67 topics with concise breakdowns: definitions, key facts, and classroom questions.
This section focuses on airborne droplet infections. It compiles classical "pediatric" infections that physicians of any specialty regularly encounter—measles, rubella, varicella, scarlet fever, and mumps—as well as severe, potentially fatal pathologies such as meningococcal infection and diphtheria.
The material for each topic is strictly structured: from etiology and pathogenesis to clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The section thoroughly covers seasonal ARVI (influenza, parainfluenza, RSV infection) and systemic diseases such as infectious mononucleosis, shingles, and meningococcal meningitis.
During clinical rotations and exams, you will certainly be asked about the differential diagnosis of exanthems (measles, rubella, scarlet fever, chickenpox), early recognition of fulminant meningococcemia (Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome), clinical forms of diphtheria (especially diphtheritic croup), and dangerous complications of each nosology. Pay special attention to vaccination issues and emergency treatment algorithms.
This is the simultaneous presence on the skin of rash elements at different stages of evolution: spots, nodules, vesicles, and crusts. It occurs because new rashes appear in «waves».
In which cells does primary virus replication occur?
Primary replication of the varicella-zoster virus occurs in the mucosal epithelial cells and regional lymph nodes.
Why do people get chickenpox once, but shingles at an older age?
Chickenpox leaves lasting immunity against reinfection from the outside. But the virus itself hides in nerve ganglia and, when immunity decreases (with age or due to stress), wakes up, causing local inflammation of the nerve and skin — shingles.
Does the risk of developing encephalitis depend on the severity of the infection?
No, it does not depend. Encephalitis and meningoencephalitis can complicate even a mild form of chickenpox. Most often they manifest at the crusting stage.
Why does shingles occur?
It occurs as a reactivation of a latent viral infection that persists in sensory nerve ganglia following a prior primary infection. Immunosuppression acts as the main trigger.
When are antibiotics prescribed for a viral infection?
Antibacterial drugs (penicillins, macrolides, cephalosporins) are indicated only when a secondary bacterial infection joins, when abundant pustular rashes appear on the skin and general intoxication increases.
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