Particulars of Patient
Name: Tong Wei Hong
Sex: Male
Age: 68 years old

Clinical Diagnosis
Signs and symptoms: Fever, chills, excessive phlegm, breathing problems Diagnosis: Bronchitis
Specimen collected: Sputum

Description of Bronchitis
Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi (medium-size airways) in the lungs. Acute bronchitis is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Acute bronchitis is characterized by cough and sputum (phlegm) production and symptoms related to the obstruction of the airways by the inflamed airways and the phlegm, such as shortness of breath and wheezing. Diagnosis is by clinical examination and sometimes microbiological examination of the phlegm.

Chronic bronchitis is not necessarily caused by infection and is generally part of a syndrome called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); it is defined clinically as a persistent cough that produces sputum (phlegm) and mucus, for at least three months in two consecutive years.

Possible Causative Agents
1. Adenovirus
-Non-enveloped double-stranded linear DNA
-Icosahedral nucleocapsid with a fiber protruding from each of the 12 vertices
-Causes Bronchitis in the lower respiratory tract

2. Bordetella
-Small, coccobacillary, encapsulated gram negative rod
-Restricted to the respiratory tract (negative blood culture)

3. Chlamydia pneumoniae
-Obligate intracellular bacteria
-Require host cells for growth

4. Moraxella catarrhalis
-Gram-negative, aerobic, oxidase-positive diplococcus
-May colonise and cause respiratory tract-associated infection in humans
-Known to cause Bronchitis

5. Streptococcus pneumoniae
-Gram positive lancet-shaped cocci
-Arranged in pairs or short chains
-Higher mortality in persons aged 65 and above

Desmond Heng

0503179D

TG02