Meningitis Case Studies Samples For Students

Introduction

Bacterial meningitis is an infection that affects the meninges, the cerebrospinal fluid and the spinal cord that causes death and disability in a number of people worldwide. This is a highly contagious airborne disease that is spread through the transmission of three organisms present in the respiratory secretions: Neisseria meningitides, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The onset or origins of the disease varies among different age groups and geographic locations. According to estimates, 200,000 people die annually of meningitis. Case fatality rates vary with age at time of illness and also depend on the particular bacterial strain causing the infection ( ...

Edwin’s symptoms of high fever, a stiff neck, and severe headaches indicate that he suffers from meningitis. Although Edwin does not report any other sick students that live with him, meningitis is not as contagious as the flu (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2011), so it is possible that there will be no outbreak among the residents in his fraternity house. While meningitis is associated with high leukocyte counts, that piece of information is not relevant for distinguishing the type of meningitis. Further diagnostic tests are required to identify other factors that will allow a clear distinction between ...

1. What microorganism do you believe is to blame for this illness (be specific)? Provide background information on this organism, history, morphology, virulence factors, toxins

Hemophilus Influenza is a cocobacillus that is small, pleomorphic and is gram-negative. It is non-motile and does not form spores. It is also a facultative anaerobe. Some strains of Hemophilus influenza have a capsule composed of polysaccharide (Deverajan, 2012), (CDC, 2013). There are 6 different stereotypes of the virus, labeled a-f. This division is based on the biochemical differences in the capsules (Deverajan, 2012). Some strains of Hemophilus Influenza do not possess capsules and are therefore referred to as nonencapsulated Hemophilus Influenza. They are also sometimes called nontypeable Hemophilus influenza. Identification of the different strains is done by slide agglutination for stereotyping ( ...