Diseases » Opportunistic infections » Introduction

Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections: Introduction

Opportunistic infections are those infections that are uncommon except when they are given an "opportunity" to infect a person. The opportunity is usually a problem with the immune system, which can occur as a secondary infection (because the immune system is busy fighting some other chronic illness), or can occur for people whose immune system is compromised (see immunocompromised). A common type of opportunistic infection is a nosocomial infection, which is contracted during a hospital stay while the patient is ill or recovering. People can be immunocompromised from certain diseases (especially AIDS), certain medications (e.g. immunosuppressants or chemotherapy), surgical recovery, or other serious medical complaints that limit the person's ability to mount an immune response to these opportunistic infections. ...more »

Symptoms of Opportunistic infections

• Pain
• Fever
• Night sweats
• Lymphadenopathy
• Inflammation
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 10 symptoms of Opportunistic infections

Treatments for Opportunistic infections

• Treatment depends on the type of opportunistic infection
• Antibiotics
• more treatments...»

Read more about treatments for Opportunistic infections

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Opportunistic infections:

• Home STD Testing
  • Home HIV Tests
  • Home Chlamydia Tests
  • Home Hepatitis Tests
• more...»

Wrongly Diagnosed with Opportunistic infections?

• Misdiagnosis of Opportunistic infections
• Failure to diagnose Opportunistic infections
• Hidden causes of Opportunistic infections (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections: Deaths

Read more about Deaths and Opportunistic infections.

Types of Opportunistic infections

• Nosocomial infections
• Secondary infections
• PCP
• Thrush
• more types...»

Read more about Types of Opportunistic infections

Causes of Opportunistic infections

• Immunodeficiency
  • AIDS
  • SCID
  • Immunosuppressant treatment
  • Transplant patients (type of Immune deficiency conditions)
• more causes...»

See full list of 15 causes of Opportunistic infections

More information about causes of Opportunistic infections:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Opportunistic infections (3 listings)
• Underlying causes of Opportunistic infections
• Opportunistic infections as a complication caused by other conditions
• Opportunistic infections as a symptom

Disease Topics Related To Opportunistic infections

Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Opportunistic infections:

• Pneumocystis jirovenci
• Candida albicans
• Kaposi sarcoma
• Cytomegalovirus retinitis
• CNS lymphoma
• more related diseases...»

Opportunistic infections: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Sexual Disorders & STDs -- serious diseases often undiagnosed:
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Undiagnosed
  • Chlamydia -- Undiagnosed
  • Gonorrhea -- Undiagnosed
  • HIV -- Undiagnosed
  • Genital Herpes -- Undiagnosed
  • Hepatitis -- Undiagnosed
  • more ...»
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and Opportunistic infections

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good" bacteria in...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Immune-Related Disease Specialists (Immunology):
  • Allergy & Immunology (Allergies & Immune Diseases)
  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (Child Allergies & Immune Diseases)
  • Immunopathology
  • Dermatological Immunology / Diagnostic Laboratory
  • Clinical & Laboratory Immunology
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: Opportunistic infections

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Opportunistic infections:

• Urinary Health (Urology) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to Opportunistic infections, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experience Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Opportunistic infections

Medical research articles related to Opportunistic infections include:

• Iron supplementation for reducing morbidity and mortality in children with HIV
• Humanized antibody to the alpha4beta7 integrin for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis
• How to prepare and administer intravenous co-trimoxazole in fluid restricted patients?
• (1) Preventing pneumococcal disease among infants and young children. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). (2) Updated recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for use of 7-valent p
• Assessment: the use of natalizumab (Tysabri) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (an evidence-based review). Report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology.
• Role of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in reducing mortality in HIV infected adults being treated for tuberculosis: randomised clinical trial.
• Public Health Service Task Force recommendations for use of antiretroviral drugs in pregnant HIV-infected women for maternal health and interventions to reduce perinatal HIV transmission in the United States.
• more research...»

Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database

Research about Opportunistic infections

Visit our research pages for current research about Opportunistic infections treatments.

Clinical Trials for Opportunistic infections

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Opportunistic infections include:

• Impact of Cotrimoxazole Prophylaxis for HIV-Infected Adults on Antifolate Resistance - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Cotrimoxazole (trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole)
• Monitoring Patients for Developing Communicable and Opportunistic Infections and for Responding to Therapy - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• When to Start Anti-HIV Drugs in Patients With Opportunistic Infections - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate,Lopinavir/ritonavir,Stavudine
• Central Nervous System Disease in HIV-Infected Children on HAART - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Immune Reconstitution Syndrome in HIV-Infected Patients Taking Antiretroviral Therapy - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• more trials...»

See full list of 170 Clinical Trials for Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections: Broader Related Topics

• Conditions involving a pathogen
• Immune system conditions
• more types...»

Types of Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections Message Boards

Related forums and medical stories:

• Infectious Diseases (235)
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  • Lymes-like symptoms. Could someone please help me?
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Opportunistic infections, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Definitions of Opportunistic infections:

Any infection caused by a microorganism that does not normally cause disease in humans; occurs in persons with abnormally functioning immune systems (as AIDS patients or transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs) - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

 » Next page: What is Opportunistic infections?

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