Infectious Conjunctivitis: Causes, Mechanism of Action of Gentamicin, and Infection Control

1. Background of the case study
1.1 What is infectious conjunctivitis?
Infectious conjunctivitis is considered as the conjunctiva inflammation that is
usually caused due to bacteria or viruses. Redness, discharge or tearing are the
most common sign of the infection. Infectious conjunctiva is can be differentiated
into chronic and acute conjunctivitis depending on the total time period of
infection. Chronic conjunctivitis occurs when the inflammation of conjunctiva last
for more than 3 weeks and acute conductivities occurs when the inflammation of
conjunctiva do not last for more than 3 weeks (Conjunctivitis, 2015).
1.2 Of the four micro-organisms listed below, justify which one is more likely to be
the cause of John’s eye infection. Indicate why the other micro-organisms from the
list are least likely to cause the infection.
Legionella pneumophila
Yes or no, with reason:
No, L. pneumophila is not responsible for triggering eye infection in John. This class of
bacteria leads to the condition of severe pneumonia and result in the symptoms like
headache, fever, chills, muscle pain and malaise (Edelstein & Christian, 2015).
Plasmodium ovale
Yes or no, with reason:
No, Plasmodium ovale is not responsible for causing infectious conjunctivitis in
the patient. Plasmodium ovale belongs to the class of parasitic protozoa that is
accountable for triggering malaria in the human beings. Hence, this species only

result in malarial infection (Rutledge et al., 2017).
Adenovirus
Yes or no, with reason:
Yes, Adenovirus is accountable for causing viral conjunctivitis. In this case study,
the patient was experiencing bacterial conductivities because he was exhibiting
symptom of sticky discharge that is more prevalent in bacterial conjunctivitis
(Colloca et al., 2018).
Staphylococcus aureus
Yes or no, with reason:
Yes, Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for causing an acute bacterial
conjunctivitis. The patient was suffering from acute bacterial conjunctivitis, as was
exhibiting symptoms such as red and inflamed eye with sticky discharge (Wong et
al., 2016).
2. Mechanism of action and adverse reactions
2.1 Describe the mechanism of action of gentamicin?
Gentamicin is the most commonly used antibiotic that is consumed by the patient
to treat any kind of bacterial infection. It is considered as the bacterial antibiotic
that is included under the class of aminoglycosides. The aminoglycosides attaches
to the explicit 30S- subunit protein in an irreversible form such as a single amino-
acid of S12 protein and the four different nucleotides of 16S rRNA. This protein
interfere among the decoding site of the 1400 nucleotide locality among the 16S

rRNA of 30S subunit and further interrelate with wobble base of anticodon of t
RNA. This condition result in the misinterpretation of mRNA that is eventually
responsible for incorrect addition of suitable amino acid in the polypeptide that
leads to the development of non-functional or toxic peptides and monosomes. The
development of this non-functional protein is further presented in form of
aggregates that is eventually responsible for killing the bacterium which results in
bacterial infection (Mosselhy et al., 2016).
2.2 Name two adverse reactions of this drug?
The adverse effect of Gentamicin drug are as follow (Hayward et al., 2018):
 Ear damage: Gentamicin is responsible for causing inner ear damage as it
affects the vestibular apparatus and hair cells that result in loss of hearing
balance and also sometimes leads to hearing loss.
 Nephrotoxicity: Gentamicin drug is responsible for causing damage to
kidney as it reduce the flow of blood and restricts the rate of glomerular
filtration and increases the vascular resistance.
3. Physiological basis of signs
3.1 sign 1:
Redness of Eye
Explanation of this phenomenon:
Redness of eye is considered as the major symptom of conjunctiva inflammation
that denotes that the individual is suffering from bacterial illness or infection. The
redness of eye is caused because of irritation that result due to the superficial
prominence of the blood vessels or even the tinny ocular vessels are widened and
inflated near the diseased conjunctiva that further leads to the condition of pink eye