Name B. Following is a case history of a 28-year old man. Identify each period i
ID: 210615 • Letter: N
Question
Name B. Following is a case history of a 28-year old man. Identify each period in the pattern of disease that he experienced by listing each period together with the date range that the period spanned. On June 9, he visited an exotic pet store and handled a variety of animals. On lune 11th, he experienced joint pain, accompanied by chills and headaches. On June 16, he had severe chest pains, and diarrhea, and his temperature was 39.8°C. Appropriate antibiotics were administered on June 17, and his fever subsided within 24 hours. He continued taking antibiotics for a total of 14 days. (5 points)Explanation / Answer
There are four periods in a infections: incubation period, prodromal period, Acute period and Convalesce period.
Incubation period (June 9-10; nearly 48 hours): Incubation period is the period between exposure to a pathogen and before appearance of the first symptoms of disease. During this period, the organism multiplies and reaches a number that results in symptoms in the host.
The patient was infected with the pathogen when he visited the pet store on June 9. Handling of various pet animals could have transmitted the pathogen to the individual. It is therefore a zoonostic pathogen, which has two hosts: animal and humans. It took around 48 hours for the pathogen to infect the target cells, grow and divide, and cause tissue damage. Damage to tissues can be due to production of compounds that kill the host cells or due to immune cells involved in host defense that will try to kill the pathogen.
Prodromal period (June 11-16; 5 days): This is the period between appearance of the first symptoms and the appearance of the specific symptoms. At the end of this period, the specific symptoms appear. The first symptoms of joint, pain, headaches and chills appeared on June 11. During this stage, the organism grows and damages the tissues. Host defense mechanisms are involved in curbing the infections by killing the pathogens. However, the pathogen is able to overcome the host defense mechanism and invade other cells. Specific symptoms were seen on June 17, which included severe chest pain and diarrhea as well as high temperature of 39.80C.
Acute Period (June 16-17; 48 hours): This is the period when the patient exhibits specific signs and symptoms of the disease. The organism has now caused an active infection and has evaded the immune system. It has now been able to spread and infect other tissues. The organism may have infected the upper respiratory tract (chest pain) and the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea). Fever (high temperature) is due to inflammatory mechanism induce in the body in response to infection and is indicative of induction of immune response.
Convalesce period (June 18- July 2; 17 days): During, this period, the symptoms start disappearing. The patient was started on antibiotics, which targeted the pathogen and killed them. As a result, the pathogen could no longer invade cells and the infection subsides. Antibiotics were prescribed for another 14 days in order to completely eliminate the pathogen from the body. As antibiotics were effective, the pathogen was most likely a bacterial pathogen.
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