Case study for Microbiology. A 22 y/o male graduate student just returned form t
ID: 48935 • Letter: C
Question
Case study for Microbiology.
A 22 y/o male graduate student just returned form the Arizona desert, where he studided behavior within prairie dog colonies. His left armpit has been extremely sore for several days, and he just started to wheeze during breathing. You immediately start him on antibiotics. As the patient recovers, his sputum culture revealed distinct safety pin cell morphology.
a) What disease did the guy have and b) what caused it?
c) Name 2 very important different routes by which he might have been infected
d) What are "growths" causing the soreness in his armpit called?
Explanation / Answer
a) The guy is suffering from plague, The symptoms- soreness in armpit/ neck, groin, suggest the person is infected with bubonic plague
b) People get plague by :
c) He might have directly touched the infected animal or inhaled the droplets of cough of the infected person/ sick animal
d) The soreness in armpit is due to swollen painful lymph node, caused by the bacteria (micro-organisms) Yersinia pestis.