Answer Happy

The patient was a 37-year-old man who had returned from Africa 12 days prior to his admission. He had been in Africa for approximately 7 months, working as a civil engineer on road building projects in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda Seven days before admission, the patient noted the acute onset of fevers with chills, a cough, and myalgias. For the next 3 days he had episodes of fevers and chills approximately three times a day. After 3 days of fever, he sought care at a local urgent care center. He told the physician that he had just returned from Africa and had not taken malaria prophylaxis. No hematocrit was reported. A PPD test was placed and instructed to return in 48 hours to have his PPD read. On his return to have his PPD read, the patient was found to be hypotensive. He was referred to the emergency room of the local hospital. A diagnosis was made in the hematology laboratory by observing thick and thin blood films. Multiple ring forms were observed in some of the red blood cells (RBCs). At the time of his diagnosis, he was noted to have a hematocrit of 25%. He was given a blood transfusion and sent home with an appropriate antimicrobic drug. He made a slow but complete recovery. In Addition to identifying this infection disease and the infectious agent (try to identify the organism to the species level), ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1. What are several drugs that are used to treat this disease? Given the travel history, which of these drugs would be suitable for the patient? Why would you not recommend the other drugs? 2. What are the reservoirs of this disease and the most common route of transmission? Are there any other ways that the disease can be transmitted? 3. This particular microorganism is capable of produced a wide array of clinical signs and symptoms. What are some of these? How common are fatalities. 4. Describe the preventive strategies this patient should have used. Also include your interpretation of relevant history and clinical/lab findings!