The GIDEON Tutorial

DIAGNOSIS 3 - INFO

At this point you have several options:

  • Click on the disease names listed in blue. The resulting screens allow you to explore the clinical features and epidemiology of diseases listed in the differential diagnosis. For example, the General note tells us the following about plague:

Agent: BACTERIUM. Yersinia pestis: facultative gram-negative bacillus

Reservoir: Rodent Rabbit Cat Wild carnivore

Vector: Flea (Pulex; Xenopsylla)

Vehicle: Air Contact

Incubation Period: 2d - 7d (range 1d - 14d)

Diagnostic Tests: Culture (blood, sputum, pus). Fluorescent (DFA) staining of pus. Nucleic acid amplification.

Typical Adult Therapy: Strict isolation. Gentamicin 2 mg/kg i.v. loading dose, then 1.7 mg/kg Q8h. Or streptomycin 15 mg/kg q12h X 10d. Or doxycycline 100 mg p.o. BID X 10d. Or chloramphenicol 20 mg/kg p.o. QID

Typical Pediatric Therapy: Gentamicin 2 mg/kg i.v. loading dose, then 1.7 mg/kg Q8h Or streptomycin 10 mg/kg q8h X 10d. Or chloramphenicol 15 mg/kg p.o. QID X 10d

Clinical Hints: Suppurative lymphadenitis; septicemia; hemorrhagic pneumonia; history of animal contact in many cases; case-fatality rates for bubonic plague without therapy are 50% to 60%.

  • The presence of a blue 'globe' icon next to a disease name indicates that specific country information is available. Thus the note for plague in Mongolia reads as follows:

GIDEON: Plague in Mongolia

  • The ‘Rare’ window accesses clinical findings which are rare, albeit compatible, for each of the diseases listed. This will help you understand why certain common diseases were assigned a low probability and ranking by GIDEON.

If you wish, you can also use the Diagnosis module to simulate diseases. For example, how many different diseases are associated with diarrhea, worldwide? ... or in your country?

Next: Epidemiology

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