Clinical Infectious Diseases for Microbiology

Question: Describe about the Clinical Infectious Diseases for Microbiology? Answer: In the case scenario, the women had a splenectomy after having an injury in the abdomen. During the surgery, there is a high risk of sepsis by the encapsulated organism including Streptococcus pneumoniae. Therefore, sufficient vaccination is needed for reducing the change of infection and sepsis. However, the women did not get the vaccination. a) From the symptoms and diagnosis of the patient's scar, it has been identified that the organisms causing infection are Streptococcus pneumoniae. The symptoms of pneumoniae infection include fever, cough, discomfort, chill, pain and irritation (Morgan Tomich, 2012). All of these were present in the patient and the organism was detected from the scar besides the surgical area. b) Overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI) is the infection following spleen removal or spleenectomy. It leads to fatal consequences. This is why the major risk factor following the spleen removal is the vaccination against common human pathogen including pneumoniae (Morgan Tomich, 2012). The spleen contains macrophages that can destroy the bacteria bound to the IgG antibodies or C3b complement component, thereby facilitating phagocytosis by these macrophages and removal of these pathogenic bacteria (Chiou, 2011). After removal of the spleen, these bacteria cannot be removed from blood circulation and they are free to cause infection. Thus, the vaccination is necessary before surgery. c) The patient has been treated with penicillin but the drug has been failed to treat the patient. This might occur due to any of two reasons. The drug dosage might be inadequate for the patient's severity. The other reason might be the emergence of the penicillin-resistant organism. It is common and known as the cross-resistance' of the organism, through which the organism achieves an altered penicillin-binding protein, thereby making penicillin unable to bind the beta-lactum ring of the organism (Chiou, 2011). Reference List Chiou, C. C. (2011). Does penicillin remain the drug of choice for pneumococcal pneumonia in view of emerging in vitro resistance?.Clinical Infectious Diseases,42(2), 234-237. Morgan, T. L., Tomich, E. B. (2012). Overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI): a case report and review of the literature.The Journal of emergency medicine,43(4), 758-763.