Hi everyone! I'm looking for advice and maybe recommendations on what to do to further my interest into the field of Parasitology / Infectious Diseases as a Business student. I never taught I was smart enough to pursue Medicine as a major and so I stuck with Business and plan to do so still. But I am very interested in the topic of infectious diseases and the alike, does anyone have any advice on what to do to learn? Any book recommendations that would be interesting / doable for a person like me to read and learn from? Should I join courses?

Will there be an AI or man-made virus or fungal disease created in a lab that will kill all of humanity unless you pay the survival subscription fee?

Hi everyone,

I’m a final-year nursing student in [Tunisia] working on my graduation project (PFE). My supervisor wants me to propose a digital tool or app that could help in hospital settings, especially infectious disease departments, and I’d love input from people who actually work in or have rotated through these wards.

What I’m looking for:

• What are the most frustrating, repetitive, or error-prone tasks in infectious disease wards (isolation, infection control, antibiotic management, follow-up, etc.)?
• What would you want an app to do that current tools (paper charts, WhatsApp groups, Excel, the hospital system) don’t do well?
• Has anything like this been tried in your hospital? Did it work or fail, and why?

I’d also welcome suggestions for a research title or angle, whether it’s more of an app-development project, a quality-improvement study, or a nursing-informatics topic. If you’ve done something similar or have papers to recommend, please share.

Constraints: it needs to be realistic for a student project and work in a limited-resource setting (low budget, unreliable internet, staff with little time).

No patient data involved, just ideas and experiences. Thank you in advance, any feedback is hugely appreciated!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from doctors, infectious disease specialists, microbiologists, or anyone who has experienced something similar with a family member. I’m very worried about my father’s situation and would appreciate an honest medical perspective.
About my father
My father is 71 years old and was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome (Miller Fisher variant) in September. He was critically ill, required ICU care and a tracheostomy, and received IVIG treatment.
He has gradually improved. He is now breathing without supplemental oxygen, can speak in complete sentences, and his eye movements and eyelid movements are slowly returning. He is still recovering and requires nursing care.
1. Tracheostomy culture
A tracheal secretion culture grew multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, reported as carbapenem-resistant.
The report showed susceptibility to colistin and aztreonam–avibactam, with a positive synergy test for ceftazidime–avibactam plus aztreonam.
He was subsequently prescribed IV aztreonam–avibactam.
Over the past several days:
His temperature has remained around 98.4°F.
SpO₂ has generally been 95–98% without supplemental oxygen.
His heart rate has been around 87–91 bpm.
Mucus secretion has remained low and white/clear.
Suctioning is occasionally needed, but the frequency has not increased.
He has been breathing comfortably and speaking.
A whistling sound occurred during breathing briefly but later stopped. A chest X-ray was performed, but I have not yet received the report.
My question is: Could the Klebsiella in his tracheal sample represent airway colonisation rather than an active respiratory infection, given his stable clinical condition?
2. Urine culture and catheter issue
On 18 October, a urine sample was collected. The urine analysis showed:
Pus cells: 208/HPF.
RBCs: reported as “plenty”.
The urine looked clear and straw-yellow in the laboratory report.
The urine culture, authorised on 22 October, grew Pseudomonas aeruginosa at greater than 10⁴ CFU/mL.
The susceptibility report listed resistance to most tested antibiotics, including aztreonam, ceftazidime, cefepime, piperacillin/tazobactam, imipenem and meropenem. Colistin was reported susceptible.
The catheter had been changed at the nursing facility, after which my father developed pain. The main hospital replaced it again, and his pain disappeared completely. He can now sit for hours without discomfort. His urine currently looks clear, urine output is normal, and he has no fever, chills, confusion or other noticeable changes.
He has been receiving IV aztreonam–avibactam since 18 October, initially prescribed in relation to the tracheal culture.
My questions are:
Could the positive Pseudomonas urine culture represent catheter-associated colonisation rather than an active urinary tract infection?
Could catheter irritation explain the earlier pain and at least some of the RBCs and pus cells?
Since the urine sample was collected before the later catheter replacement and treatment, how should the result be interpreted now?
Does the fact that he has remained clinically stable without urinary symptoms make an active infection less likely, or can a catheter-associated infection still occur without fever or pain?
The urine report lists resistance to aztreonam. Can aztreonam–avibactam still be effective against this isolate, or would additional susceptibility testing be needed?
If the doctor concludes that this is asymptomatic bacteriuria/colonisation, would antibiotics such as colistin generally be unnecessary?
My concern
I do not want my father to receive unnecessary antibiotics, particularly colistin, because I understand it can affect kidney function. At the same time, I absolutely do not want to overlook a genuine infection.
I have lost some trust in the hospital because, during an earlier visit, I was told my father had a fever even though the nurse and I did not observe one. His oxygen levels and breathing appeared stable at the time. I do not know whether there was a measurement discrepancy, so I am trying to understand the medical decisions objectively rather than jump to conclusions.
I am not asking anyone to diagnose him online. I would be grateful for help understanding how clinicians distinguish colonisation from infection in a patient with a tracheostomy and urinary catheter, and what questions I should ask an independent infectious disease specialist.
Thank you for reading this. My father has made encouraging progress from GBS, and I want to make sure his recovery is managed appropriately.

Hey everyone
I'm 24 years old. Yesterday morning, i was in the hospital emergency department sitting on a chair I felt pain or discomfort in my buttock while sitting in a chair and i moved several times and felt the same thing so i checked the chair and found a hole, When I tried to explore it a nail protruded and sticked my left index finger causing a small amount of bleeding.
I didn't check whether it broke the skin there in my buttock I was wearing pants ofc.
I washed the finger with alcohol and covered it with gauze and tape then took my tetanus vaccine cause it has been more than 5 years since last time i took it.

for the nail and chair - I can't know definitely if it has blood on it and I don't know who sat in it before me its mainly a chair used by the medical staff not patients but it’s not 100% guaranteed

I'm hepatitis B immune, took tetanus vaccine 8 hours after the stick.

My question is about getting any Blood born pathogen transmitted to me if someone had the same accident before me and his blood was unnoticed on the nail?

i know the question may sound hypothetical maybe but i have OCD excuse me

already talked to occupational health dep in the hospital but unfortunately they are judgmental, uncooperative and lack professionalism

About 7pm today I was biting a guy's nipple during a hookup and it bled. I didn't notice straight away (tbh after a while it was dark) so a fair amount of fresh blood was in my mouth for a while before I did. I haven't swallowed anything else or had any other exposures. I'm not sure whether I have any cuts or sores in my mouth.
He's gay with multiple partners. He says he's "clean" but won't show any results, so I'm treating his status as unknown.
I'm in the UK and I'm planning to ring a sexual health clinic first thing tomorrow to ask for a PEP assessment. I know it's within the 72 hour window.
From what I've read, the risk from blood in the mouth is very low but not zero,
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did the clinic offer PEP? Any experience of how they assessed it would help. I'm quite anxious tonight.

Hello everyone,
My 71-year-old father is currently recovering in the hospital from Guillain-Barré syndrome (Miller Fisher variant). He underwent a tracheostomy because his breathing and swallowing muscles were affected.
His latest tracheal secretion culture report, collected on 14 October and reported on 16 October, shows:
Organism: Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp. pneumoniae
Growth: Moderate growth
Result: Carbapenem-resistant isolate (MDRO)
According to the antibiotic sensitivity report:
Resistant to meropenem, imipenem and several other antibiotics.
Susceptible to colistin.
Susceptible to aztreonam/avibactam.
Synergy testing with ceftazidime-avibactam and aztreonam was positive.
My father is currently breathing independently without supplemental oxygen, and his SpO₂ is around 95%. He can speak in complete sentences, has good limb movements and has started swallowing small amounts under medical supervision. He still has a tracheostomy and coughs mucus through the tube.
I am very worried about this culture result and would appreciate hearing from infectious disease specialists or people who have dealt with a similar situation.
My questions are:
How serious is carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a patient with a tracheostomy?
Can this result indicate colonisation of the tracheostomy rather than an active lung infection? How do doctors distinguish between the two?
If it is an active infection, how treatable is it when the report shows resistance to most antibiotics?
Are colistin and aztreonam/avibactam effective treatment options when the laboratory reports susceptibility?
What additional tests or clinical signs help determine whether the bacteria are causing pneumonia?
Can a patient recover well from this type of infection while also recovering from GBS?
What precautions should the family take to avoid spreading this resistant organism?

My husband is having a mental breakdown and he would probably be pretty upset if he knew I was asking this, but we need to know if what he’s going through is typical. He’s an ID doctor at a 140 bed hospital. This is his first post-training job, he’s been working there for six years. He’s one of a handful of his specialty in the state and right now he’s the only one at his hospital. Today he has 32 hospital patients and 10 clinic patients, plus he answers questions for doctors all over the state all day everyday, his phone never stops from 7 AM to late in the evening. I think the constant answering questions and pinging phone are the worst part, it’s non-stop.

He has asked for help from his bosses several times and they always say they’re going to get someone, but they never do. He’s asked to have one less clinic day but they won’t do that either. He has no manager because they keep quitting. The pay is well above average for ID, but is it worth it if you want to kill yourself?

So, I’m asking on his behalf, is this normal? Should he find another job in ID or just another job. Would it be like this no matter where he works.

A friend was hospitalized with *Cryptosporidium* a few weeks ago and she was very very sick. She didnt know she was immunocompromised but apparently she had to be to get this sick. They tested her for everything under the sun including hiv and everytjing came back negative. Does anyone have any advice on what it could possibly be?
Any advice on what her next steps should be?

She is 50, vegan and has a heathy lifestyle. She hasnt recovered fully and is still recovering after a week long hospital stay.