An 83-year-old woman with long-standing asthma and rapidly progressing pneumonia

Article Abstract:

An 83-year-old woman with pneumonia was admitted to a hospital. She had a long history of asthma and previous bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis. Her symptoms persisted despite treatment with bronchodilator medications and antibiotics. Her sputum samples tested positive for Aspergillus fumigatus, which is a fungus that occurs in soil, water, and air. A biopsy of her right lung revealed the fungus in her tissue samples. She probably developed the infection because long-standing use of corticosteroids to treat her asthma had suppressed her immune system. She was treated with antifungal drugs but eventually died of kidney failure.

Aspergillosis

---

Pneumonia and the acute respiratory distress syndrome in a 24-year-old man

Article Abstract:

A 24-year-old man was hospitalized for cough, nasal congestion, labored breathing, headache, and fever. The oxygen level in his blood declined, and he required insertion of a breathing tube and supplemental oxygen. He was treated with antibiotics for pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, although the cause of his condition was not identified. A recent exposure to parrots at a hotel in Hawaii led doctors to the diagnosis of psittacosis, an infectious disease spread by feces, secretions, and feather dust of parrots and other birds.

Health aspects, Care and treatment, Causes of, Pneumonia, Acute respiratory distress syndrome, Adult respiratory distress syndrome, Parrots, Psittacosis, Parrot fever

---

A 60-year-old farm worker with bilateral pneumonia

Article Abstract:

A 60-year-old man with pneumonia was admitted to a hospital. He worked on a farm on Nantucket island. His sputum was cultured and the culture grew Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes tularemia. Tularemia is an infection that is common on Nantucket, where many rabbits, hares, and jackrabbits carry the tick that transmits the bacterium. The disease can also be transmitted in aerosol droplets in the air, which may have been how this man developed the disease.

Tularemia

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: A 72-year-old woman with orthostatic hypotension, syncope, and marked proteinuria. A 66-year-old woman with diabetes, coronary disease, orthostatic hypotension, and the nephrotic syndrome
• Abstracts: An 82-year-old man with pulmonary densities and a mass in the left upper abdominal quadrant. A 64-year-old man with Cushing's syndrome and a pancreatic mass
• Abstracts: A 35-year-old man with a painful abdominal mass and fever. Case 22-2003: A 22-year-old man with chills and fever after a stay in South America
• Abstracts: A previously well, 29-year-old woman with a pathologic fracture of the femur. A 41-year-old man with multiple bony lesions and adjacent soft-tissue masses
• Abstracts: Uneasy alliance: clinical investigators and the pharmaceutical industry. California's beleaguered physician groups -- will they survive?

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.