[nursingnews] Nursing News - MEC Update - Tick-borne Disease

[Nursing News List]

[alt_text]<https://www.upstate.edu/newsletters/mec/>
MEC Minute

>From Stephen Thomas, MD
Chair, Medical Executive Committee

Today's Minute
June 12, 2023

Team Upstate:

 A very important reminder, we are in full swing of the tick-borne disease season here in Central NY and the cases are increasing.

 There are several diseases which can be caused by infected ticks when they take a blood meal from a person but Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, and Babesiosis are the most common in CNY.

 We all should be hyperaware of Lyme but diseases such as Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis can be fatal if there is a delay in diagnosis. There are other important diseases caused by ticks in CNY, but these are less common. There is also the potential for co-infection with more than one pathogen which can complicate treatment.

 IMPORTANT - if you have a patient with fever between APR and OCT in CNY, consider the potential of a tick-borne disease. If you have a patient with fever and rash (of any kind), consider the potential of a tick-borne disease. If you have a patient with normal to low WBC, low platelets, and high AST or ALT, with fevers +/- headaches, strongly consider a tick-borne disease. Treatments differ between the diseases, and it is highly recommended you call your local infectious diseases consultant for guidance. Anaplasmosis, in particular, is very treatable, and the patient can improve rapidly if doxycycline is started early.

 See the CDC website for more information: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/index.html__;!!GobTDDpD7A!J-i02BmjI03Sxb5KhjZVGiD1-hhkeTIvYvfeYjzcNkqzBbewlXc_Ib1Mg0FwPAZs-XmQvJq5tUmNxY4aS8P9Ep7qCAun$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/index.html__;!!GobTDDpD7A!JCvIdNR2Lbzi46QOrk1k6TDt0htSBKafN3_k9FIPY5Y7G6LE05-laCZTNFtVdxys3uK-p7a1Ho0rT645Cg$>

 Consider tick-borne diseases in your differential diagnosis and save a life!

 Thanks for reading,

Dr. Thomas

MEDICAL STAFF SERVICES<https://www.upstate.edu/medstaff/index.php>

WELLBEING & MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES<https://www.upstate.edu/wellness/index.php>

PAST MEC MINUTES<https://www.upstate.edu/newsletters/mec/index.php>

Medical Executive Committee Mission
To pursue excellence in patient safety and quality of care through the leadership, development, and support of our medical staff. Visit the MEC website<https://www.upstate.edu/medstaff/med-exec-comm.php>

Medical Staff Services
315-464-5733
medstaff at upstate.edu<mailto:medstaff at upstate.edu>

(c) SUNY Upstate Medical University<https://www.upstate.edu/>



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.upstate.edu/pipermail/nursingnews/attachments/20230612/a54a2332/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 26885 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.upstate.edu/pipermail/nursingnews/attachments/20230612/a54a2332/attachment-0001.png>