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Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
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Starting antibiotics early is a first step in treating septicemic plague in humans. One of the following antibiotics may be used:
- Streptomycin
- Gentamicin
- Tetracycline or doxycycline
- Chloramphenicol
- Ciprofloxacin
Lymph nodes may require draining and the patient will need close monitoring.
In animals, antibiotics such as tetracyline or doxycycline can be used. Intravenous drip may be used to assist in dehydration scenarios. Flea treatment can also be used. In some cases euthanasia may be the best option for treatment and to prevent further spreading.
If infection occurs or is suspected, treatment is generally with the antibiotics streptomycin or gentamicin. Doxycycline was previously used. Gentamicin may be easier to obtain than streptomycin. There is also tentative evidence to support the use of fluoroquinolones.
As the infection is usually transmitted into humans through animal bites, antibiotics usually treat the infection, but medical attention should be sought if the wound is severely swelling. Pasteurellosis is usually treated with high-dose penicillin if severe. Either tetracycline or chloramphenicol provides an alternative in beta-lactam-intolerant patients. However, it is most important to treat the wound.
Early antibiotic treatment of anthrax is essential; delay significantly lessens chances for survival.
Treatment for anthrax infection and other bacterial infections includes large doses of intravenous and oral antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin), doxycycline, erythromycin, vancomycin, or penicillin. FDA-approved agents include ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, and penicillin.
In possible cases of pulmonary anthrax, early antibiotic prophylaxis treatment is crucial to prevent possible death.
In recent years, many attempts have been made to develop new drugs against anthrax, but existing drugs are effective if treatment is started soon enough.
The following steps and precautions should be used to avoid infection of the septicemic plague:
- Caregivers of infected patients should wear masks, gloves, goggles and gowns
- Take antibiotics if close contact with infected patient has occurred
- Use insecticides throughout house
- Avoid contact with dead rodents or sick cats
- Set traps if mice or rats are present around the house
- Do not allow family pets to roam in areas where plague is common
- Flea control and treatment for animals (especially rodents)
In May 2009, Human Genome Sciences submitted a biologic license application (BLA, permission to market) for its new drug, raxibacumab (brand name ABthrax) intended for emergency treatment of inhaled anthrax. On 14 December 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration approved raxibacumab injection to treat inhalational anthrax. Raxibacumab is a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes toxins produced by "B. anthracis". On March, 2016, FDA approved a second anthrax treatment using a monoclonal antibody which neutralizes the toxins produced by "B. anthracis". Obiltoxaximab is approved to treat inhalational anthrax in conjunction with appropriate antibacterial drugs, and for prevention when alternative therapies are not available or appropriate.
There are no safe, available, approved vaccines against tularemia. However, vaccination research and development continues, with live attenuated vaccines being the most thoroughly researched and most likely candidate for approval. Sub-unit vaccine candidates, such as killed-whole cell vaccines, are also under investigation, however research has not reached a state of public use.
Optimal preventative practices include limiting direct exposure when handling potentially infected animals, such as wearing gloves and face masks while handling potentially infected animals (importantly when skinning deceased animals).
Macrolides, tetracyclines and quinolones are active against "M. capricolum" subsp." capripneumoniae". Disease incidence is reduced by good hygiene and husbandry practices.
Movement restrictions and slaughtering infected animals are recommended for countries that are newly infected.
The first step in treatment includes washing and then irrigating the bite wound.
Seek medical attention if: if the cat has not been vaccinated against rabies.
A tetanous booster is given to the person if It has been more than 5 years since their last tetanus shot. If a cat has bitten someone, and there is no evidence that the cat has been vaccinated against rabies, the person will be treated for rabies infection.
Cat bites can often be prevented by:
- instructing children not to tease cats or other pets.
- being cautious with unfamiliar cats.
- approaching cats with care, even if they appear to be friendly.
- avoiding rough play with cats and kittens.
Rough play causes is perceived as aggressive. This will lead to the cat being defensive when approached by people. Preventing cat bites includes not provoking the cat.
Pneumonic plague is a very aggressive infection requiring early treatment. Antibiotics must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms to reduce the risk of death. Streptomycin, gentamicin, tetracyclines and chloramphenicol are all effective against pneumonic plague.
Antibiotic treatment for seven days will protect people who have had direct, close contact with infected patients. Wearing a close-fitting surgical mask also protects against infection.
The mortality rate from untreated pneumonic plague approaches 100%.
Treatment for gastroenteritis due to "Y. enterocolitica" is not needed in the majority of cases. Severe infections with systemic involvement (sepsis or bacteremia) often requires aggressive antibiotic therapy; the drugs of choice are doxycycline and an aminoglycoside. Alternatives include cefotaxime, fluoroquinolones, and co-trimoxazole.
Several classes of antibiotics are effective in treating bubonic plague. These include aminoglycosides such as streptomycin and gentamicin, tetracyclines (especially doxycycline), and the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Mortality associated with treated cases of bubonic plague is about 1–15%, compared to a mortality of 40–60% in untreated cases.
People potentially infected with the plague need immediate treatment and should be given antibiotics within 24 hours of the first symptoms to prevent death. Other treatments include oxygen, intravenous fluids, and respiratory support. People who have had contact with anyone infected by pneumonic plague are given prophylactic antibiotics. Using the broad-based antibiotic streptomycin has proven to be dramatically successful against the bubonic plague within 12 hours of infection.
Removal of ergot bodies is done by placing the yield in a brine solution; the ergot bodies float while the healthy grains sink. Infested fields need to be deep plowed; ergot cannot germinate if buried more than one inch in soil and therefore won't release its spores into the air. Rotating crops using non-susceptible plants helps reduce infestations since ergot spores only live one year. Crop rotation and deep tillage, such as deep moldboard ploughing, are important components in managing ergot, as many cereal crops in the 21st Century are sown with a "no-till" practice (new crops are seeded directly into the stubble from the previous crop to reduce soil erosion). Wild and escaped grasses and pastures can be mowed before they flower to help limit the spread of ergot.
Chemical controls can also be used, but are not considered economical especially in commercial operations, and germination of ergot spores can still occur under favorable conditions even with the use of such controls.
If diagnosed in time, the various forms of plague are usually highly responsive to antibiotic therapy. The antibiotics often used are streptomycin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Amongst the newer generation of antibiotics, gentamicin and doxycycline have proven effective in monotherapeutic treatment of plague.
The plague bacterium could develop drug-resistance and again become a major health threat. One case of a drug-resistant form of the bacterium was found in Madagascar in 1995. Further outbreaks in Madagascar were reported in November 2014 and October 2017.
Some ways to prevent airborne diseases include washing hands, using appropriate hand disinfection, getting regular immunizations against diseases believed to be locally present, wearing a respirator and limiting time spent in the presence of any patient likely to be a source of infection.
Exposure to a patient or animal with an airborne disease does not guarantee receiving the disease. Because of the changes in host immunity and how much the host was exposed to the particles in the air makes a difference to how the disease affects the body.
Antibiotics are not prescribed for patients to control viral infections. They may however be prescribed to a flu patient for instance, to control or prevent bacterial secondary infections. They also may be used in dealing with air-borne bacterial primary infections, such as pneumonic plague.
Additionally the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told consumers about vaccination and following careful hygiene and sanitation protocols for airborne disease prevention. Consumers also have access to preventive measures like UV Air purification devices that FDA and EPA-certified laboratory test data has verified as effective in inactivating a broad array of airborne infectious diseases. Many public health specialists recommend social distancing to reduce the transmission of airborne infections.
There is currently no effective marburgvirus-specific therapy for MVD. Treatment is primarily supportive in nature and includes minimizing invasive procedures, balancing fluids and electrolytes to counter dehydration, administration of anticoagulants early in infection to prevent or control disseminated intravascular coagulation, administration of procoagulants late in infection to control hemorrhaging, maintaining oxygen levels, pain management, and administration of antibiotics or antimycotics to treat secondary infections. Experimentally, recombinant vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus (VSIV) expressing the glycoprotein of MARV has been used successfully in nonhuman primate models as post-exposure prophylaxis. Novel, very promising, experimental therapeutic regimens rely on antisense technology: phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) targeting the MARV genome could prevent disease in nonhuman primates. Leading medications from Sarepta and Tekmira both have been successfully used in European humans as well as primates.
White plague is a suite of coral diseases of which three types have been identified, initially in the Florida Keys. They are infectious diseases but it has proved difficult to identify the pathogens involved. White plague type II may be caused by the gram negative bacterium "Aurantimonas coralicida" in the order Rhizobiales but other bacteria have also been associated with diseased corals and viruses may also be implicated.
Historically, eating grain products, particularly rye, contaminated with the fungus "Claviceps purpurea" was the cause of ergotism.
The toxic ergoline derivatives are found in ergot-based drugs (such as methylergometrine, ergotamine or, previously, ergotoxine). The deleterious side-effects occur either under high dose or when moderate doses interact with potentiators such as erythromycin.
The alkaloids can pass through lactation from mother to child, causing ergotism in infants.
Antibiotics are the treatment of choice for bacterial pneumonia, with ventilation (oxygen supplement) as supportive therapy. The antibiotic choice depends on the nature of the pneumonia, the microorganisms most commonly causing pneumonia in the geographical region, and the immune status and underlying health of the individual. In the United Kingdom, amoxicillin is used as first-line therapy in the vast majority of patients acquiring pneumonia in the community, sometimes with added clarithromycin. In North America, where the "atypical" forms of community-acquired pneumonia are becoming more common, clarithromycin, azithromycin, or fluoroquinolones as single therapy have displaced the amoxicillin as first-line therapy.
Local patterns of antibiotic-resistance always need to be considered when initiating pharmacotherapy. In hospitalized individuals or those with immune deficiencies, local guidelines determine the selection of antibiotics.
Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is a cause of major economic losses to goat producers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Disease is caused by members of the Mycoplasma genus - usually "Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum" but sometimes by "M. mycoides" subsp. "capri" or "M. mycoides" subsp. "mycoides". It is extremely contagious with very high morbidity and mortality rates, causing an interstitial fibrinous pleuropneumonia in infected goats. Infection is spread by close-contact aerosol, therefore overcrowding and confinement increases disease incidence. Stress factors such as malnutrition and long transport can also predispose animals to disease.
Goats are the only species affected, therefore the disease is not a zoonosis. There is no age breed or sex predilection, but clinical signs are often worse in younger animals.
Paratuberculosis or Johne's disease is a contagious, chronic and sometimes fatal infection that primarily affects the small intestine of ruminants. It is caused by the bacterium "Mycobacterium avium" subspecies "paratuberculosis". Infections normally affect ruminants (mammals that have four compartments of their stomachs, of which the rumen is one), but have also been seen in a variety of nonruminant species, including rabbits, foxes, and birds. Horses, dogs, and nonhuman primates have been infected experimentally. Paratuberculosis is found worldwide, with some states in Australia (where it is usually called bovine Johne's disease or BJD) as the only areas proven to be free of the disease.
Some sources define "paratuberculosis" by the lack of "Mycobacterium tuberculosis", rather than the presence of any specific infectious agent, leaving ambiguous the appropriateness of the term to describe Buruli ulcer or Lady Windermere syndrome.
"Streptococcus pneumoniae" — amoxicillin (or erythromycin in patients allergic to penicillin); cefuroxime and erythromycin in severe cases.
"Staphylococcus aureus" — flucloxacillin (to counteract the organism's β-lactamase).
Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium "Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis" found mostly in goats and sheep that at present has no cure. It manifests itself predominantly in the form of large, pus-filled cysts on the neck, sides and udders of goats and sheep. The disease is spread mostly from an animal coming in contact with pus from a burst cyst on an infected animal, but the disease is highly contagious and is thought to also be spread by coughing or even by flies. Studies have found CL incidence in commercial goat herds as high as 30%.
Smallpox vaccination within three days of exposure will prevent or significantly lessen the severity of smallpox symptoms in the vast majority of people. Vaccination four to seven days after exposure can offer some protection from disease or may modify the severity of disease. Other than vaccination, treatment of smallpox is primarily supportive, such as wound care and infection control, fluid therapy, and possible ventilator assistance. Flat and hemorrhagic types of smallpox are treated with the same therapies used to treat shock, such as fluid resuscitation. People with semi-confluent and confluent types of smallpox may have therapeutic issues similar to patients with extensive skin burns.
No drug is currently approved for the treatment of smallpox. Antiviral treatments have improved since the last large smallpox epidemics, and studies suggest that the antiviral drug cidofovir might be useful as a therapeutic agent. The drug must be administered intravenously, and may cause serious kidney toxicity.