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Winterbottom's sign is seen in the early phase of African trypanosomiasis, a disease caused by the parasites "Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense" and "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" which is more commonly known as African sleeping sickness. Dr. Anthony Martinelli describes Winterbottom's sign as the swelling of lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy) along the back of the neck, in the posterior cervical chain of lymph nodes, as trypanosomes travel in the lymphatic fluid and cause inflammation.
It may be suggestive of cerebral infection.
The term Winterbottom's sign derives from descriptions of the posterior cervical lymphadenopathy associated with African trypanosomiasis made by a slave trader using the sign to weed out the ill.
Lymph node enlargement is recognized as a common sign of infectious, autoimmune, or malignant disease. Examples may include:
- Reactive: acute infection ("e.g.," bacterial, or viral), or chronic infections (tuberculous lymphadenitis, cat-scratch disease).
- The most distinctive sign of bubonic plague is extreme swelling of one or more lymph nodes that bulge out of the skin as "buboes." The buboes often become necrotic and may even rupture.
- Infectious mononucleosis is an acute viral infection caused by Epstein-Barr virus and may be characterized by a marked enlargement of the cervical lymph nodes.
- It is also a sign of cutaneous anthrax and Human African trypanosomiasis
- Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, gives a generalized lymphadenopathy ("Piringer-Kuchinka lymphadenopathy").
- Plasma cell variant of Castleman's disease - associated with HHV-8 infection and HIV infection
- Mesenteric lymphadenitis after viral systemic infection (particularly in the GALT in the appendix) can commonly present like appendicitis.
Less common infectious causes of lymphadenopathy may include bacterial infections such as cat scratch disease, tularemia, brucellosis, or prevotella.
- Tumoral:
- Primary: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma give lymphadenopathy in all or a few lymph nodes.
- Secondary: metastasis, Virchow's Node, neuroblastoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
- Autoimmune: systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis may have a generalized lymphadenopathy.
- Immunocompromised: AIDS. Generalized lymphadenopathy is an early sign of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). "Lymphadenopathy syndrome" has been used to describe the first symptomatic stage of HIV progression, preceding a diagnosis of AIDS.
- Bites from certain venomous snakes such as the pit viper
- Unknown: Kikuchi disease, progressive transformation of germinal centers, sarcoidosis, hyaline-vascular variant of Castleman's disease, Rosai-Dorfman disease, Kawasaki disease, Kimura disease
Fremitus is a vibration transmitted through the body. In common medical usage, it usually refers to assessment of the lungs by either the vibration intensity felt on the chest wall ("tactile fremitus") and/or heard by a stethoscope on the chest wall with certain spoken words ("vocal fremitus"), although there are several other types.
The condition may be a sign of various disease states, including but not exclusive to the following:
- Cancers
- Lymphoma
- Leukemia
- Infections
- HIV/AIDS
- Tuberculosis
- Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection
- Infectious mononucleosis
- Fungal infections (histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis)
- Lung abscess
- Infective endocarditis
- Brucellosis
- Pneumocystis pneumonia (most often - in immunocompromised individuals)
- Endocrine disorders
- Menopause
- Premature ovarian failure
- Hyperthyroidism
- Diabetes mellitus (nocturnal hypoglycemia)
- Endocrine tumors (pheochromocytoma, carcinoid)
- Orchiectomy
- Rheumatic disorders
- Takayasu's arteritis
- Temporal arteritis
- Other
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Granulomatous disease
- Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia
- Lymphoid hyperplasia
- Diabetes insipidus
- Prinzmetal's angina
- Anxiety
- Pregnancy
- Drugs
- Antipyretics (salicylates, acetaminophen)
- Antihypertensives
- Dinitrophenol - a common side effect
- Phenothiazines
- Drug withdrawal: ethanol, benzodiazepines, heroin (and other opiates),
- Over-bundling
- Autonomic over-activity
- IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) - Crohn's disease/ulcerative colitis
When a person speaks, the vocal cords create vibrations ("vocal fremitus") in the tracheobronchial tree and through the lungs and chest wall, where they can be felt ("tactile fremitus"). This is usually assessed with the healthcare provider placing the flat of their palms on the chest wall and then asking a patient to repeat a diphthong such as "blue balloons" or "toys for tots" (the original diphthong used was the German word Neunundneunzig but the translation to the English 'ninety nine' was not a diphthong and thus not as effective in eliciting fremitus). An increase in tactile fremitus indicates denser or inflamed lung tissue, which can be caused by diseases such as pneumonia. A decrease suggests air or fluid in the pleural spaces or a decrease in lung tissue density, which can be caused by diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma.
As of 2010 it caused around 9,000 deaths, down from 34,000 in 1990. As of 2000, the disability-adjusted life-years (9 to 10 years) lost due to sleeping sickness are 2.0 million. From 2010-2014, there was an estimated 55 million people at risk for "gambiense" African Trypanosomiasis and over 6 million people at risk for "rhodesiense" African Trypanosomiasis. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported 3,797 cases of Human African Trypanosomiasis when the predicted number of cases were to be 5,000. The number of total reported cases in 2014 is an 86% reduction to the total number of cases reported in 2000.
The disease has been recorded as occurring in 37 countries, all in sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs regularly in southeast Uganda and western Kenya, and killed more than 48,000 Africans in 2008. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most affected country in the world, accounting for 75% of the "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" cases. The population at risk being about 69 million with one third of this number being at a 'very high' to 'moderate' risk and the remaining two thirds at a 'low' to 'very low' risk. The number of people being affected by the disease has declined. At this rate, sleeping sickness elimination is a possibility. The World Health Organization plans to eradicate sleeping sickness by the year 2020.
The occurrence (incidence) on abdominal or chest X-rays is around 0.1% but it can be up to 1% in series of older adults. It has also been reported in children.
Lymphadenopathy or adenopathy is disease of the lymph nodes, in which they are abnormal in size, number, or consistency. Lymphadenopathy of an inflammatory type (the most common type) is lymphadenitis, producing swollen or enlarged lymph nodes. In clinical practice, the distinction between lymphadenopathy and lymphadenitis is rarely made and the words are usually treated as synonymous. Inflammation of the lymphatic vessels is known as lymphangitis. Infectious lymphadenitides affecting lymph nodes in the neck are often called scrofula.
The term comes from the word lymph and a combination of the Greek words , "adenas" ("gland") and , "patheia" ("act of suffering" or "disease").
Lymphadenopathy is a common and nonspecific sign. Common causes include infections (from minor ones such as the common cold to dangerous ones such as HIV/AIDS), autoimmune diseases, and cancers. Lymphadenopathy is also frequently idiopathic and self-limiting.
A zebibah (Arabic زبيبة "zabība", "raisin"), also known as a zabiba or zebiba, or prayer bump, is a mark on the forehead of some Muslims, due to the friction generated by repeated contact of the forehead with the prayer mat during daily prayers.
Islam requires its adherents to pray five times a day (known as salat), which involves kneeling on a prayer mat and touching the ground with one's forehead. When done firmly for extended periods of time, a prayer bump may develop. Some Muslims may consider the presence of a prayer bump to be a sign of religious dedication and piety. Some Muslims also believe that on the day of judgment, this bump will particularly fluoresce an immense white light.
In extreme cases, the callus can be thick enough to create a real bump that protrudes from the forehead. They may also develop due to frequent prayer on hard surfaces such as stone floors.
A zebibah can be a type of acanthosis nigricans, which is a sign of insulin resistance usually from type 2 diabetes. In Egypt, where zebibahs are common, the rate of diabetes was 10.2% in 2000. However, it was much larger for certain groups. For instance, the rate of diabetes was 21.9% for women aged between 45–64 years old. In addition, it was estimated that up to 56% of men and 64% of women are obese. Many of these obese people can be pre-diabetic.
The Sign of Hertoghe or Queen Anne's sign is a thinning or loss of the outer third of the eyebrows, and is a classical sign of hypothyroidism or dermatitis atopica, but it can also be detected in lepromatous leprosy. The sign is named after Eugene Hertoghe of Antwerp, a pioneer in thyroid function research.
"Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" accounts for the majority of African trypanosomiasis cases, with humans as the main reservoir needed for the transmission, while "Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense" is mainly zoonotic, with the occasional human infection. African Trypanosomiasis is dependent on the interaction of the parasite (trypanosome) with the tsetse flies (vector), as well as the host (human for "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense", and animals for "Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense"). The risk of contracting African Trypanosomiasis is dependent on coming in contact with an infected tsetse fly.
Night sweats, also known as nocturnal hyperhidrosis, is the occurrence of excessive sweating during sleep. The person may or may not also suffer from excessive perspiration while awake.
One of the most common causes of night sweats in women over 40 is the hormonal changes related to menopause and perimenopause. This is a very common occurrence during the menopausal transition years.
While night sweats might be relatively harmless, it can also be a sign of a serious underlying disease. It is important to distinguish night sweats due to medical causes from those that occur simply because the sleep environment is too warm, either because the bedroom is unusually hot or because there are too many covers on the bed. Night sweats caused by a medical condition or infection can be described as "severe hot flashes occurring at night that can drench sleepwear and sheets, which are not related to the environment". Some of the underlying medical conditions and infections that cause these severe night sweats can be life-threatening and should promptly be investigated by a medical practitioner.
The association with Anne of Denmark is based on portraiture, although history does not suggest that she suffered an underactive thyroid. The eponym is disputed by some, though it has been suggested that Anne of France, Anne of Brittany, Anne of Austria, Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves may all be eliminated as candidates.
The exact cause is not always known, but it may occur in patients with a long and mobile colon (dolichocolon), chronic lung disease such as emphysema, or liver problems such as cirrhosis and ascites. Chilaiditi's sign is generally not associated with symptoms, and is most commonly an incidental finding in normal individuals.
Absence or laxity of the ligament suspending the transverse colon or of the falciform ligament are also thought to contribute to the condition. It can also be associated with relative atrophy of the medial segment of the left lobe of the liver. In this case, the gallbladder position is often anomalous as well – it is often located anterior to the liver, rather than posterior.
A chignon is a temporary swelling left on an infant's head after a ventouse suction cap has been used to deliver him or her. It is not a sign of serious injury and may take as little as two hours or as long as two weeks to disappear.
Chvostek's sign is found in tetany.
It may also be present in hypomagnesemia, Magnesium is a cofactor for Adenylate cyclase. The reaction that Adenylate cyclase catalyzes is the conversion of ATP to 3',5'-cyclic AMP. The 3',5'-cyclic AMP (cAMP) is required for parathyroid hormone activation. It is frequently seen in alcoholics, persons with diarrhea, patients taking aminoglycosides or diuretics, because hypomagnesemia can cause hypocalcemia. It is also seen in measles, tetanus and myxedema.
It can also be found in subjects with respiratory alkalosis, for example as a result of hyperventilation syndrome, which can lead to a drastic reduction of the concentration in serum of calcium ions while at normal levels, for the binding of a significant proportion of ionized calcium (Ca 2+ ) with albumin and globulins.
Causes include
- Acute pancreatitis, whereby methemalbumin formed from digested blood tracks subcutaneously around the abdomen from the inflamed pancreas.
- Pancreatic hemorrhage
- Retroperitoneal hemorrhage
- Blunt abdominal trauma
- Ruptured / hemorrhagic ectopic pregnancy.
- Spontaneous bleeding secondary to coagulopathy (congenital or acquired)
- Aortic rupture, from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm or other causes.
Causes include:
- acute pancreatitis, where methemalbumin formed from digested blood tracks around the abdomen from the inflamed pancreas
- bleeding from blunt abdominal trauma
- bleeding from aortic rupture
- bleeding from ruptured ectopic pregnancy
Importance of the sign is on a decline since better diagnostic modalities are now available.
Matchbox sign is a psychiatric finding. Patients with delusional parasitosis often arrive at the doctor's office with what healthcare professionals call the "matchbox sign", a medical sign characterized by the patient making collections of fibers and other foreign objects supposedly retrieved from the skin. The name refers to the fact that such collections can be stored in matchboxes or other similar small containers, which are then presented to the patient's physician.
Raccoon eye/eyes (also known in the United Kingdom and Ireland as panda eyes) or periorbital ecchymosis is a sign of basal skull fracture or subgaleal hematoma, a craniotomy that ruptured the meninges, or (rarely) certain cancers. Bilateral hemorrhage occurs when damage at the time of a facial fracture tears the meninges and causes the venous sinuses to bleed into the arachnoid villi and the cranial sinuses. In layman's terms, blood from skull fracture seeps into the soft tissue around the eyes. Raccoon eyes may be accompanied by Battle's sign, an ecchymosis behind the ear. These signs may be the only sign of a skull fracture, as it may not show on an X-ray. They may not appear until up 2–3 days after the injury. It is recommended that the patient not blow their nose, cough vigorously, or strain to prevent further tearing of the meninges.
Raccoon eyes may be bilateral or unilateral. If bilateral, it is highly suggestive of basilar skull fracture, with a positive predictive value of 85%. They are most often associated with fractures of the anterior cranial fossa.
Raccoon eyes may also be a sign of disseminated neuroblastoma or of amyloidosis (multiple myeloma).
Depending on cause, raccoon eyes always require urgent consultation and management, that is surgical (facial fracture or post-craniotomy) or medical (neuroblastoma or amyloidosis).
Cullen's sign is superficial edema and bruising in the subcutaneous fatty tissue around the umbilicus.
It is named for gynecologist Thomas Stephen Cullen (1869–1953), who first described the sign in ruptured ectopic pregnancy in 1916.
This sign takes 24–48 hours to appear and can predict acute pancreatitis, with mortality rising from 8–10% to 40%. It may be accompanied by Grey Turner's sign (bruising of the flank), which may then be indicative of pancreatic necrosis with retroperitoneal or intraabdominal bleeding.
Florid cutaneous papillomatosis is almost twice as common in men than in women, and is usually diagnosed in individuals aged 53–72 years (mean patient age, 58.5 years).
In adults, most common causes are hemorrhoids and diverticulosis, both of which are relatively benign; however, it can also be caused by colorectal cancer, which is potentially fatal. In a newborn infant, haematochezia may be the result of swallowed maternal blood at the time of delivery, but can also be an initial symptom of necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious condition affecting premature infants. In babies, haematochezia in conjunction with abdominal pain is associated with intussusception. In adolescents and young adults, inflammatory bowel disease, particularly ulcerative colitis, is a serious cause of haematochezia that must be considered and excluded.
Hematochezia can be due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding. However, as the blood from such a bleed is usually chemically modified by action of acid and enzymes, it presents more commonly as black "tarry" feces known as melena. Haematochezia from an upper gastrointestinal source is an ominous sign, as it suggests a very significant bleed which is more likely to be life-threatening.
Beeturia can cause red colored feces after eating beets because of insufficient metabolism of a red pigment, and is a differential sign that may be mistaken as hematochezia.
Consumption of dragon fruit or pitaya may also cause red discoloration of the stool and sometimes the urine (pseudohematuria). This too, is a differential sign that is sometimes mistaken for hematochezia.
In infants, the Apt test can be used to distinguish fetal hemoglobin from maternal blood.
Other common causes of blood in the stool include:
- Colorectal cancer
- Crohns disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Other types of inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, or ulceration
- Rectal or anal hemorrhoids or anal fissures, particularly if they rupture or are otherwise irritated
- "Shigella" or shiga toxin producing "E. coli" food poisoning
- Necrotizing enterocolitis
- Diverticulosis
- Salmonellosis
- Upper gastrointestinal bleeding
- Peptic ulcer disease
- Esophageal varices
- Gastric cancer
- Intense exercise, especially a high-impact activity like running in hot weather.
Prognosis for nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is favorable. Because these tumors are benign, metastasis to distal sites does not occur. However, these tumors are highly vascularized and grow rapidly. Removal is important in preventing nasal obstruction and recurrent epistaxis. Mortality is not associated with nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.