Step Up - Infectious Diseases Flashcards
Nosocomial pneumonia - Definition:
Occurs after the first 72h of hospitalization.
Classic CAP presents with:
- Sudden chill.
- Fever.
- Pleuritic pain.
- Productive cough.
Atypical pneumonia - Presents with:
Often begins with a sore throat and headache followed by a non productive cough and dyspnea.
2 recommended methods of prevention:
- Influenza vaccine - Give yearly to people at incr. risk for complications and to health care workers.
- Pneumococcal vaccine - For patients >65yr and for younger people at high risk (eg those with heart disease, sickle cell disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, alcoholic cirrhosis, asplenic individuals).
Typical CAP - Common agents:
- S.pneumoniae (60%).
- H.influenza (15%).
- Aerobic gram(-) rods (6-10%) - Klebsiella (and other Enterobacteriaceae).
- S.aureus (2-10%).
Typical CAP - Clinical features - Symptoms:
- Acute onset of fever and shaking chills.
- Cough productive of thick, purulent sputum.
- Pleuritic chest pain (suggest pleural effusion).
- Dyspnea.
Typical CAP - Signs:
- Tachycardia, tachypnea.
- Late inspiratory crackles.
- Bronchial breath sounds
- Incr. tactile vocal fremitus.
- Dullness on percussion.
- Pleural friction rub (associated with a pleural effusion).
Most cases of CAP result from?
Aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions because the majority of organisms that cause CAP are NORMAL INHABITANTS of the pharynx.
CXR - Typical CAP:
- Lobar consolidation.
2. Multilobar consolidation indicates very serious illness.
General approach to diagnosis of CAP - 1st step:
Differentiate lower respiratory tract infection from the other causes of cough and from upper respiratory tract infection.
General approach to diagnosis of CAP - 2nd step - Once lower tract infection is suspected:
Next task is to differentiate between pneumonia and acute bronchitis - Clinical features NOT reliable - CXR the only reasonable method of differentiating between pneumonia and acute bronchitis.
Studies have shown that if VITAL SIGNS are entirely normal, the probability of pneumonia in outpatients is less than?
1%.
Atypical CAP - Common agents:
- Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MC).
- Chlamydia pneumoniae.
- Chlamydia psittaci.
- Coxiella burnetti (Q fever).
- Legionella spp.
- Viruses - Influenza (A, B), adenoviruses, parainfuenza virus, RSV.
Atypical CAP - Clinical features - Symptoms:
- Insidious onset - headache, sore throat, fatigue, myalgia.
- Dry cough (no sputum production).
- Fevers (chills are uncommon).
Atypical CAP - Clinical features - Signs:
- Pulse-Temperature dissociation - normal pulse in the setting of high fever is suggestive of atypical CAP.
- Wheezing, rhonchi, crackles.
Atypical CAP - CXR:
- Diffuse reticulonodular infiltrates.
2. Absent or minimal consolidation.
Sputum culture CAP:
The value of routine sputum collection for Gram stain and culture is controversial. The Infectious Disease Society of America has recently advocated performing sputum Gram stain and culture in ALL patients hospitalized with CAP.
The following steps are appropriate in patients admitted to the hospital with suspected pneumonia:
- CXR (PA and lateral).
- Lab tests - CBC and differential, BUN, Cr, glucose, electrolytes.
- SaO2.
- Two pretreatment blood cultures.
- Gram stain and culture of sputum.
- Antibiotic therapy.
Diagnosis of pneumonia - CXR:
- PA and lateral CXR REQUIRED to confirm the diagnosis.
- Considered sensitive - If CXR findings are NOT suggestive of pneumonia, do not treat the patients with antibiotics.
- After treatment, changes evident on CXR usually lag behind the clinical response (up to 6wks).
- Changes include interstitial infiltrates, lobar consolidation, and/or cavitation.
- False-negative chest radiographs occur with neutropenia, dehydration, infection with PCP, and early disease <24h.
Do radiographic changes and clinical findings help in identifying the causative organism in CAP?
No, they do not help.
Pneumoniae pearls:
- Alcoholics –> Klebsiella.
- Immigrants –> TB.
- Nursing home residents –> Nosocomial pathogen and predilection for the upper lobes (eg Pseudomonas).
- HIV(+) –> PCP + TB - still more likely to have a TYPICAL infectious agent.
- Legionella –> Organ transplant recipients, renal failure, chronic lung disease, smokers.
Diagnosis of pneumonia - Sputum Gram stain:
Try to obtain in all patients:
- Commonly contaminated with oral secretions.
- A good specimen has a sensitivity of 60% and specificity of 85% for identifying gram(+) cocci in chains (S.pneumoniae).
Diagnosis of pneumonia - Sputum culture:
Try to obtain in all patients REQUIRING hospitalization - Specificity is improved if the predominant organism growing on the culture media correlates with the Gram stain.
Diagnosis of pneumonia - Special stains of the sputum in selected cases:
- Acid-fast stain (Mycobacterium spp.) if TB is suspected.
2. Silver stain (fungi, Pneumocystis carinii) for HIV/immunocompromised.