Campfire Medicine

The future of treating chronic illness lies in the realm of infectious disease? A lot of professionals seem to think so with good reason. Microbiology and Infections are being blamed for Alzheimer's to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Lyme Disease and Co-Infections are blowing up! In this course we explore these topics and more.

Interview: Dr. Aparna Taylor MSc. ND

Dr. Taylor is a heavy weight in the world of chronic infections and Lyme disease. Her name is synonymous with caring, intelligent, compassionate medicine. As one patient put it "she has a refreshingly individualized approach and takes into account what you're comfortable with and the risk vs. benefit of every treatment. She's incredibly aware of the financial costs those treating chronic illnesses have and always keeps that in mind with her recommendations." She is an international speaker at conferences and doesn't hold back what she knows both philosophically and medically.

BCNA ANM 2021: Dr. Carley Akehurst ND - The Urobiome:⁠ Recurrent Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms – Recent Updates in Testing Options⁠

There is often more than meets the eye when testing for UTIs. Standard Urine Cultures can be limited in their ability to detect infection. They require growth of various microbes for detection and may overlook some microbes that may be linked to Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS). In this lecture, Dr. Akehurst will provide an overview of the urobiome, an evaluation of the limitations of using Standard Urine Cultures to rule out UTI, an examination of alternative testing methods, and a review of the most common bacteria detected in the bladders of women with and without LUTS.⁠

• Define the urinary microbiome and evaluate evidence for its existence.⁠
• Historical view – the bladder is sterile. Outline why this is outdated.⁠
• Updated view – bladders have resident microbiota/urinary disorders likely result from dysbiosis/not only e. coli ie. Polymicrobial infections⁠
• Compare and contrast culture-independent methods and culture-dependent methods for detecting microbes from urine.⁠
• Culture dependent – Standard Urine Culture and enhanced urine culture (such as EQUC)⁠
• Culture independent – multiplex PCR and 16SrRNA gene sequencing⁠
• Outline various bacteria detected in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms.⁠
• Which bacteria are normal members of the female bladder microbiome?⁠
• What about the male bladder microbiome?⁠
• Determine if bacterial diversity is correlated with symptoms of LUTS.⁠
• Outline differences in the urobiome in women with LUTS, women with UTI, and asymptomatic women.
• Outline other correlations with the urobiome and risk of postoperative UTI, overactive bladder medication efficacy, and urinary stones.⁠

BCNA ANM 2021: Dr. Miguel Imperial MD - Using the microbiology laboratory in the diagnosis of vaginal, skin and urine infections

You know that patient who has that skin rash that you think is eczema but is really staph but that wasn't the initial Wdx because the derm didn't do a swab and culture and you wonder why? Or the patient who has repeated positive urine cultures with strange bacteria but you aren't 100% sure how to assess these unusual reports and you ask yourself am I reading this right? So I asked the expert himself Dr. Miguel Imperial to help us understand infections, learn when to swab, how to properly interpret reports, and treat infections better.⁠
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The presentation will cover the common primary care presentations of vaginitis, skin infections and urinary tract infections and how to best utilize the laboratory to make an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. Recurrent yeast vaginitis and bacterial vaginosis are common primary care presentations.⁠
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Simple skin and soft tissue infections including tinea, cellulitis and superficial wound infections will be discussed as well as the diagnosis and management of these common conditions.⁠
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For variety, scabies as a presentation will also be addressed. Clinical cases will be used to illustrate all of these presentations. Urine infection and the interpretation of bacteriuria and the urinalysis will also be covered. A review of the outpatient antibiogram and how it can be used to empirically treat with antibiotics will also be discussed. ⁠

BCNA ANM 2021: Dr. Miguel Imperial MD -  Evaluation, Diagnosis and Management of Enteric Infections

Ok so who looks to the gut as root cause more than NDs? We always have our suspicions about parasitic and bacterial relationships with GI and non GI conditions. Well, look no further than Dr. Miguel Imperial to help us make heads vs wormy tails about some of this layered stuff.⁠ Should we investigate infections in IBS? What happens when infections are chronic? What happens when patients are asymptomatic?⁠ Can't wait for Dr. Imperial's part deux.⁠
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Protozoal causes of diarrhea and potentially irritable bowel syndrome will be discussed including Giardia, E.histolytica, Cryptosporidium and Blastocystis hominis.⁠
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The presentation will cover the most common bacterial causes of gastroenteritis including Salmonella, Shigella, STEC and Campylobacter.⁠
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Clostridium difficile diarrhea in the context of outpatients and diagnosis and management will also be discussed, particularly the role and interpretation of PCR versus toxin detection. Strategies for managing recurrent C.difficile infection will also be addressed such as medication tapers and fecal microbial transplant.⁠