Question

The patient is a 4 year-old male who presented to the emergency room with a 2 hour history of vomiting, diarrhea, fever, irritability, and lethargy. The child had gone to sleep on the living room couch at 11 p.m. His grandmother found him on the floor at 3 a.m. covered with feces. When she picked him up to carry him to the bathtub, she noticed he was febrile. She bathed him, and brought him to the emergency room. The patient's medical history indicated that he was in group day care. In the emergency room, he had two episodes of vomiting. His temperature was 38.9°C, pulse 160 beats per min, respiratory rate 36/min, and he was noted to be dehydrated. His stool contained bloody streaks, and on microscopic examination many white blood cells were observed. He had a negative stool examination for ova and parasites as well as a negative blood culture. A MacConkey agar plate culture of the isolated organism revealed colorless colonies. The organism was negative for H2S production, nonmotile and indole negative. In Addition to identifying this infection disease and the infectious agent, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1. In addition to the microorganism that you have selected, given his clinical (not laboratory) picture, what bacterial pathogens are likely candidates for the etiology of this infection? 2. Why were there white blood cells in the patient's stool sample? What factors contributed to his lethargy?? 3. What was the significance of his being in group-day care? 4. How would you treat this patient and what steps should be taken to prevent transmission of the disease?

Answer 1

identified disease is a Mac Auli - The a Campylobacterosis & the causatue organion is Campylobacter jejun. This bacteria has been known to cause food poisoning, leading to symptoms of abdominal cramps, fever, diarchaca & vomiting. It is non motike, indole negative, negative to to hH2S production & is known to grow on me Conkey agar plate. is looking at the clinical presentation, one would expect that the causative organism is salmonella / Shingella / clostridium difficile I Campylobacter. These organisms are known to cause and stomach Ellers. 2 white blood cells show up when a patient has inflammatory dianhoea. Dehydration could be a possible for his lethargy. 3) since it is an infectious disease, it is possible that the patient had contracted the disease from the day care group. 4) The treatement involves administration of antibiotics, taking sufficient fluids etc. The disease can be prevented by following proper hygiene like washing hands before sating, after passing stools etc. Please rate my Auswer.