IPLab:Lab 4:Septic Emboli

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Clinical Summary[edit]

This 4-year-old female sustained second and third degree burns involving approximately forty percent of the body surface. Subsequently, she developed septicemia secondary to skin infection and died in septic shock on the 10th hospital day. Antemortem blood cultures were positive for Enterobacter aerogenes and Staphylococcus aureus.

Autopsy Findings[edit]

Postmortem findings included (1) multiple abscesses diffusely distributed throughout the parenchyma of the lung and heart, (2) lobular pneumonia, and (3) visceral congestion.

Images[edit]

Sepsis is the presence and persistence of pathogenic microorganisms and their toxins in the blood.

An abscess is a collection of pus (white blood cells) within a cavity formed by disintegrated tissue.

In alcoholics, aspiration pneumonia is common--bacteria enter the lung via aspiration of gastric contents.

Plural of embolus. An embolus is something that blocks the blood flow in a blood vessel. It may be a gas bubble, a blood clot, a fat globule, a mass of bacteria, or other foreign body. It usually forms somewhere else and travels through the circulatory system until it gets stuck.

An abscess is a collection of pus (white blood cells) within a cavity formed by disintegrated tissue.