March 15, 1998

Antibiotics generally do not provide significant relief of symptoms or shorten the course of acute bronchitis, because most cases are viral in origin.

Appropriate diagnosis and treatment of bacterial vaginosis may lower a patient's risk of associated pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Osteopetrosis is a hereditary bone disorder that may be asymptomatic in adults, a life-threatening disease in infants or a variant associated with short stature and cerebral calcifications in children.

Dietary changes can help reduce the premature morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease. Family physicians can influence their patients' eating habits with brief discussions regarding food choices and adequate follow-up support.

This article discusses the mechanism of injury, plain-film signs and advanced imaging techniques in the diagnosis of some commonly missed fractures and dislocations of the lower limb.

Frequent reevaluation and meticulous maintenance may keep a diabetic foot ulcer from progressing to a limb-threatening condition that requires amputation.

Seasonal affective disorder is a pattern of major depressive episodes associated with major depressive or bipolar disorders. Two seasonal patterns, fall-onset (“winter” depression) and spring-onset (“summer” depression), have been identified.

Only after delirium and psychiatric disorders have been ruled out can dementia be diagnosed in an elderly patient with confusion.

(Great Britain—The Practitioner, September 1997, p. 512.) Parkinson's disease occurs in one of every 1,000 persons and is associated with normal life expectancy despite the morbidity caused by hypokinesis, rigidity, tremor and impaired postural reflexes. Patients and family…

The article “Diagnostic Approach to the Confused Elderly Patient” on page 1358 of this issue is the first in a series from the Department of Family Practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. David A. Katerndahl, M.D., and Clinton Colmenares, guest…

Selected policy and health issues news briefs from AAFP News Now.

Guns and families—often a deadly combination. Forty-four percent of white households and 24 percent of non-white households have a firearm, according to a General Social Survey cited in American Demographics. A shotgun was kept by 64 percent of the white families and 40 percent…

From a clinician's perspective of diligent diagnosis and proper treatment, bacterial vaginosis may be the most innocently ignored and improperly managed vaginal infection. Diagnosis involves consideration of microbiologic, cytologic, clinical and chemical factors. The most…

In 1995, more people in the world died of tuberculosis than in any other year in history.1 The incidence of tuberculosis is increasing, even in the United States. From 1953, when national statistics on tuberculosis were first kept, until 1981, a 5 percent annual decrease in the…

One cannot pick up a newspaper or turn on the television without confronting the seemingly unending dramas of wars and conflicts between nations. These conflicts produce long lines of starving women and children waiting to receive food or medical treatment from organizations…

We are continually thankful that family practice residency programs prepare us well for the breadth of problems encountered in family practice. So it was when JRH saw a patient with parotitis, something that he doesn't see that often. Confidently, he initiated a course of…

(25th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group) The development of an optimal care pathway for the management of patients with type 2 (non–insulin-dependent) diabetes provides a framework for the delivery of quality, cost-effective health…

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), in consultation with the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), has released recommendations concerning the use of certain immunizing agents in health care workers in the United States. These…

The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the Alzheimer's Association and the American Geriatrics Society convened a consensus conference on the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The members of the consensus panel and expert presenters were from the…

Because rapid weight reduction remains popular among amateur wrestlers and has significant health consequences, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has released a position statement on weight loss in wrestlers. In addition to recommending that coaches and wrestlers…

Acute bronchitis is an infection of the bronchial tree (tubes that carry air from the mouth and nose to the lungs). When these tubes get infected, they swell, and mucus forms. Mucus is the material that comes up when you cough. The swelling of the tubes makes it more difficult…

The vagina normally contains a lot of good bacteria, called lactobacilli, and a few other types of bacteria, called anaerobes. When there are too many anaerobes, a mild infection, called bacterial vaginosis, is the result.

The vessels that bring blood to the heart are called the coronary arteries. They are like narrow tubes. A fatty substance called plaque can build up in these arteries and make them even more narrow, so less blood gets to the heart. If you have coronary artery disease, your…

See your family doctor regularly to be sure your diabetes is in good control. Have your doctor look at your feet at every visit.

Seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD) is a type of depression that follows the seasons. The most common type of SAD is called winter depression. It usually begins in late fall or early winter and goes away by summer. A less common type of SAD, known as summer depression…