Committee on Microbiology - News

Spring 2008

James Mastrianni helps patient feel emotions again using unconventional treatment

Karen Drozd "was living in this other world and had absolutely no emotions." She knew something was wrong, but couldn't find a diagnosis or treament option until she visited The University of Chicago Medical Center. By evaluating Drozd, Dr. Mastrianni deduced that she had spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH), a kind of spinal  fluid leak that affects the level of pressure around the brain. "This means that the pressure of fluid in and around your brain is reduced," Mastrianni said, noting that while it's unclear why Drozd couldn't feel emotions, SIH can lead to a stupor and, in extreme cases, a coma. The condition was treated by inserting a catheter into Drozd's spinal canal and infusing it with saline to increase the pressure around her brain. Drozd was able to both laugh and cry before she was released from the hospital, two emotions she hadn't expressed in over four years. She has been out of the hospital for over 100 days and now describes herself as "full of life."

Summer 2007

Glen Randall named an American Liver Foundation Hepatitis C Scholar and awarded the Schweppe Foundation's Career Development Award

Dr. Glen Randall, assistant professor and alumnus of the University of Chicago, recently received the Schweppe Foundation's Career Development Award.  The foundation, which was established in 1947, grants this award to promising individuals in the early stages of their careers in academic medicine. Dr. Randall was also named Hepatitis C Scholar by the American Liver foundation for his research titled, USP18 as a Target to Improve Interferon Therapy of HCV.

'Pandemic in the making'

Robert Daum, Professor and Section Chief of Infectious Diseases in Pediatrics, was quoted in a Tuesday, May 29 Chicago Tribune article that reported on a serious illness called MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus and is a potentially virulent bacteria that is becoming a public health challenge. Being spread mainly through contact between people in public housing, Cook County Jail and public health facilities, such as Stroger Hospital, MRSA is being contracted by more individuals than in past years. "This is a pandemic in the making and the sourse of an enourmous increased burden of disease across Chicago," said Daum. He also noted in the interview that about 96 percent of skin and soft tissue infectiouns currently identified in jail inmates are caused by community-associated MRSA.