Increased Incidence of Giant Cell Arteritis After Introduction of a Live Varicella Zoster Virus Vaccine.

Background: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) has been associated with giant cell arteritis (GCA). The introduction of a live attenuated vaccine against this virus (ZVL) might have changed the incidence of GCA.

Methods: The incidence of GCA was retrospectively measured using 2 matched cohorts seen in a regional health system located in the Midwestern United States: ZVL recipients from the years 2007 through 2015 following the introduction of the vaccine and nonrecipients from the years 2000 through 2015.

Use of hair nets and face masks to decrease blood culture contamination rates.

Owing to a persistently high blood culture contamination rate of 3.2% exceeding the target rate of <3%, a midwestern United States hospital began a series of 3 additive interventions. After collecting phlebotomist data for approximately 3 months, reporting of individual contamination rates commenced.

Recurrent strokes, central nervous system vasculitis, and acquired protein S deficiency secondary to varicella zoster in a child with AIDS.

A child with vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus refractory to therapy developed zoster-induced protein S deficiency and recurrent strokes. Extensive carotid arteritis was found postmortem. The carotid tissue was positive for herpes varicella zoster by polymerase chain reaction, as were immunofixation stains of the arterial wall.

An Unusual Subcutaneous Mass in an Otherwise Healthy Patient: A Case Report of Localized Histoplasmosis Diagnosed on Excisional Biopsy.

Patients are commonly referred to general surgery clinics for evaluation of soft-tissue masses of the trunk and extremities. The primary goal of surgical referral is to confirm the presence of a mass, to assess the need for additional imaging and/or testing, and to gauge amenability to surgical biopsy, whether incisional or excisional. This is a case of a 67-year-old woman who was referred to surgery clinic for a small soft-tissue mass near her left elbow that had increased in size and pain over the past year.