Consult a board-certified infectious disease specialist online for complex, persistent, recurrent, or difficult-to-diagnose infections, including HIV/AIDS and COVID. Our U.S.-based specialists review your medical records, lab and microbiology results, imaging, and treatment history, then provide a live video consultation and written specialist opinion
Infectious Diseases
Asif Zia
Harnett Health Systems (Cape Fear Valley Health), Lillington, NC.
Infectious Diseases
Infectious DiseasesConsult a board-certified infectious disease specialist online for complex, persistent, recurrent, or difficult-to-diagnose infections. Our U.S.-based specialists review your medical records, laboratory and microbiology results, imaging, and treatment history, then provide a live video consultation and written specialist opinion. The service is designed for expert consultation and second opinions and does not include medication prescribing.
An infectious disease specialist is a physician with advanced training in illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and other infectious agents. Many routine infections can be managed by primary care or another treating clinician, but an infectious disease consultation may be useful when an infection is recurrent, unusually severe, difficult to identify, resistant to treatment, associated with an underlying medical condition, or requires interpretation of complex laboratory or microbiology findings.
An online infectious disease specialist may review concerns involving:
Specialist review may be appropriate when an infection or suspected infection requires expertise beyond routine evaluation. Consider an infectious disease specialist consultation when:
The significance of a culture result, inflammatory marker, imaging finding, or other test depends on the patient's symptoms, medical history, site of infection, previous treatment, and other clinical information. An infectious disease physician interprets these findings in context rather than in isolation.
An infection that repeatedly returns, or symptoms that continue despite treatment, may require a broader review of the diagnosis and previous management. Recurrence does not necessarily mean that the same organism or underlying problem is responsible each time.
An online infectious disease doctor can review previous episodes together, including culture and sensitivity results, laboratory testing, imaging, hospital records, antimicrobial exposure, treatment response, underlying conditions, and procedures that preceded the infection. This can help clarify whether the available evidence supports the original diagnosis and what questions should be addressed with the treating team.
Specialist review may be valuable when a bacterial infection is recurrent, an organism is unusual, treatment response has been incomplete, or testing suggests resistance to one or more antimicrobial agents. Relevant concerns may include bloodstream, bone and joint, complicated urinary, postoperative, skin and soft-tissue, device-associated, or other complex infections.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing helps assess whether a microorganism is susceptible or resistant to particular drugs, but results must be interpreted alongside the site and severity of infection and the patient's clinical condition. CDC: Antibiotics Tested and Susceptibility Information
Antimicrobial resistance can make some infections more difficult to treat and is an important consideration in complex infectious disease care. CDC: Antimicrobial Resistance
OurExpertDoc provides specialist consultation and second opinions; medication prescriptions are not provided through this service.
Depending on the physician's expertise and the individual case, an infectious disease specialist may also review complex viral, fungal, or parasitic infections; unexplained fever; infections in immunocompromised patients; and illness associated with international travel.
For travel-related illness, details such as countries visited, travel dates, symptom timing, food or water exposure, and insect or animal exposure may be clinically important. CDC Travelers' Health
Patients who are significantly immunocompromised, acutely ill, or experiencing severe or rapidly worsening symptoms may require prompt in-person assessment. A scheduled online consultation should not delay urgent or emergency medical care.
Infectious diseases can involve uncertainty about whether an infection is present, which organism is responsible, how microbiology results should be interpreted, whether a finding represents active infection, or how previous treatment should be understood. An infectious disease second opinion provides another specialist's assessment of the available evidence.
A second opinion may be useful when:
A second opinion does not imply that the original diagnosis or recommendation is incorrect. Its purpose is to provide additional specialist perspective that can be discussed with the clinicians responsible for ongoing care.
Infectious disease decisions often depend on understanding several findings together rather than interpreting one result independently. Identifying an organism on a culture, for example, does not always establish by itself whether that organism explains the patient's current symptoms.
Depending on the clinical question, an infectious disease specialist online consultation may include review of:
Where available, submit both recent and earlier results. Changes over time can provide useful context in recurrent or prolonged illness.
OurExpertDoc provides specialist consultation and second-opinion services. Medication prescriptions are not provided through this service.
A virtual infectious disease consultation can provide independent review of an existing diagnosis, microbiology and culture results, previous treatment, recurrent episodes, and recommendations made by another clinician. It is particularly useful when the clinical question depends heavily on medical records and specialist interpretation.
It does not replace care requiring a physical examination, new specimen collection, urgent laboratory testing, intravenous treatment, procedures, hospitalization, or emergency assessment. The specialist may recommend additional evaluation that should be arranged through your local treating team.
OurExpertDoc gives patients worldwide access to U.S.-based infectious disease specialists for non-emergency consultations and second opinions. The service can be useful when local specialist access is limited, when another expert perspective is desired, or when extensive medical records can be reviewed remotely before further decisions are made.
Yes. OurExpertDoc connects patients with U.S.-based infectious disease specialists for medical-record review, a live video consultation, and a written specialist opinion.
Infectious disease physicians specialize in illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and other infectious agents. They are often involved in complex, recurrent, resistant, unusual, or difficult-to-diagnose infections.
Specialist consultation may be appropriate when an infection repeatedly returns, symptoms persist despite previous treatment, the diagnosis remains uncertain, an unusual or resistant organism has been identified, fever remains unexplained, or the case involves complex medical circumstances.
Yes. A specialist can review previous episodes, cultures, laboratory testing, imaging, treatment history, response to treatment, and underlying conditions to assess the problem in its broader clinical context.
Yes. A second opinion can review an existing diagnosis, microbiology and laboratory findings, previous treatment, hospitalization records, and recommendations made by another physician.
Yes. Culture and antimicrobial susceptibility results can be reviewed alongside the specimen source, symptoms, medical history, previous treatment, and other clinical findings.
Yes. Persistent fever and travel-associated illness may be reviewed when appropriate. Travel destinations, dates, exposures, symptom timing, and previous testing can be important to the assessment. Severe or rapidly worsening illness requires prompt in-person care.
No. OurExpertDoc provides specialist consultations and second medical opinions. Medication prescriptions are not issued through this service.
The OurExpertDoc consultation fee is $350. The service includes specialist case review, a live video consultation, and a written specialist opinion.
Get an experienced infectious disease specialist's perspective on a persistent or recurrent infection, resistant organism, unexplained fever, travel-related illness, complex laboratory findings, or an infectious disease diagnosis or treatment recommendation.
OurExpertDoc provides patients worldwide with access to U.S.-based specialists who review relevant medical records, discuss the case during a live video consultation, and provide a written specialist opinion for $350.
Medically reviewed by: Kamran Mahmood, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
Last medically reviewed: August 2, 2026
