Herpes Zoster, Post Herpetic Neuralgia, and Zoster Vaccine Live. ‘Prevention is worth a pound of cure” is particularly true for older adults who are at risk for developing post herpetic neuralgia (PHN) and herpes zoster (HZV). PHN is the post sequelae that can occur in people who have had a previous bout of herpes zoster, also known as shingles. HZV is an infection attributable to the human herpes virus-3, also known as the varicella zoster virus.

Sexual Health: Communicate, Inquire, and Promote. Healthy People 2020 identify Reproduction and Sexual Health as a leading health indicator. Leading health indicators, or high priority health issues, list objectives to improve the health of the US population. Providers and healthcare organizations are encouraged to implement these objectives in their practice in order to meet these health care goals for the nation.

Hepatitis C in Primary Care: A Toolkit for the Clinician. Clinicians in primary care face a challenge to recognize, diagnose, monitor, and assist in treatment decisions for a large population of patients, many of whom may be asymptomatic but at risk for chronic liver disease and primary liver cancer.

Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Calls Attention to the Role of Health Professionals in Medication Safety. A multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis associated with epidural spinal injection of a contaminated corticosteroid solution has focused public attention on the practice of compounding pharmacy in the United States.

Mandatory Influenza Vaccination for Healthcare Workers: A Health Policy Brief. The CDC estimates that up to 20% of Americans are affected with influenza yearly and 226,000 people are hospitalized with flu-related complications or die as a result. Yet the rate of flu vaccinations for healthcare workers remains constant, less than 50%, even though many of their patients, especially the young and elderly, suffer from the flu.

CASE STUDY: Man with Painful Urination. Sam Marx is a 46-year-old insurance agent who presents to your office with a chief complaint of dysuria and purulent urethral discharge for the past 3 days.

CDC Recommends that All Baby Boomers Be Tested Once for Hepatitis C. Hepatitis C infection is a contagious liver condition that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a chronic, lifelong illness. It results from infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and is spread primarily through blood-to-blood contact. The most likely source of the infection is the use of injectable drugs, including intermittent or short-term usage that may have occurred years ago. HCV infection status is determined by a blood test and unlike hepatitis A and B, there is currently no vaccine to prevent infection with HCV.

CDC Proposes That All Baby Boomers Be Tested Once for Hepatitis C. The CDC is issuing draft guidelines proposing that all U.S. baby boomers get a one-time blood test for the hepatitis C virus. One in 30 baby boomers—those born from 1945 to 1965—is infected with Hepatitis C, but as many as 50% of them may not know it.

Abby, a 39-year-old writer, has been experiencing common flu-like symptoms of fever, fatigue, and muscle pain for over a week now. She complains of an ongoing lymphadenopathy and she feels as though her knees are 100 years old.

A Quick Quiz in Honor of National Women's Health Week (May 14-20, 2012). See how you compare with your peers.

Measles Cases on the Rise. With travel in and out of the United States so easy and common, the number of measles cases reported in the U.S. has slowly started to increase.

The Latest on C. difficile Infections. Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection is a safety concern in all types of medical facilities, not just hospitals. C. diff is a bacterium that attacks the gut and causes severe diarrhea, weight loss, and other intestinal diseases after protective bacteria in the gut flora have been wiped out by antibiotics.

Acute Sinusitis—Antibiotics, or Watch and Wait? A recent article in JAMA suggests that among 133 adults with uncomplicated rhinosinusitis, treatment with amoxicillin resulted in no significant difference in symptoms compared with placebo.

FDA Approves Expanded Use of Prevnar 13 Vaccine in Patients Aged 50 and Older. With winter and flu season encroaching on much of the United States, we thought you’d be interested in the latest FDA approval to prevent pneumonia in older adults.

New CDC Guidelines for Treating Latent Tuberculosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just published a new and less onerous regimen to treat latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. The new recommendations provide guidance about how to administer a new 12-dose regimen of TB preventive therapy that will significantly simplify the course of treatment from about nine months to 12 weeks.