cause is identified, your doctor will treat the underlying cause. In extremely rare cases, you may have continuing and disabling symptoms. Treatment includes corticosteroids, Intravenous immunoglobulin, or plasma exchange therapy. Drug treatment to improve muscle coordination has a low success rate. However, the following drugs may be prescribed: clonazepam, amantadine, gabapentin, or buspirone. Occupational or physical therapy may also alleviate lack of coordination. Changes to diet and nutritional supplements may also help. Treatment will depend on the cause. If the acute cerebellar ataxia is due to bleeding, surgery may be needed. For a stroke, medication to thin the blood can be given. Infections may need to be treated with antibiotics. Steroids may be needed for swelling (inflammation) of the cerebellum (such as from multiple sclerosis). Cerebellar ataxia caused by a recent viral infection may not need treatment.
Treatment is generally supportive. Rest, hydration, antipyretics, and pain or anti-inflammatory medications may be given as needed.
Herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus and cytomegalovirus have a specific antiviral therapy. For herpes the treatment of choice is aciclovir.
Surgical management is indicated where there is extremely increased intracranial pressure, infection of an adjacent bony structure (e.g. mastoiditis), skull fracture, or abscess formation.
The majority of people that have viral meningitis get better within 7-10 days.
Treatment (which is based on supportive care) is as follows:
Pyrimethamine-based maintenance therapy is often used to treat Toxoplasmic Encephalitis (TE), which is caused by Toxoplasma gondii and can be life-threatening for people with weak immune systems. The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), in conjunction with the established pyrimethamine-based maintenance therapy, decreases the chance of relapse in patients with HIV and TE from approximately 18% to 11%. This is a significant difference as relapse may impact the severity and prognosis of disease and result in an increase in healthcare expenditure.
Michael Beach, a recreational waterborne illness specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated in remarks to the Associated Press that wearing of nose-clips to prevent insufflation of contaminated water would be effective protection against contracting PAM, noting that "You'd have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with".
Advice stated in the press release from Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control recommended people prevent fresh water from entering the nostrils and avoid putting their heads down into fresh water or stirring mud in the water with feet. When starting to suffer from fever, headache, nausea, or vomiting subsequent to any kind of exposure to fresh water even if the belief in none of the fresh water has traveled through nostrils, people with such conditions should be carried to hospital quickly and make sure doctors are well-informed about the history of exposure to fresh water.
The disease is associated with high rates of mortality and severe morbidity.
Doxycycline is the treatment of choice. If anaplasmosis is suspected, treatment should not be delayed while waiting for a definitive laboratory confirmation, as prompt doxycycline therapy has been shown to improve outcomes. Presentation during early pregnancy can complicate treatment. Doxycycline compromises dental enamel during development. Although rifampin is indicated for post-delivery pediatric and some doxycycline-allergic patients, it is teratogenic. Rifampin is contraindicated during conception and pregnancy.
If the disease is not treated quickly, sometimes before the diagnosis, the person has a high chance of mortality. Most people make a complete recovery, though some people are intensively cared for after treatment. A reason for a person needing intensive care is if the person goes too long without seeing a doctor or being diagnosed. The majority of people, though, make a complete recovery with no residual damage.
Currently, there is no vaccine against human granulocytic anaplasmosis, so antibiotics are the only form of treatment. The best way to prevent HGA is to prevent getting tick bites.
Treatment is symptomatic and supportive. Children with hydrocephalus often need a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Nucleoside analog ribavirin is used in some cases due to the inhibitory effect the agent has "in vitro" on arenaviruses. However, there is not sufficient evidence for efficacy in humans to support routine use. The only survivor of a transplant-associated LCMV infection was treated with ribavirin and simultaneous tapering of the immunosuppressive medications. Early and intravenous ribavirin treatment is required for maximal efficacy, and it can produce considerable side effects. Ribavirin has not been evaluated yet in controlled clinical trials.
Use of ribavirin during pregnancy is generally not recommended, as some studies indicate the possibility of teratogenic effects. If aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis develops in consequence to LCMV, hospitalization and supportive treatment may be required. In some circumstances, anti-inflammatory drugs may also be considered. In general, mortality is less than one percent.
No definite standard treatment have been set. This is because treatments of the disease has been poorly studied as of 2014. Often in cases of inflammatory parenchymal disease, "corticosteroids should be given as infusions of
intravenous methylprednisolone followed by a slowly tapering course of oral steroids". It is suggested that therapy should be continued for a period of time even when the symptoms get suppressed because early relapse may occur. Sometimes, the medical doctors may suggest a different steroid depending on the nature of the disease, the severity, and the response to steroids. According to several studies, parenchymal NBD patients successfully suppress the symptoms with the prescribed steroids. As for non-parenchymal patients, there is no general consensus on how to treat the disease. The reason is that the mechanisms of cerebral venous thrombosis in BD are still poorly understood. Some doctors use anti-coagulants to prevent a clot. On the other hand, some doctors only give steroids and immunosuppressants alone.
Eye and skin infections caused by "Acanthamoeba spp." are generally treatable. Topical use of 0.1% propamidine isethionate (Brolene) plus neomycin-polymyxin B-gramicidin ophthalmic solution has been a successful approach; keratoplasty is often necessary in severe infections. Although most cases of brain (CNS) infection with "Acanthamoeba" have resulted in death, patients have recovered from the infection with proper treatment.
The disease is incurable once manifested, so there is no specific drug therapy for TBE. Symptomatic brain damage requires hospitalization and supportive care based on syndrome severity. Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as corticosteroids, may be considered under specific circumstances for symptomatic relief. Tracheal intubation and respiratory support may be necessary.
Prevention includes non-specific (tick-bite prevention, tick checks) and specific prophylaxis in the form of a vaccine. TBE immunoglobulin is no longer used. Tick-borne encephalitis vaccine is very effective and available in many disease endemic areas and in travel clinics.
"N. risticii" responds well to tetracycline antibiotics. Mild cases may be treated with oral doxycycline, while severe cases are usually treated with intravenous oxytetracycline.
Supportive care for severe cases is aimed at minimizing the effects of endotoxemia and preventing laminitis. This may include intravenous fluids and electrolytes to counteract the diarrhea; NSAIDs such as Banamine (flunixin meglumine); intravenous dimethyl sulfoxide; administration of products such as Biosponge or activated charcoal via nasogastric tube to bind endotoxins; polymyxin B or plasma for endotoxemia; supportive shoeing; low doses of intramuscular acepromazine; and pentoxifylline.
People whose condition was caused by a recent viral infection should make a full recovery without treatment in a few months. Fine motor skills, such as handwriting, typically have to be practised in order to restore them to their former ability. In more serious cases, strokes, bleeding or infections may sometimes cause permanent symptoms.
Vaccination is available against tick-borne and Japanese encephalitis and should be considered for at-risk individuals. Post-infectious encephalomyelitis complicating smallpox vaccination is avoidable, for all intents and purposes, as smallpox is nearly eradicated. Contraindication to Pertussis immunization should be observed in patients with encephalitis.
Most people recover from West Nile virus without treatment. No specific treatment is available for WNV infection. In mild cases over the counter pain relievers can help ease mild headaches and muscle aches in adults. In severe cases treatment consists of supportive care that often involves hospitalization, intravenous fluids, pain medication, respiratory support, and prevention of secondary infections.
The main means of prevention is through the promotion of safe handling, cooking and consumption of food. This includes washing raw vegetables and cooking raw food thoroughly, as well as reheating leftover or ready-to-eat foods like hot dogs until steaming hot.
Another aspect of prevention is advising high-risk groups such as pregnant women and immunocompromised patients to avoid unpasteurized pâtés and foods such as soft cheeses like feta, Brie, Camembert cheese, and bleu. Cream cheeses, yogurt, and cottage cheese are considered safe. In the United Kingdom, advice along these lines from the Chief Medical Officer posted in maternity clinics led to a sharp decline in cases of listeriosis in pregnancy in the late 1980s.
Bacteremia should be treated for 2 weeks, meningitis for 3 weeks, and brain abscess for at least 6 weeks. Ampicillin generally is considered antibiotic of choice; gentamicin is added frequently for its synergistic effects. Overall mortality rate is 20–30%; of all pregnancy-related cases, 22% resulted in fetal loss or neonatal death, but mothers usually survive.
Medications are usually not needed as hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral disease that typically resolves on its own. Currently, there is no specific curative treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease. Disease management typically focuses on achieving symptomatic relief. Pain from the sores may be eased with the use of analgesic medications. Infection in older children, adolescents, and adults is typically mild and lasts approximately 1 week, but may occasionally run a longer course. Fever reducers and lukewarm baths can help decrease body temperature.
A minority of individuals with hand, foot and mouth disease may require hospital admission due to complications such as inflammation of the brain, inflammation of the meninges, or acute flaccid paralysis. Non-neurologic complications such as inflammation of the heart, fluid in the lungs, or bleeding into the lungs may also occur.
The preventative measure of keeping cats inside in areas with high infection rates can prevent infection. Approved tick treatments for cats can be used but have been shown not to fully prevent tick bites.
The most often used treatments for cytauxzoonosis are imidocarb dipropionate and a combination of atovaquone and azithromycin. Although imidocarb has been used for years, it is not particularly effective. In a large study, only 25% of cats treated with this drug and supportive care survived. 60% of sick cats treated with supportive care and the combination of the anti-malarial drug atovaquone and the antibiotic azithromycin survived infection.
Quick referral to a veterinarian equipped to treat the disease may be beneficial. All infected cats require supportive care, including careful fluids, nutritional support, treatment for complications, and often blood transfusion.
Cats that survive the infection should be kept indoors as they can be persistent carriers after surviving infection and might indirectly infect other cats after being themselves bitten by a vector tick.
Immunosuppressive therapy has been effective in halting the disease for laboratory animals.
While a vaccine is available for PHF, it does not cover all strains of the bacterium, and recent vaccine failures seem to be on the rise. Additionally, the vaccine usually produces a very weak immune response, which may only lessen the severity of the disease rather than prevent it. The vaccine is administered twice a year, in early spring and in early summer, with the first one inoculation given before the mayflies emerge and the second administered as a booster.
Some veterinarians have started making recommendations for farm management to try to prevent this disease:
- Maintaining riparian barriers along bodies of water may encourage aquatic insects to stay near their places of origin
- Turning off outside lights around the barn will prevent insects from being attracted
- Cleaning water buckets and feed areas frequently and keeping food covered will reduce the chance that the horse will accidentally ingest infected insects
Mycoplasmas have a triple-layered membrane and lack a cell wall. Commonly used antibiotics are generally ineffective because their efficacy is due to their ability to inhibit cell wall synthesis. Micoplasmas are not affected by penicillins and other antibiotics that act on the cell wall. The growth of micoplasmas in their host is inhibited by other broad-spectrum antibiotics. These broad-spectrum antibiotics inhibit the multiplication of the mycoplasma but does not kill them. Tetracyclines, macrolides, erythromycin, macrolides, ketolides, quinolones are used to treat mycoplasma infections. In addition to the penicillins, mycoplasmas are resistant to rifampicin. Mycoplasmas may be difficult to eradicate from human or animal hosts or from cell cultures by antibiotic treatment because of resistance to the antibiotic, or because it does not kill the mycoplasma cell. Mycoplasma cells are able to invade the cells of their hosts.
First-line treatment for CIDP is currently intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and other treatments include corticosteroids (e.g. prednisone), and plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) which may be prescribed alone or in combination with an immunosuppressant drug. Recent controlled studies show subcutaneous immunoglobin (SCIG) appears to be as effective for CIDP treatment as IVIG in most patients, and with fewer systemic side effects.
IVIG and plasmapheresis have proven benefit in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. Despite less definitive published evidence of efficacy, corticosteroids are considered standard therapies because of their long history of use and cost effectiveness. IVIG is probably the first-line CIDP treatment, but is extremely expensive. For example, in the U.S., a single 65 g dose of Gamunex brand in 2010 might be billed at the rate of $8,000 just for the immunoglobulin—not including other charges such as nurse administration. Gamunex brand IVIG is the only U.S. FDA approved treatment for CIDP, as in 2008 Talecris, the maker of Gamunex, received orphan drug status for this drug for the treatment of CIDP.
Immunosuppressive drugs are often of the cytotoxic (chemotherapy) class, including rituximab (Rituxan) which targets B cells, and cyclophosphamide, a drug which reduces the function of the immune system. Ciclosporin has also been used in CIDP but with less frequency as it is a newer approach. Ciclosporin is thought to bind to immunocompetent lymphocytes, especially T-lymphocytes.
Non-cytotoxic immunosuppressive treatments usually include the anti-rejection transplant drugs azathioprine (Imuran/Azoran) and mycophenolate mofetil (Cellcept). In the U.S., these drugs are used as "off-label" treatments for CIDP, meaning that their use here is accepted by the FDA, but that CIDP treatment is not explicitly indicated or approved in the drug literature. Before azathioprine is used, the patient should first have a blood test that ensures that azathioprine can safely be used.
Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG), an immunosuppressive agent that selectively destroys T lymphocytes is being studied for use in CIDP. Anti-thymocyte globulin is the gamma globulin fraction of antiserum from animals that have been immunized against human thymocytes. It is a polyclonal antibody.
Although chemotherapeutic and immunosuppressive agents have shown to be effective in treating CIDP, significant evidence is lacking, mostly due to the heterogeneous nature of the disease in the patient population in addition to the lack of controlled trials.
A review of several treatments found that azathioprine, interferon alpha and methotrexate were not effective. Cyclophosphamide and rituximab seem to have some response. Mycophenolate mofetil may be of use in milder cases. Immunoglobulin and steroids are the first line choices for treatment. Rarely bone marrow transplantation has been performed.
Physical therapy and occupational therapy may improve muscle strength, activities of daily living, mobility, and minimize the shrinkage of muscles and tendons and distortions of the joints.