Prevention of Cyclospora Cayatanensis - Essay Example

"Prevention of Cyclospora Cayatanensis" is a perfect example of a paper on infections. 
Patient Description: Alex Croft, who is aged 22 years, and a male African-American person, presented on 4th of December, 2014 with 2-day old complaints of the following.

Chief Complaint: Diarrhea and abdominal pain for 2 days

History: The patient had been well till 2 days ago when he presented with the above complaints. Abdominal pain started 2 days ago and it was dull in nature, but later its intensity increased. In addition, the pain was colicky and was more generalized in the abdomen. It was not radiating anywhere, though it was associated with bouts of diarrhea and loss of appetite. The patient has visited the toilet 7 times in the past 2 days and describes that he is passing, watery stool that is foul-smelling, and yellowish in colour. He did not have any vomiting, hematemesis, nausea, hematochezia, abdominal distention episodes. The last thing he remembers to have eaten was roasted maize sold on the street from a vendor before his problems began.  In addition, the patient reports having self-medicated himself with metronidazole and brufen from a local clinic 12 hours ago, though did not have any history of a chronic illness or long use of aspirin.

Apart from the above, he did not have any headache, any loss of consciousness history, blurring of vision, hearing disturbances in the central nervous system. He had normal urination frequency, no urgency, no hesitancy, and no hematuria. In the respiratory system, he did not have any difficulty breathing, any increased respiratory rate, or the use of rhonchi. Furthermore, in the cardiovascular system, he did not have any palpitation.

Past medical and surgical history: He did not have any previous surgeries or previous medical admissions. He did not have any food and drug allergies and no chronic illness.

Family History: Both parents were alive. 2nd  born in a family of 3. All siblings are alive and well. There is no chronic illness in the family.

Drug history: Does not drink alcohol or use cigarette

Systemic review: The rest of the systems were normal

Summary: Alex Croft, a 22-year-old, male African American, presented in hospital after a 2 days history of abdominal pain that was generalized and colicky in nature, together with accompanying diarrhea, watery and yellowish in nature after eating roasted maize from a street vendor.

Physical Examination

The patient was in a fair general condition at the time of examination.

General Examination: No pallor, No lymphadenopathy, no cyanosis, no jaundice, no finger clubbing, not dehydrated, no edema.
Vital signs: Bp: 100/67mm/hg Temp: 98.6 F Pulse rate: 88 beats/min Respiratory rate: 14 breathes/ min

Systemic examination

Abdominal exam: Abdomen was not distended, had no scars or visible vascular markings, and moved with respiration, umbilicus inverted. On palpation, had generalized tenderness, had no organomegaly. On percussion, was tympanic. Bowel sounds were increased.

The cardiovascular, respiratory, central nervous, genitourinary systems did not have any problems.

Investigations:

Full hemogram to eliminate other causes of abdominal pain like appendicitis and to check for anemia presence. A stool culture and microscopy were done (Croft, 20140.

Diagnosis:

In identifying cyclosporiasis, the presence of the parasite Cyclospora Cayatanensis in stool via a microscope is the definitive diagnosis (Deng, 2014).

Pathogenesis: The disease is caused by the ingestion of the microbe in food contaminated by fecal matter. It is because of taking food when one has not cleaned his or her hands, is when the chances of getting it are increased (Croft, 2014). The microorganism usually leaves the human body through feces, and through fecal contamination of an ingestible substance, is able to return back to the small intestines of another human being to cause cyclosporiasis. Once in the intestines, the parasite is able to multiply and repeat the cycle once again.

Prevention and treatment: The treatment of choice is sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim. The disease can be prevented by washing hands before preparing or eating foodstuffs (Berger, 2014). Prevention can either be implemented at the primary level or secondary level. The primary level entails educating people about the dangers of not washing hands after visiting the toilet. One can also prevent its occurrence through the washing of fruits and vegetables which one buys before eating.