Overview
Your report will answer each of the 6 questions below-
1. What microorganism causes this disease? Make sure to give the name of the bacteria in proper binomial nomenclature and discuss any virulence factors or specific traits of this bacteria that influences the disease.
2. What is your diagnosis (i.e. what is the disease), and what specific features within the case were critical to your diagnosis of this disease?
3. How is this disease transmitted?
4. How is the disease treated? Make sure to be specific on types of treatments used and timing of treatment needed.
5. What symptoms might the patient develop if the disease is not treated?
6. What is the PROGNOSIS with treatment?
STEP 1: CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SCENARIOS TO RESEARCH:
1. Jodi is married and pregnant with her first child. Her OB/GYN asks her about her sexual history. She admits that in college she had a boyfriend who was sleeping around with other women behind her back. At that time, she developed a firm, round painless sore on her vulva, but it resolved itself in about a month. About that time, she developed a rash and some flu-like symptoms, fever and swollen glands, but again, it went away. She has been feeling fine since and has not experienced a recurrence. Her doctor is concerned and orders her a blood test to confirm her diagnosis to prevent her from passing any disease to her child. The doctor suspected the bacteria was a spirochete.
2. Lila signed up for a mission to serve people in the remote villages of Pakistan where there is not running water or electricity. Before she left, she check to make sure it was safe to go politically, but forgot to check about extra vaccines for illness endemic to Pakistan. About a week after her arrival back in the US, she spiked a high fever of 103. She also experienced weakness and a piercing headache. She complained of stomach symptoms as well, such as diarrhea and stomach pain. She didn’t feel like eating anything. A rash appeared on her abdomen that appeared flat with rose colored spots. After 5 days of fever, she went to her doctor who took a blood sample and a stool sample, which revealed a Gram-negative flagellated rod-shaped bacterium.
3. Joe is in his 80s and has been receiving outpatient chemotherapy for cancer. He fell in his apartment and broke his hip, so he ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks. Towards the end of his stay, he began experiencing a fever and rapid heart rate. He had stomach pain and terrible watery diarrhea many times throughout the day. He became severely dehydrated. It was hard for him to manage the nausea. His doctor took a stool sample and noticed an anaerobic Gram positive bacteria.
- CLUE: Each scenario is caused by BACTERIA (not a virus) and your diagnosis should accommodate ALL the symptoms given.
STEP 2: RESEARCH THE PATIENT'S SYMPTOMS TO DETERMINE WHICH PATHOGEN IS RESPONSIBLE AND ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS GIVEN ABOVE.