Unusual climatic conditions and infectious diseases: observations made by Hippocrates

About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates made noteworthy observations about the influence of climate on public health. He believed that people living in cities with different climate may suffer from different diseases. Hippocrates also observed that abrupt climatic changes or unusual weather conditions affect public health, especially the incidence and severity of various infectious diseases, including gastrointestinal infections, tuberculosis, and central nervous system infections. We believe that Hippocrates’ scientific observations are great early historic examples that stress to modern infectious diseases researchers and clinicians the need to study intensively the effect of the occurring global climate changes to infectious diseases in order to help in the prevention of possible epidemics of infections (AU)

Hace unos 2.500 años, Hipócrates realizó notables observaciones sobre la influencia del clima sobre la salud pública. Creía que las personas que vivían en ciudades con diferencias climáticas podían padecer distintas enfermedades. Hipócrates observó también que los cambios climáticos bruscos o las condiciones climáticas poco habituales afectan a la salud pública, especialmente en la incidencia y la gravedad de varias enfermedades infecciosas, como las infecciones gastrointestinales, la tuberculosis y las infecciones del sistema nervioso central. Creemos que las observaciones científicas de Hipócrates constituyen importantes ejemplos históricos que indican a los modernos clínicos e investigadores de las enfermedades infecciosas la necesidad de estudiar exhaustivamente el efecto de los cambios climáticos mundiales actuales sobre las enfermedades infecciosas, a fin de ayudar en la prevención de posibles epidemias de enfermedades de este tipo (AU)

Unusual climatic conditions and infectious diseases: observations made by Hippocrates.

About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates made noteworthy observations about the influence of climate on public health. He believed that people living in cities with different climate may suffer from different diseases. Hippocrates also observed that abrupt climatic changes or unusual weather conditions affect public health, especially the incidence and severity of various infectious diseases, including gastrointestinal infections, tuberculosis, and central nervous system infections. We believe that Hippocrates' scientific observations are great early historic examples that stress to modern infectious diseases researchers and clinicians the need to study intensively the effect of the occurring global climate changes to infectious diseases in order to help in the prevention of possible epidemics of infections.

Pharmacokinetic interactions of ceftazidime, imipenem and aztreonam with amikacin in healthy volunteers.

The common usage of extended spectrum beta-lactams co-administered with amikacin in everyday clinical practice for infections by multidrug-resistant isolates has created the need to search for pharmacokinetic interaction. Eighteen healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study; six were administered 1g of ceftazidime singly intravenously or combined with 0.5 g of amikacin; six received 0.5 g of imipenem singly or combined with 0.5 g of amikacin and six 1g of aztreonam singly or combined with 0.5 g of amikacin. Blood and urine samples were collected at regular time intervals and apparent serum levels were determined by a microbiological assay. Co-administration of ceftazidime and amikacin resulted in higher C(max) and AUC for amikacin than when administered alone. Co-administration of imipenem and amikacin resulted in higher C(max) for imipenem than when administered alone. The tested interactions did not affect plasma half-life (t(1/2)) and clearance rate of any antimicrobial compared with its single administration. All tested drugs were mainly eliminated by glomerular filtration. It is concluded that co-administration of ceftazidime, imipenem or aztreonam with amikacin in healthy volunteers might affect C(max) and AUC without influencing any other pharmacokinetic parameter. The probable clinical endpoint is that giving ceftazidime, imipenem or aztreonam with amikacin might result in a transient elevation of beta-lactam serum levels without further affecting the complete pharmacokinetic profile of each drug as obtained after administration of the drug alone.