This template must be used to answer the case study.. Report

This template must be used to answer the case study.
(Please type your answers within the box underneath each question)
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1. Background of the case study (Total: 5 marks)
1.1 What is infectious conjunctivitis?
Infectious conjunctivitis can be defined as the inflammation of conjunctiva of eye
caused by viruses or bacteria. A range of bacteria can infect the conjunctiva, the
membrane which lines the eyelid and also cover the white portion of the eye. The most
common organism which cause conjunctiva are viruses particularly the adenoviruses,
bacterial infection is less frequent. Both of the bacterial and viral infections are very
contagious and easily the contamination pass from one person to another. The
symptoms of the conjunctivitis are redness and tearing or eye discharges and pain
(Wollenberg et al., 2018)
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 Legionella pneumophila is not the cause of John’s eye infection as Legionella
pnuemophila is not the causative agent of conjunctivitis
Plasmodium ovale
Yes or no, with reason:
This organism is also not the cause of John’s infection as Plasmodium ovale is not the
causative agent of conjunctivitis.
Adenovirus
Yes or no, with reason:
Adenovirus is one of the causative agent of conjunctivitis but John’s infection is not
caused by adenovirus as the symptoms of conjunctivitis cause by adenovirus is watery
discharge and the patient is discharging purulent and sticky discharge. The patient was
administered with gentamicin eye drop in both eyes as the infection can spread from one
eye to the other but gentamicin is not administered to viral infections. All of these reasons
supported that the eye infection was not cause by viral infections (Su et al., 2015).
Staphylococcus aureus
Yes or no, with reason:
Yes, the causative agent of conjunctivitis in this case is Staphylococcus aureus. The

patient was producing thick eye discharge or pus and it affects both of the eyes. In the
case study, the patient was discharging thick purulent pus from the eyes. The patient was
administered gentamicin eye drops which is administered to bacterial infections only. The
reasons supported that the conjunctivitis was caused by Staphylococcus aureus only
(Castillo et al., 2015).
2. Mechanism of action and adverse reactions (Total: 5 marks)
2.1 Describe the mechanism of action of gentamicin?
Gentamicin is one of the essential antibiotic which is used to treat different types of
infections caused by bacteria. This medicine is used to treat infections of bone,
endocarditis ,meningitis, pelvic inflammatory disease pneumonia, infections of the urinary
tract and sepsis. Topical formulations can be used in burns or in any eye infections. The
medicine negatively effects the protein synthesis by binding to the 30s subunit of the
ribosomal subunit. The ribosome lose the ability discriminate the interactions of transfer
RNA and messenger RNA. When gentamicin binds at the region of helix 44 of the 16s
RNA, it force the adenosines to remain in the correct position. Incorrect aa-tRNAs are
accepted which cause the ribosome to synthesize proteins with incorrect amino acids. The
non-functional and mistranslated protein gets misfold and aggregate causing the death of
the bacterium (Brothers et al., 2017)
2.2 Name two adverse reactions of this drug?
The adverse effect of gentamicin may range from less to more severe reactions. The two
most important adversative reactions of this drug are kidney damage (nephrotoxicity) and
nerve damage (neuropathy).
3. Physiological basis of signs (Total: 10 marks)
3.1 sign 1:
The first sign observed in the patient’s eye is the red and swollen eyes.
Explanation of this phenomenon:
The swollen eyelid occurs when there is any inflammation or presence of excess fluids in
the connective tissues which surrounds the eyes. The swollen eyelids in most of the cases
are associated with eye discharges and redness of eyes. The patient of the case study
had suffered from conjunctivitis, so the lining of the surface of the eye was infected which
caused to the swell (Sánchez-López et al., 2017).
3.2 sign 2:
The next sign is pus-filled and sticky discharges from eyes.
Explanation of this phenomenon:
The thin membrane which lined the sclera region and the internal surface of the eyelid was