The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist

The advent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in March 2003 reminded us that health care workers are at risk of being stricken with the very diseases that we are treating. Health care workers accounted for 65% of the SARS cases in Canada (1) and represented at least one-quarter of the cases...

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Main Author: Dennis Bowie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2004-01-01
Series:Canadian Respiratory Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2004/523265
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spelling doaj-611019992c544eb4a67b8d1295155fd32021-07-02T04:48:08ZengHindawi LimitedCanadian Respiratory Journal1198-22412004-01-0111210510710.1155/2004/523265The Hazards of a Practicing RespirologistDennis BowieThe advent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in March 2003 reminded us that health care workers are at risk of being stricken with the very diseases that we are treating. Health care workers accounted for 65% of the SARS cases in Canada (1) and represented at least one-quarter of the cases in Hong Kong (2). Because SARS presents as a severe pneumonia and is diagnosed by certain epidemiological characteristics, history and a positive chest x-ray, respirologists are often the first-line consultants to see patients with an unusual pneumonia. If we are lucky, there may be telling clues to the diagnosis such as a travel history or contact with other cases. However, in the absence of these clues, it behooves the medical profession to use universal precautions.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2004/523265
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Dennis Bowie
spellingShingle Dennis Bowie
The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
Canadian Respiratory Journal
author_facet Dennis Bowie
author_sort Dennis Bowie
title The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
title_short The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
title_full The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
title_fullStr The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
title_full_unstemmed The Hazards of a Practicing Respirologist
title_sort hazards of a practicing respirologist
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Canadian Respiratory Journal
issn 1198-2241
publishDate 2004-01-01
description The advent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in March 2003 reminded us that health care workers are at risk of being stricken with the very diseases that we are treating. Health care workers accounted for 65% of the SARS cases in Canada (1) and represented at least one-quarter of the cases in Hong Kong (2). Because SARS presents as a severe pneumonia and is diagnosed by certain epidemiological characteristics, history and a positive chest x-ray, respirologists are often the first-line consultants to see patients with an unusual pneumonia. If we are lucky, there may be telling clues to the diagnosis such as a travel history or contact with other cases. However, in the absence of these clues, it behooves the medical profession to use universal precautions.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2004/523265
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