Case study: A 75 year old man was transferred to an emergency room from a local
ID: 3514549 • Letter: C
Question
Case study: A 75 year old man was transferred to an emergency room from a local nursing home where he is on long-term ventilator care. He presented as lethargic and a pale complexion. His admission temperature was 101.5oF, and during respiration, the right side of his chest moved better than the left side. The patient complained of chills. Testing: A chest x-ray was performed and showed inflammation in the left lung. A sputum sample was collected and it contained blood. A smear of the sputum demonstrated no acid-fast bacteria. Culturing the sputum on MacConkey agar produced red-colored colonies. Directions: Address this case in a paragraph of at least 50 words (1 pt). Include the answers from these three questions in your paragraph. Remember to consider ONLY the pathogens covered for this lecture test: What bacterial agent do you think is causing these symptoms and what is your diagnosis? (1 pt) How evidence led you to your decision? (1 pt) What treatment would you suggest for this patient? (1 pt)Explanation / Answer
Gram negative bacteria such as pseudomonas, acinetobacter or klebsiella species might be causing the syptoms in the man.
The man is suffering from bacterial lung infection because he shows common symptoms like cough with blood tinged mucus. He has chills accompanied by fever. The infection could be pneumonia.
We can come to this conclusion because only gram-negative bacteria grow in MacConkey agar. The red coloured colonies in the culture medium are evidence for presence of gram-negative bacteria.
For treatment of the bacterial lung infection, most likely pneumonia , the patient will be given antibiotics . Anti fever medication along with fluid hydration will have to be administered to the patient. Cough suppressent will be prescribed to give relief from the painful cough attacks. If the infection is acute, the treatment will take about 1 to 5 weeks to be cured. If the infection is chronic then it might take longer, about 3 months , to disappear.