Question

Reza is a 23-year-old male who was involved in a motor vehicle accident. After the accident, he told the paramedics he felt extreme pain under his rib cage. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital, and the attending physician determined Reza had ruptured his spleen during the accident. He was scheduled for emergency splenectomy. Due to the severity of the injury, Reza had to have “open surgery” to remove his spleen.

The surgery was a success. Reza was given prophylactic antibiotics to prevent a surgical site infection. Because Reza had an open surgery, the doctor told him he’d need to stay in the hospital up to 6 days, depending on his recovery.

By the fourth day, Reza, who was young and otherwise healthy, was looking forward to being discharged from the hospital. But that morning, he woke up experiencing severe abdominal cramps. He slowly tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but he quickly realized he wasn’t moving fast enough. Panicked, he immediately pressed the nurse call button. By the time, the nurse got to Reza, there was stool all over him, the bed, and the floor. Reza was horrified, but the nurse comforted him, helped him up, and got him into the shower. The hospital housekeeping staff was called to clean the room.

After he was cleaned up, the nurse assessed Reza. His vital signs were recorded as follows:

• Temperature = 39.4°C [102.9°F]
• Pulse = 118 bpm
• Respiration = 20 breaths/minute
• BP = 92/52 millimeter Hg

While taking Reza’s vital signs, the nurse noticed he was pale and appeared dehydrated. He also seemed confused and disoriented. Reza kept trying to leave his hospital room, and he had repeat episodes of profuse diarrhea that had to be cleaned off him, the linens, and the floor. The nurse noticed the stool appeared yellow in color, seemed to contain pus, and had an especially foul odor.

Based on Reza’s signs and symptoms, which condition do you suspect?

Group of answer choices

Salmonella infection

Norovirus

Clostridium difficile

Answer 1

The correct answer is - Clostridium difficile .
This symptoms shows because prophylactic antibiotics given to prevent a surgical site infection which cause side effects . This symptoms show after 5-10 days of the antibiotics given .  
Some symptoms shows that reza has c. difficile :-
- Watery diarrhea  
- fever
- Nausea
- dehydration
- Blood or pus in the stool
- Rapid heart rate
- Abdominal pain
When you take an antibiotic to treat an infection, these drugs tend to destroy some of the normal, helpful bacteria in addition to the bacteria causing the infection. Without enough healthy bacteria to keep it in check, C. difficile can quickly grow out of control.