Treatment of Enteropathogenic Diarrhea in Cancer Patients: A Series of Three Cases.

Enteropathogenic (EPEC) is a common cause of watery diarrhea in children in the developing world and an infrequent cause of significant diarrhea in adult patients. EPEC diarrhea, while not commonly seen in cancer patients, can cause significant distress to patients, and antimicrobial choice for this condition in this patient population is not clearly delineated in the literature. We report 3 cases of EPEC diarrhea in cancer patients and discuss the use of azithromycin for successful treatment of these patients.

Typhlitis in a Patient with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

is a Gram-positive rod that is now recognized as a rare cause of frank disease in the neutropenic hematologic malignancy patient. Because this pathogen is rarely isolated in clinical specimens, no large studies exist to guide the management of these acutely ill patients. Individual case reports and case series exist in the literature describing various clinical manifestations of in the neutropenic patient including bacteremia/septicemia, pneumonia, meningitis/encephalitis, hepatic abscesses, and gastritis.

Two cases of disseminated infection following live organism anti-cancer vaccine administration in cancer patients.

Vaccines containing live attenuated bacterial or viral organisms are currently being investigated as potential therapy for locally advanced or metastatic cancers. However, the use of such live organisms in an immunocompromised population, such as patients who recently or are currently receiving chemotherapy, raises the concern that these organisms can themselves disseminate and cause frank infection. We report a hereunto unreported phenomenon of anti-cancer vaccines (containing live attenuated organisms) leading to frank, disseminated infection.

Treatment of Depression With Duloxetine in Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-Like Episodes.

The mitochondrial cytopathies are a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by heteroplasmic maternal transmission and selective dysfunction of tissues and organs highly dependent on aerobic respiration (eg, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and brain). Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a specific subtype of mitochondrial cytopathy that is commonly associated with mood disturbances in individuals who survive until adulthood. Because of the altered cellular metabolism inherent in MELAS, it is often difficult to determine drug dosing, drug choice, and treatment response in patients with this rare disease.