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SAN DIEGO -- Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Infectious Disease division has consulted 1,280 new patients this year for complex infections, international travel, and human immunodeficiency virus.
A subspecialty division; ID offers consultations with the goal of supporting operational forces and maintaining optimal readiness. Consultations include bone and joint infections, heart valve infections and fevers with unknown origins. Infectious Disease specialists also treat patients affected by tuberculosis, valley fever, and infections acquired overseas.
The ID division also works with the other NMCSD departments and specialties to provide consult throughout the hospital. ID is a rapidly changing subspecialty of medicine, with new diseases being discovered and drugs being developed frequently. Also, more cases of malaria and dengue fever among travelers and deployed forces have come to the forefront, creating increased recognition of these ancient diseases.
“It’s great that we can treat patients and keep them strong and healthy, but that’s not something that the doctors do by themselves,” Lt. Cmdr. Ryan C. Maves, Infectious Disease division head. “It’s everyone from the hospital corpsman to the person at the front desk to the providers.”
When planning to travel internationally, many beneficiaries visit the ID division to learn how to prevent contracting diseases in different countries.
“Patients like to know how to prevent malaria, how to treat diarrhea, and how to generally avoid getting sick during international travel,” said Maves.
Physicians in the ID division act as the primary care managers for patients with HIV. Recently, a few new drugs, such as raltegravir and etravirine, have been developed to treat people with previously untreatable HIV infections. Along with the care from the providers, there are dedicated psychologists and social workers available to the patients.
“It’s not like the old days where everyone with HIV died. The time between infection and death would average about eight years, and the time between diagnosis and death was about one year,” said Maves. “Everyone on active duty is screened for HIV, and we detect those patients early and implement highly effective therapies, so our patients live. Now they’re living very close to a normal life span.”
The field of infectious disease medicine is constantly changing and evolving, with new diseases and new therapies. NMCSD’s Infectious Disease Division has an active research program which advances the knowledge base for healthcare providers.
For more information on the Infectious Disease division at NMCSD, please visit http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd/Pages/default.aspx or call (619) 532-7475.
| Date Taken: | 12.29.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2011 15:57 |
| Story ID: | 67494 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NMCSD’s Infectious Disease Division Works to Maintain Optimal Readiness, by PO2 Chelsea Blom, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
