Teaching Cases
In this section of our website an interesting Infectious Diseases/Clinical Microbiology case with several teaching points will appear occasionally. The language of this section will be English.
The chief complaint, history of present illness, medical history, physical examination, and diagnostic work up are presented in a succinct way on the first page leading to a question for the reader about diagnosis or management (the usual question is: ''What is your diagnosis?'')
Differential diagnosis, final diagnosis, treatment, teaching points, references, and acknowledgements are presented on the second page.
While the majority of cases in our website come from our group, occasionally cases from other institutions from Greece or abroad may appear.
For questions and/or comments please communicate with Matthew E. Falagas, MD, MSc, at m.falagas@alfahc.gr or matthew.falagas@tufts.edu.
Cellulitis of the axillary area - 15/7/2005
A 28-year-old white man was admitted to our hospital because of chronic swelling and redness of the left sub-axillary area. No fever, pruritus, or sweating was reported. His past medical history was unremarkable. The patient reported that, after switching deodorant, he noticed a painful swelling in his left axilla 3 months prior to his admission to our hospital. He was…
View the caseNot just a usual community-acquired infection - 1/7/2005
In this teaching case we used the format of presentation of successive parts of the history, physical examination, and management accompanied by discussion (in bold characters) of a commentator.
View the casePainful facial swelling - 1/6/2005
A 58-year-old man was admitted to the hospital complaining of a 3-day history of fever, malaise and a painful swelling of the right parotid gland. For 2 days before his admission, he had been taking amoxicillin and metronidazole, as the swelling was thought to be related to dental infection, by his general practitioner. His medical history was unremarkable. The patient…
View the caseFever and shortness of breath - 1/5/2005
A 67-year-old female patient was admitted to our unit due to fever and shortness of breath.
View the caseSevere panniculitis - 1/4/2005
A 36-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of fever and abdominal pain of one-week duration. Fever was up to 39 degrees Celsius and was accompanied by chills. The pain was located in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. She did not complain for other symptoms.
View the caseFever and left lower abdominal quadrant pain - 15/3/2005
A 68-year-old male was admitted to our hospital due to fever and abdominal pain in the left lower quadrant that started 2 days prior to admission.
View the caseLimitations in the management of aortic graft infe - 1/3/2005
A 56-year-old female from Greece with a history of Takayasu's disease (diagnosed in 1992) was admitted in late November 2002 to our unit because of fever, which started in April 2002. She was diagnosed at another hospital to have aortofemoral graft infection in June 2002. Only one of several blood cultures, performed at the previous hospital, grew a strain of…
View the caseImpetigo-like vegetating nasal lesion - 15/2/2005
A 56-year-old female patient seeked medical advice because of mild fever and a face lesion of two-week duration. Her past medical history was significant for diabetes mellitus (managed with insulin), mild chronic renal insufficiency and breast cancer for which she underwent total right mastectomy 10 years ago. The patient also received radiation and chemotherapy at that time. She recently received…
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