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MRCP Part 2 → Infectious diseases and tropical medicine

Infectious diseases and tropical medicine for MRCP Part 2

Infectious diseases and tropical medicine accounts for roughly 6% of the MRCP Part 2 blueprint. This bank has 1 item tagged to it.

How much of MRCP Part 2 is infectious diseases and tropical medicine?

Around 6% of the paper, per MRCP(UK) examination blueprints and regulations. That weighting is why the DocPasser mock builder samples sections in proportion rather than shuffling everything into one pile — practising a flat distribution trains you for a paper that does not exist.

Verification status. All 3 published figures on this page have been read in the source document and dated above. Source of truth: MRCP(UK) examination blueprints and regulations, MRCP(UK) Federation. How we verify.

Sample infectious diseases and tropical medicine questions

A 72-year-old man is admitted with community-acquired pneumonia and treated with intravenous co-amoxiclav. On day 6 he develops profuse watery diarrhoea, abdominal distension, a white cell count of 24 × 10⁹/L, and a lactate of 3.8 mmol/L. Stool tests positive for Clostridioides difficile toxin. CT shows marked colonic wall thickening. What is the most appropriate management?

  1. Oral vancomycin, stop the precipitating antibiotic where possible, and involve surgeons early correct Correct. This is severe or life-threatening C. difficile infection: marked leucocytosis, raised lactate, and radiological colitis. Oral vancomycin is first line, the offending antibiotic is stopped or narrowed, and early surgical involvement matters because colectomy for toxic megacolon has better outcomes when it is not a last resort.
  2. Loperamide to control the stool frequency Wrong and dangerous. Antimotility agents retain toxin in the colon and can precipitate toxic megacolon.
  3. Oral metronidazole Wrong. Metronidazole has been displaced by vancomycin and fidaxomicin as first line in current guidance, and it is particularly inadequate in severe disease.
  4. Intravenous vancomycin Wrong route. Intravenous vancomycin does not reach the colonic lumen in useful concentrations. Intravenous metronidazole is what is added to oral vancomycin in fulminant disease.
  5. Faecal microbiota transplantation now Wrong timing. FMT is highly effective for RECURRENT infection, typically after multiple recurrences, not as first-line treatment of a severe first episode.

The point: C. difficile: oral vancomycin or fidaxomicin first line; add intravenous metronidazole in fulminant disease; never antimotility agents; FMT for recurrence. Rising white cell count, lactate and creatinine are the severity markers that should trigger a surgical conversation.

Source: UK Health Security Agency — Clostridioides difficile infection: guidance on management and treatment UK Health Security Agency · tier 1, national regulator or guidance

The other sections of MRCP Part 2

Cardiology · Respiratory medicine · Gastroenterology and hepatology · Neurology · Endocrinology and metabolic medicine · Nephrology · Rheumatology · Haematology · Oncology and palliative care · Dermatology · Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · Clinical sciences and statistics · Acute and critical care medicine

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