Question

Case-Study Scenario

A 70 years old male patient is discharged from the hospital after having kidney transplantation. He is doing well without any signs and symptoms of infection and discharged on immunosuppressant drugs and antibiotics. Two days later his temperature reported 38.5, when he came to the clinic the doctor informed him that he caught an infection and we have to admit you to the hospital and start on another antimicrobial drugs.

Q1. The blood culture for the patient revealed Gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Think about possible antimicrobial drugs for this case.                                                              

Q2. As a major health care provider and based on the above case, what are the universal precautions and standard precaution you take to control the infection.

Q3. As this patient is taking immunosuppressant drugs, discuss how this patient is at high risk to develop infection

Answer 1

A 70 years old male patient is discharged from the hospital after having kidney transplantation. 2 days later he becomes febrile, his blood culture reveals infection with  Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

1. Possible Antimicrobial class for both Gram-positive and gram-negative coverage is Tetracycline. The examples of some tetracycline drugs are doxycycline, demeclocycline, oxytetracycline, and tigecycline.

2. In this case, the contact precaution is very necessary to prevent the spread of bacteria.

Contact precautions are the step taken to prevent the spread of infection by touching to the patient, fomites, and patient surroundings.

Contact precautions include using some personal protective equipment like gloves, and gowns along with these precautions handwashing play a major role in preventing the spread of infection.

3. The patient is taking immunosuppressant drugs for kidney transplantation which increases the risk of getting hospital-acquired infections because immunosuppressant drugs suppress the immunity(body's natural defense mechanism against microorganism), which makes a favorable condition for microorganism to multiply in the human body and cause infection.