Questions tagged [infection]
Questions regarding the ability of organisms to cause illness or disease in the body upon entering and multiplying in it should use this tag. It may be a virus, bacterium, parasite or other organism which uses the body as a host to the host's detriment. Some infections are subclinical or result in carrier states. Symbiosis is not considered an infection.
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Does prior COVID infection increase or decrease mortality on COVID reinfection?
One recent large scale study found that a prior COVID infection doubles your risk of dying when you later catch a subsequent COVID infection.
This study followed 5 million people in the Veterans ...
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Do piercings enhance the immune response against postsurgical infections?
This seems like it should be known, but it's hard to look up specifically with search terms. Searching in PubMed I can find Katsuse, 2019 hypothesizing a risk of nosocomial infection to patients from ...
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If antibiotics/paracetamol are relieving a patient's symptoms then can we establish that the root cause of symptoms is some sort of infection?
I don't think I can expand on the title without diving into my personal symptoms which I believe are against the rules of this stack-exchange. Nevertheless, even a general answer should be helpful ...
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Can the species of bacteria infecting an open wound be identified through visual or olfactory inspection?
When an open wound is infected, is it possible to identify which bacteria is causing the infection through visual and olfactory inspection, for example by examining the pus coming out of the wound?
An ...
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How Long Must a Window Remain Open to Decrease the Risk of COVID?
Suppose there is an emergency and 10 fire fighters enter an apartment. None are wearing masks. Many public health authorities recommend opening windows to decrease the risk of COVID-19 infection.
For ...
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Meaning of prevalent/incident/new/cleared HPV infections in this table
I am having difficulties understanding the following table from the study Incidence and clearance of genital human papillomavirus infection in men (HIM): a cohort study.
I think I might be reading the ...
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COVID-19 exposure risk from passing joggers versus walkers
What is the COVID exposure risk from passing close by someone who is jogging relative to passing close by someone who is walking?
The reason I ask is with regard to going out for exercise, or to run ...
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A theoretical medical approach that could help reduce the amount of bone loss during osteomyelitis
I got a question from a textbook <<Seeley's Anatomy & Physiology Twelfth Edition>> that does not have an answer at the back of the book (only odd numbered questions do have an answer ...
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What are risks associated with injection made by a non-sterile needle?
On a regular vaccination, I've been handled by an unprofessional staff, who ( while preparing the injection needle) touched her hands 2 times to the injection needle (staff wore the gloves, but they ...
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Are the surgical site infections "in the brain" caused by same bacteria found in "other parts of the body"?
Are the surgical site infections "in the brain" caused by same bacteria found in "other parts of the body"?
There's a blood-brain barrier so, most of the bacteria that infect ...
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Why is Mannose elevated in people with candida infections?
I recently read a study (Monson & Wilkinson, 1981) that said mannose in body fluids can be an indicator of an invasive candida infection and I was wondering why mannose would be elevated, is it an ...
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CDC close contact definition - why masks addressed only in K12 setting?
CDC defines close contact as
Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person
(laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) for a
cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour ...
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Can someone help figure out my shoulder problem? [closed]
I'm not really into medicine or anything, just have a quick question. So since I was younger, I had this shoulder cyst thing since maybe 1st grade or something and nobody could diagnose it. It ...
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Why is sepsis more common with leukemia than with cancers involving physical tumors?
Does it have something to do with differences between leukemia versus other cancers, or differences between the treatments of leukemia versus other cancers?
Quote from the source:
People with cancers ...
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Why does my volunteering with kids mean I should get a tetanus shot?
I volunteer with kids a decent amount. A little while ago my doctor recommended that I get the tetanus shot specifically due to the fact that I spend so much time around small children.
At the time I ...
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Erysipelas vs cellulitis vs paronychia
According to Wikipedia:
"Erysipelas is a relatively common bacterial infection of the superficial layer of the skin."(1)
"Cellulitis is a bacterial infection involving the inner layers ...
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Is there a simple way to quantify viral content beeing exhaled by a person potentially independent of the specific virus type?
As far as I have understood it, persons who have contacted virusses (that are to a substantial part transmitted through the air, such as covid-19) tend to be only or most strong infectuous during a ...
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Length of stay vs Acute length of stay in a hospital
I came across a term called Acute length of stay recently from a medical dataset hosted in Kaggle [here]
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While I understand that the usual length of stay is given by the formula date of discharge - ...
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Solve SIR in continuous or discrete form, which one is more accurate in epidemiology sense
Oftentimes, SIR model is used in epidemiology to model infection. Based on the model form, the original SIR model is continuous, and strictly should be solved with continous ode solver. However, it ...
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Is it possible to increase viral load and COVID-19 disease severity through subsequent infectious doses? [closed]
There is potentially a causal chain leading from high initial infectious dose to high viral load to high disease severity for COVID-19. See, for example, evidence surveyed here.
However, once someone ...
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What is the risk of meningitis after nasal hair plucking?
I heard board-certified dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee (aka Dr. Pimple Popper) refer to a Nasolabial triangle as the "triangle of danger" on one of her tv show episodes. Re-reading the ...
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Are H. Pylori infections the most common cause of both gastric and duodenal ulcers? Is the urea breath test a useful diagnostic for both kinds?
H. pylori infections are a frequent cause of peptic ulcers, and a positive result from a urea breath test indicating the likely presence of H. pilori may be followed by treatment that includes one or ...
user16606
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Are there known outdoor super spreader events for COVID-19? Are there *any* known outdoor infections at all?
The title says it all: Are there known outdoor events or gatherings where the virus was spread to a large number of persons?
We know of many indoor super spreader events (choirs, bars, private parties ...
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Which HPV types are detectable by the immune system to remove it from body?
Some resources (like WHO) says that HPV can be cleared by the immune system as the following.
WHO
There are many types of HPV, and many do not cause problems. HPV infections usually clear up without ...
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How long does it take for the COVID-19 antibody to disappear?
I saw a news article says; 90 days after the infection with ncov19, several patients had no detectable antibodies in their bloodstream. This seems to be one of their evidence that immunity against ...
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Is it possible to remove HPV from the body by strengthening the immune system?
I saw some content which says HPV can be removed from the body by strengthening the immune system:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt05-hpv.html
Most HPV infections are transient and ...
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Are there diseases for which infection does not grant lasting immunity but a vaccine does?
There has been a lot of discussion about whether people who have COVID-19 and recover will have long-lasting immunity. At the same time, work is underway to create a vaccine for this disease. But if ...
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Is it dangerous to share toothpaste? [closed]
Can a person get some dangerous disease (Hepatitis, HIV, etc) from another person by sharing a toothpaste with them?
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What is the definition of STI? (formely STD) [duplicate]
We know that for laymen, an STI (sexually transmitted infection) is something that can spread via sexual activities. However, there are some infections that can spread sexually but is not considered ...
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What are the genetic predispositions, if any, for covid-19?
What are the genetic predispositions, if any, for covid-19?
For example, https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1258244/Coronavirus-symptoms-COVID19-susceptibility-genetic-transmission-latest-...
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Can you recover from COVID-19, and then be reinfected so as to be a danger to other people?
Assuming I've contracted COVID-19 this January and made a full recovery and the antibodies have already left my body again. Now, I come into contact with someone who is sick and I inhale some COVID-19 ...
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If a SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic infected individual is exposed to a high viral load, could they develop COVID-19 disease?
I would add my own research if I could to respect site rules, but I can't. There are no studies on SARS-CoV-2, all I can find is for SARS-CoV-1 and some Chinese information based studies.
My ...
user19086
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Do gloves offer extra protection in general against a COVID-19 infection?
For people who neither are medical personnel, nor in any related field like geriatic care, what kind of protection would gloves provide? I mind people in their daily activities like shopping or using ...
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Seboorrheic Dermatitis, Fungi, Environmental Factors
How can seborrheic dermatitis not be caused by poor hygiene as the assotiation for dermatology said? Wouldn't poor hygiene at least aggravate the condition?
The treatment is mainly antifungal. And ...
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Would the human seasonal coronaviruses be just as deadly as COVID-19 in a population with no prior immunity?
Presuming that we were able to find a person who was never exposed to any of the human seasonal coronaviruses (part of the viruses that cause the common cold), would the virus be just as deadly for ...
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A study about blood differences and the risk for COVID-19
On healthline it's mentioned a recent study that came out of Wuhan, China; it’s published on a website, but hasn’t yet been reviewed by peers.
In the study, scientists looked at the blood types of ...
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Use of antibiotics with chest infections
I would like to have a confusing part of medicine cleared up. My experience of medical intervention is as follows.
As pointed out in the answer to Does taking antibiotics make you immune to virus? ...
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Does the virus causing COVID-19, the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 stop being infectious when it is dry? [closed]
There are studies on the persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces. These studies aim to find out how long a surface remains infectious to humans.
As far as I understand, it is not determined ...
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Is open air spraying of disinfectant irritating the respiratory system and therefore increasing risk of infection such as COVID-19?
Recent articles and news items showed groups of people (mainly in Asia) spraying whole cities with disinfectant (as shown on a photo below). Apart from questions about the used substances, dose, ...
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Is it possible that COVID-19 virus exist in a human body, but be absent from samples taken from nose and back of throat?
As specified in this link, COVID-19 tests start with taking samples from the nose or back or throat of people.
Based on growth rate of this disease, I thought what if those samples are not positive (...
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What is the main way COVID-19 spreads?
Reading numerous news articles about COVID-19, I got confused as to what is its main transmission route. In particular, I am confused as to whether it is
direct landing of respiratory droplets in ...
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Can this product kill coronavirus?
I'm really really confused what product to buy to clean my laptop body to disinfect it from coronavirus.
Like most doctors say use 60-70% alcohol based sanitizers to clean your hands.
So does it ...
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Is it possible that inhaling copper vapor, in some form, can help in treating a bacterial or viral infection of the lung? [closed]
There are many studies showing the antimicrobial properties of copper.
Based on these properties, is it possible that inhaling copper vapor, in some form, can help in treating a bacterial or viral ...
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If I get COVID-19, can I get cured by myself?
Suppose I get infected by COVID-19.
I am a healthy person but with weight issues, according to the standard weight tables.
Can my immune system cure me by itself? That is, without the need of ...
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Why would someone, healthy and 10-39 years old, infected with covid-19 might die?
From https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus we can see that a person between 10 and 39 years old has a probability of 0.2% of dying, which is very low but meaningful.
See also this table below for ...
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Is standing apart 2m an appropriate Social Distancing measure for choirs
In our choir, we are discussing measures to slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus in our community. However, I lack understanding about how the virus spreads in a closed room. The German Public ...
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Do pharmacies' terminals spread infections?
Everybody who's purchasing medicine in a pharmacy has to write a signature on a touchscreen payment terminal, either with his/her finger or by using the stylos attached to the terminal. This practice ...
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Do tooth infections pockets build pressure?
Here is a strange situation that happened these days. I had an infection in a tooth that had a root canal and a post with a crown. The infection was there for a while and these days, the whole thing (...
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Does drinking water constantly protect against coronavirus infection?
At least in Poland there is an SMS people send to each other that warns one should be constantly drinking water, at least a few gulps every 15 mins to protect oneself against viral infection. ...
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Does viral load of the initial COVID-19 infection affect its severity?
If someone gets infected by a droplet containing a high load of the SARS-CoV-2 virus would he be more likely to develop more severe symptoms compared to someone who gets infected by a droplet ...
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