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Chapter 24 - Serious Infections

from Section III - Care of the Elderly by Organ System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

By
Lauren Hartman ,
Rosanne Tiller ,
David Alain Wohl  and
David van Duin
Edited by
Jan Busby-Whitehead ,
Samuel C. Durso ,
Christine Arenson ,
Rebecca Elon ,
Mary H. Palmer  and
William Reichel
Jan Busby-Whitehead
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Samuel C. Durso
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
Christine Arenson
Affiliation:
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
Rebecca Elon
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Mary H. Palmer
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
William Reichel
Affiliation:
Georgetown University Medical Center
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Summary

As the population in the United States continues to age, familiarity with the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of the major serious infections of elderly individuals becomes an increasingly critical component of general medicine and primary care. While modern medicine has significantly reduced early death due to infection, diseases caused by infectious pathogens remain a major cause of illness and death among elderly persons. This chapter reviews the immunology of the elder host and environmental factors that make older adults uniquely vulnerable to infectious diseases. We propose an approach to the elderly patient with suspected infectious disease and highlight the differences in clinical presentation among older and younger patients, as well as addressing diagnosis and management of common and serious infectious diseases of older adults including urinary tract infection, bacterial pneumonia, influenza, herpes zoster, and Clostridioides difficile.

Keywords

elderlygeriatricinfectionantibioticspneumoniainfluenzaherpes zosterimmunization
Type
Chapter
Information
Reichel's Care of the Elderly
Clinical Aspects of Aging
 , pp. 297 - 309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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