The Clinical-Molecular Interface Pneumonia

Among the various types of infection, pneumonia is one of the most common. Pneumonia is an infection of lung tissue. Clinically, pneumonia is characterized by fever, chills, shortness of breath, cough, and sputum production. The amount, viscosity, and color of the sputum are directly related to the type of organism causing the pneumonia. 

Patient 1. This 24-year-old male university student was brought to the emergency department at 1600 h by his roommate. He was delirious and had a depressed level of consciousness. Although he had been well the previous day, that morning he had complained of a fever, severe headache, severe neck and back stiffness, nausea, and vomiting. He had become progressively unwell over 7-8 hours. On physical examination he was acutely ill with a temperature of 40°C. He was delirious and had neck rigidity with severe resistance to any attempt to passively flex his neck. A CT scan of his brain was normal. A spinal tap was performed and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was removed it was cloudy. 

A clinical diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was made. Therapy was started immediately because of the life-threatening nature of the illness. He was empirically treated with ceftriaxone and vancomycin, intravenously. A short time later, a Gram stain of his CSF revealed that the bacteria were Gram-positive cocci. Accordingly, the empiric 

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