Dr. Germ, Dr. Bolden does battle with infectious disease

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Dr. Germ

Dr. Bolden does battle with infectious disease

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By Jeanne Millsap

Herald Correspondent Daily Herald - ,IL

On staff for about a year, Dr. Bolden is Hospital and

Healthcare Centers' first full-time infectious disease specialist.

He treats such chronic cases of infection as diabetic ulcers and HIV

in his outpatient office on Waverly Street and tackles acute

infections in hospital pa-tients.

In short, Bolden contends he treats, " The sickest people in the

hospital. "

He usually has 10 to 15 hospital patients at any given time.

He's called in on cases of sepsis, which is a full-blown infection

of the body where bacteria have taken over the blood system, the

abdominal cavity, the bladder, and elsewhere. These patients are

very ill, he said, with critically low blood pressure and high heart

rates.

He puts sepsis patients on strong antibiotics and then jumps into

the role of detective, taking blood and urine samples and doing " pan

cultures " to see what grows. Identifying the organism allows him to

know exactly which antibiotic will kill it.

Most of Bolden's patients see him, though, for such infections as

pneumonia, urinary tract infections, cellulitis of the leg, and

diabetic foot ulcers.

It's an interesting job, he said, and one that keeps him on his toes.

Bolden's always loved science. Math was one of his favorite subjects

in school, too.

Growing up in the south side of Chicago, he wanted to be a scientist

or a firefighter. He looked up to his uncle who was a Chicago

firefighter.

At Grinnell College in Iowa, he minored in general science, but

Renaissance man that he is, got his degree in French. He took his

first French course to satisfy a foreign language requirement and

became enticed by the romantic language and culture of France.

Two influential French teachers helped fan the flames of the

language for the young man. Bolden even lived in France for a while

as a foreign exchange student.

But after college, he began to feel the pull of science again.

Working as a chemist in a paint company in Des Plaines, he ran into

his old pediatrician. You should be a doctor, she told him. She

thought it would be a career he would enjoy and find challenging.

Bolden was familiar with healthcare. His mother was a school nurse

and a health teacher and did HIV education in public schools. He

knew how important infectious disease education and treatment are.

He spent a summer with his nose buried in books every night after

work, studying for the medical school admission test, the MCAT.

Scoring high on the test, he was accepted at the University of

Illinois at Chicago Medical School, which he found he enjoyed.

After residencies and a fellowship, Bolden accepted the position as

infectious disease specialist at Hospital last year. A

college friend of his, , was an ER physician in

and told Bolden what a good place it was to work.

Bolden said one of the more important aspects of his position is

infection control in the hospital. Especially scary is MRSA,

methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. It's becoming

more common in hospitals and the community in general due to the

overuse and misuse of antibiotics, Bolden explained.

Physicians need to hold strong when their patients ask them for

unnecessary antibiotics, he said, and patients need to realize how

dangerous it can be to take antibiotics. If used improperly, they

can cause bacteria to mutate to strains that aren't killed by

antibiotics.

" It comes down to education of primary physicians, " Bolden

said. " When you give antibiotics to cases where there is not a

strong need, for example, a viral infection, it can create problems. "

In addition to commonly seen infections, Bolden has seen some pretty

unusual ones. In Chicago, he's had patients with toxoplasmosis,

which is a parasitic infection; malaria; and traveler's diarrhea.

One unusual case he treated here in Grundy County recently was a

woman who passed out in an area business. It ended up that she had a

fungal infection of her sinuses and throughout her nose. She's doing

well now, he said.

One infectious disease scare out there now is the potential for bird

flu to hit the human population. Bolden said it is something to take

seriously.

" I think we should be concerned about it, " he said. " As it is now,

there has been no human-to-human transmission, but it's possible

there could be in the near future. Experts say it could hit the U.S.

in the fourth quarter of next year. "

Bolden said if the bird flu does hit this country, people should

keep a home supply of aspirin or Tylenol and plenty of water. Wear

masks if going out in public, he said, and see your doctor if you

have headaches, fever, weakness, nausea, lethargy, or vomiting.

Mumps is another infectious disease in the news lately. There have

been three cases in Will County and one in Grundy, Bolden said.

Children get mumps vaccines in their MMR shots, he said, but the

vaccines are only around 85 percent effective at keeping mumps at

bay. Those who actually contract mumps will not get it again, he

said, but those adults who never had the disease or the vaccine can

get it, and it can be quite serious.

The best prevention of infectious diseases, Bolden said, is still

hand washing.

" Wash them before you cook and before you eat, " he said, " and before

and after you change diapers. You can use an antiseptic gel that you

keep in your car or purse when you eat at restaurants or go through

a drive-through. It's almost as effective as washing your hands. "

Bolden spends a lot of time washing his hands with his job. It's

important to his health and to the health of his patients. And also

to the health of his family.

Bolden and his wife, , added a new member to their Shorewood

home this year. Daughter Madison was born nine weeks ago. The

Boldens also have a 2 1/2-year-old old son, Darien.