Question: Required Information Battling A Brain Infection Source: CDC Read The Overview And Complete The Interactivities That Follow. Kay Peterson, A 50-year-old Woman Began To Suffer Flu-like Symptoms, Including Fever, Aching Joints, Sore Throat, And A Headache. Feeling Miserable But Not Terribly Concerned, She Took Some Ibuprofen And Went To Bed. By The Following …

Required information Battling a Brain Infection Source: CDC Read the overview and complete the interactivities that follow. Kay Peterson, a 50-year-old woman began to suffer flu-like symptoms, including fever, aching joints, sore throat, and a headache. Feeling miserable but not terribly concerned, she took some ibuprofen and went to bed. By the following morning, she began to feel increasingly ill, and was unstable on her feet, confused, and complaining of light-headedness. Realizing this was more than just the flu, her husband rushed her immediately to the nearest emergency room. An initial examination showed that most of her vital signs were normal. She also presented with a rapid pulse and respirations, an inflamed throat, and stiff neck. A chest X-ray revealed no sign of pneumonia and blood test indicated an elevated white blood cell count. To rule out a possible brain infection a puncture of the spinal canal was performed. As it turned out, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) appeared normal, microscopically and macroscopically. But within an hour, the patient began to drift in and out of consciousness and was extremely lethargic. Dark brown spots began appearing on her legs. Her condition appeared to be failing rapidly and she was immediately taken to intensive care where she was placed on intravenous antibiotics. Because her symptoms pointed to a possible infection of the central nervous system, a second spinal tap was performed. This time, the CSF sample was cloudy, and a Gram stain and cultures were started right away. Microscopic examination of the sample yielded tiny pairs of red diplococci, leading to a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis as opposed to other common causative agents. The identity of this agent can be confirmed by a series of biochemical or immunological tests, but the microscopic analysis alone was sufficient to indicate the seriousness of the illness and the need for aggressive antibiotic therapy. Bacterial meningitis can cause death in 5- 10% of people in only a few hours. Research The Gram Stain and Other Diagnostic Methods Locate this journal reference using an online database to read about the value of the Gram stain technique and other diagnostic procedures in suspected meningitis cases: Karre T, Vetter EA, Mandrekar JN, Patel R. “Comparison of bacterial antigen test and gram stain for detecting classic meningitis bacteria in cerebrospinal fluid.” J Clin Microbiol. 2010 Apr;48(4):1504–5. doi:10.1128/JCM.00153- 10 Read the article thoroughly, and then discuss the following. 1. What is the BAT? Conduct additional research to describe this test procedure in detail. 2. On a sheet of paper, create a graphical representation from Table 2 that answers the following question: Of the total patients with a positive culture, how many of them were detected by BAT and/or the Gram stain techniques? In one or two sentences, summarize the information presented in your graph. Does your summary match the conclusions of the authors? 3. Based on the information you have read, create a memo for ER physicians that would highlight the best practices in diagnosing and treating a patient with suspected bacterial meningitis. Consider the type and order of tests you would recommend and the timing of treatment.