How will herpes labialis spread?
Hi doctor,
Before a month, someone who has labial herpes kissed me on my cheek. After that, my lips were burning, but I did not apply any lotion on the lips till now. I am a little bit hypochondriac. Before two days I met my boyfriend and I kissed him on the cheeks. The next day, I felt pain in my chin and after that, I had something like acne there and then I had two aphthous ulcers at an interval of two to three days. One under my tongue and another inside the cheek or lip. Now, my boyfriend has a headache and throat pain. He thinks it is the beginning of an upper respiratory tract infection. Could it be his primary infection? Did I pass herpes to him? Can we do a viral culture of his throat to know whether HSV-1 is present or not? Am I HSV positive? Please help.
14 Feb 2024 - 1 min read
I had a possible rubella infection during early pregnancy. Will my baby's health be affected?
Hello doctor,
I am a 27-year-old married woman, who weighs 165 lbs, and I am 5.6 feet tall. I am trying to conceive from last year, but ever since I started to try, my regular menstrual cycle of 28 days got delayed by six to ten days. During my last periods, I noticed some red rashes on my face and upper part of my body, with a fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I did not go for any test, but I took two anti-allergic tablets, which I bought previously for an allergy from chili and hot food. After taking the tablets, I was fine in two days. But, I missed my next period, so I went for an ultrasound. And it confirmed that I was pregnant and detected a single live fetus of approximately seven weeks. However, my doctor advised me to undergo rubella IgG test along with certain other routine tests.
All other test reports were fine, except rubella IgG test showed the result to be positive. My doctor told me that I was immune to rubella, so no need to worry, and I should not go for rubella IgM test, as I recently had a history of red rashes. I was not satisfied, so I went for both rubella IgG and IgM tests, and the result was negative. However, I was perplexed, and I wanted to be sure about my rubella infection, so I repeated the tests again. This time the reports said rubella antibody IgG as 291 IU/mL, reference range used was 15 IU/mL, positive. It also detected rubella antibody IgM as positive.
I have attached all my reports. Do you find any inconsistency in the reports of different labs for tests done on different dates? Why is rubella IgG, which stays lifelong unchanged is decreasing? Was I immunized against rubella when the infection happened? Why did then new infection occur? And the most important question is, will my baby be affected by this infection which occurred in early pregnancy? I do not want to give birth to a disabled or abnormal child. It is my first pregnancy. What should I do? Should I go for an abortion?
06 Feb 2024 - 1 min read
What causes recuring UTI in elderly?
Hello doctor,
My 90-year-old mother suffers from UTI and takes Xarelto. Due to uncontrollable bleeding, the medication was stopped for a few days. She also suffered from uncontrolled diarrhea due to the use of Nitro. She then used, Bactrim single strength two to three times a week with 1000 mg Mannose and 500mg slow-release Vitamin C on alternative days. She also has been resistant to Bactrim a few years ago but not currently.
I also performed regular dipstick tests to diagnose the UTI. I have also attached lab results that were negative for nitrites. It appears to be vaginal contamination based on the lab's diagnosis, and the urine culture identified later more than three organisms and resample if needed.
She also applied Premarin cream 48 hours before giving the sample. Kindly help me by answering the following questions.
1. What is the significance of the lab report and any denoted parameter?
2. Is the calcium oxalate caused by the vitamin C?
3. If she has to develop a breakthrough UTI, is it better to treat it with a higher dose of Bactrim?
4. Can Fosfomycin be used as a preventive medication?
Thank you.
27 Jan 2024 - 1 min read
Does sharing lip gloss spread oral herpes virus?
Hi doctor,
If I buy used lip gloss with an applicator that dips into the bottle, could there be any worrisome that bacteria or viruses from the previous user's lips withstand the cosmetic preservatives? I am worried, especially about the oral herpes virus. I keep reading the conflicting information about the hardiness of this virus. Please explain.
17 Jan 2024 - 1 min read
What problems can occur if someone fails to get the booster shot for rabies vaccine?
Hi doctor,
I am a thirty-three-year-old healthy and immunocompetent male who recently just finished five doses of PEP for rabies immunoglobulin and two tetanus shots last year for a superficial cat bite. No antibiotics were given though. Four months later, a new cat in the neighborhood had just scratched me when I was playing too hard with it, but since I wore a glove, the scratch was protected from my skin but still left a small 1-centimeter abrasion. It did not bleed but the skin did break since I do see two red spots on the skin that peeled off, it looks more like a thumb attack wound when you stub your finger on something (see picture attached).
My question is would I still need two booster vaccinations for anti-rabies and tetanus or is my previous completion of RIG be enough to suffice?
Can I wait for around fifteen-twenty more days to have the option of having the cat undergo a ten-day evaluation test for rabies first before getting those booster vaccinations? What are the risks for me if I choose to do this? Since I am already vaccinated. But in case rabies gets detected in the cat, will those previous vaccinations be enough to kill the bacteria? Does the incubation period longer than the usual three to eight weeks before symptoms appear? So that I will be able to get the much-needed boosters. Although I am almost completely positive that the cat does not have rabies since I have been around him every day for the past two months and don't see any of those rabies symptoms. He was friendly and acting normal as usual when I got scratched.
Lastly, would I still need to be cultured for possible bacteria like Bartonella henselae, Cowpox,
Cutaneous larva migraine , Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm), Hookworm Infection,
Pasteurella multocida, Staphylococcus, Ringworm, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Visceral larva migraine Tularemia, Streptococcus and get the respective antibiotics for any of these, or do I wait only when symptoms are present? What are the chances of acquiring and becoming symptomatic of these from a small scratch? As mentioned I was never given any antibiotics for the first cat bite that happened five months ago.
Can any of those bacterial infections manifest themselves symptomatically many months or even years later after the scratch or bite especially during a time when I become immunocompromised? So what I am talking about can bacteria live dormant inside of the human body for so long before they manifest an infestation.
Thank you.
05 Aug 2023 - 1 min read
