Inflammation, Tissue Repair, and Wound Healing

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Case Study 4

Inflammation, Tissue Repair, and Wound Healing

Carlton, a six-year-old boy, was playing on a sandy beach with his mother. He began to run along the shoreline when he stepped on the sharp edge of a shell, giving himself a deep cut on his foot. His mother washed his foot in the lake and put on his running shoe to take him home. One day later, Carlton’s foot looked worse. The gash was red and painful. The foot was warm to touch and appeared swollen. Carlton’s mom put some gauze over the wound and prepared to take him to the local community health clinic.

  1. What is the physiologic mechanism causing the wound to become red, hot, swollen, and painful? How is this different than the inflammatory response that might occur in an internal organ?
  2. What are the immunologic events that are happening at the local level during Carlton’s acute inflammatory response?
  3. Nutrition plays an important factor in wound healing. What stages of wound healing would be affected by a deficiency in vitamins A and C?

Disorders of the Immune

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Case Study 3

Disorders of the Immune Response

Ahmed has worked as a phlebotomist in the local hospital for the last 7 years. Last year, he began to complain of watery, nasal congestion and wheezing whenever he went to work. He suspected he was allergic to something at the hospital because his symptoms abated when he was at home over the weekends. One day he arrived at work for the morning shift and put on his gloves. Within minutes, he went into severe respiratory distress requiring treatment in the emergency ward. It was determined at that time his allergic response was due to latex exposure.

  1. Ahmed experienced a type I, IgE-mediated hypersensitivity response. How can this be determined by his signs and symptoms? How might another type of latex hypersensitivity reaction present?
  2. How do T2H cells, mast cells, and eosinophils function to produce the signs and symptoms typical of a type I hypersensitivity disorder?
  3. How is it that someone who does not come into direct contact with latex can still have a hypersensitivity response to the material? What do food allergies have to do with latex allergies?

Innate and Adaptive Immunity

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Case Study 2

Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Melissa is a 15-year-old high school student. Over the last week, she had been feeling tired and found it difficult to stay awake in class. By the time the weekend had arrived, she developed a sore throat that made it difficult to eat and even drink. Melissa was too tired to get out of bed, and she said her head ached. On Monday morning, her mother took her to her doctor. Upon completing the physical exam, he told Melissa the lymph nodes were enlarged in her neck and she had a fever. He ordered blood tests and told Melissa he thought she had mononucleosis, a viral infection requiring much bed rest.

  1. Innate and adaptive immune defenses work collectively in destroying invasive microorganisms. What is the interaction between macrophages and T lymphocytes during the presentation of antigen?
  2. Melissa’s illness is caused by a virus. Where are type I interferons produced, and why are they important in combating viral infections?
  3. Humoral immunity involves the activation of B lymphocytes and production of antibodies. What are the general mechanisms of action that make antibodies a key component of an immune response?

Mechanisms of Infectious Disease

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Case Study 1

Mechanisms of Infectious Disease

Thirty-two–year-old Jason is a general laborer, who fell ill shortly after working on a job digging up old water pipes for the town he lived in. The task involved working around shallow pools of stagnant water. Ten days after the contract ended, Jason developed a fever and aching muscles. He also had nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Jason’s friend took him to his physician who listened carefully to Jason’s history. She told him she suspected West Nile fever and ordered serological testing. Jason went home to recover and was feeling better by the end of the week.

  1. Jason’s physician ordered serological tests. How would antibody titers assist the doctor in confirming his diagnosis?
  2. When Jason was feeling at his worst, he had extreme malaise, vomiting, and diarrhea. What stage of the illness was he experiencing at that time? What are the physiological mechanisms that give rise to the signs and symptoms of infectious illness?
  3. West Nile virus has a single-stranded RNA genome. How does this virus replicate? In general terms, what are the various effects viruses can have on host cells?