Cruetzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD)

1 Microbiology Case Study Case 1 1. Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD).

2. It is possible that Elizabeth and Howard contacted CJD from eating contaminated meat. Animal products from an animal with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infection or mad cow disease can transmit CJD to humans (Rossi et al., 2019). Their case is sporadic as they do not have a positive family history. They also do not have significant medical and surgical issues for iatrogenic causes.

3. Prion disease is a condition caused by a prion, a misfolded protein which encodes its misfolded shape onto other similar, normal protein causing them to misfold.

Prions diseases are neurodegenerative in nature, hence causes its symptoms by changing the normal prion proteins in the brain, resulting in brain lesions (Rossi et al., 2019).

4. Early diagnosis of CJD does not promote early treatment or interventions as there are no drugs to cure or control the disease. Rather, disease management aims to make the patient as comfortable as possible, ease symptoms, and manage pain.

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2

5.

Type How is this type acquired?

CJD Sporadic

Fatal familial insomnia Genetic

Non-sporadic Iatrogenic Average age of symptom

Non sporadic CJD (46 ± 7

onset and death

years).

40-50 years old

Sporadic form (55 ± 8 years).

Duration of illness (symptom

3-12 months

- death)

7 months to 6 years, averagely 18 months.

Characteristic symptom

Progressive dementia, often

Progressive insomnia that

progression

accompanied by other form pf

begins suddenly and worsens

menntal illness.

rapidly over a few months.

This progresses into comma and eventually death.

Case 2 1. Streptococcus pyogenes infection 2. Streptococcus pyogenes infections are usually self-limiting but poses a risk of secondary complications if left untreated. Treatment with antibiotics is therefore necessary to prevent complications such as acute rheumatic fever and suppurative complications, which are the main concern in an untreated streptococcus pyogenes infection of the pharynx (Martin, 2015).

3 3. The antibiotic of choice for streptococcus pyogenes infections is penicillin. Amoxicillin is recommended as no isolates of group A streptococcus are resistant to it, unlike clarithromycin and azithromycin. Therefore, amoxicillin was more likely to be prescribed.

Penicillin is a bactericidal drug that works by inhibiting the synthesis of the bacterial peptidoglycan cell wall. It binds and inactivates proteins, thereby inhibiting transpeptidation reaction and blocking cross-linking of the cell wall (Martin, 2015).

4 References Martin, J. M. (2015). The Mysteries of Streptococcal Pharyngitis. Current treatment options in pediatrics, 1(2), 180–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40746-015-0013-9.

Rossi, M., Baiardi, S., & Parchi, P. (2019). Understanding Prion Strains: Evidence from Studies of the Disease Forms Affecting Humans. Viruses, 11(4), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/v11040309