Right-sided infective endocarditis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an injecting drug user: outbreak or slow epidemic?

We present a case of right-sided infective endocarditis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus that occurred in an injectable drug user. Traditionally, cities such as Detroit and San Francisco have been associated with certain bacterial infections. Upon further review, these relationships appear more tenuous and argue that identification to the level of "strain" will be required to support such claims.

Flying squirrel-associated typhus, United States.

In March 2002, typhus fever was diagnosed in two patients residing in West Virginia and Georgia. Both patients were hospitalized with severe febrile illnesses, and both had been recently exposed to or had physical contact with flying squirrels or flying squirrel nests. Laboratory results indicated infection.