Infectious disease


Infectious disease

An infectious disease is a disease that is caused by pathogenic microbial agents as viruses, microbes, fungi, protozoa, and anomalous proteins identified as prions. These pathogens can reproduce from a diseased to a healthy plant.

What is an ID Specialist?

An infectious disease (ID) specialist is a doctor of internal medicine that deals in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

How to become an Infectious disease

To become an infectious disease specialist, you will need to finish 4 years of medical school, 3 years training as a physician of internal medicine and 2-3 years of additional training in infectious diseases.

The majority ID specialists who take care of patients also are board certified. They have approved a difficult certification examination by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Nature of the work

The function of an infectious disease specialist is to make another study of a patient's medical data, including X-rays and laboratory reports such as blood work and other data. They may make a physical examination to find out the cause of the problem.
  • Tests
    ID specialists frequently ask for laboratory tests to observe samples of blood or other body fluids. A blood serum analysis can facilitate the ID specialist detect antibodies that specify what type of infection you have. These advanced tests can additional help the results of earlier tests, helping to find the problem.
  • Treatments
    Treatments consist of medicines to help battle the infection and avoid it from returning. These medicines may be provided to you orally (in the form of pills or liquids) or injected directly into your veins, via an IV tube. Numerous ID specialists possess an IV antibiotic available in their offices, which reduces the probability that you will need to be hospitalized.
Note:
Work in the infectious disease specialty is restricted to diagnosis and medical treatment. Infectious diseases specialists don´t make surgery.

Salary

The annual salary for infectious disease specialists goes from $150,000 to $300,000.