Pneumonia Case Study

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1.1 Background of the Study Infectious diseases remain to be one of the serious public health concerns worldwide, especially in the developing countries. Pneumonia is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases, which approximately affects 450 million people per year and is a major cause of death among all age groups causing 4 million deaths annually (Ruuskanen et al., 2011). The Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection including pneumonia also ranked as the second leading cause of morbidity (2012) and fourth leading cause of mortality (2009) in Filipinos for the past years (FHSIS, 2012; DOH, 2014). This illness can be caused by several kinds of organisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. It can be acquired from the community or in a health-care setting (nosocomial)…show more content…
Legionella infection have two distinct clinical manifestations, as a mild flu-like form referred to as Pontiac Fever or be in the fatal pneumonic form known as Legionnaires’ disease (WHO, 2007). Although Pontiac fever is self-limiting influenza-like illness without pneumonia, it has a high attack rate which affects 95% of exposed individuals (Glick et al., 1978). In contrast, Legionnaire’s disease has an attack rate of 0.1-5% in general population and 0.4-14% in hospitals but has a high case-fatality rate in hospital patients that can reach to 40-80% (WHO, 2007). There were also some long-term pathological conditions documented resulting from severe Legionnaires’ disease such as persistent pulmonary scars, weakness and fatigue, and other neurological deficits including residual cerebellar dysfunction and retrograde amnesia (Baker, Farrell and Hutchinson, 1981; Edelstein and Mayer, 1984; WHO,

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