Pneumonia is a severe acute inflammation of the lower respiratory tract due to infectious pathogens. Pathogens responsible include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Pneumonia categorizations include community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), hospital-acquired pneumonia, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. It is the single most common cause of infection-related mortality in the United States. Among the typical bacterial CAP causes, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is responsible for less than 5% of all cases. Among the S. aureus, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) is slightly more common than the methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). CAP caused by S. aureus is associated with worse clinical outcomes compared to streptococcal pneumoniae. Although S. aureus CAP occurs throughout the year, it is less common except during the influenza season when there is a spike. Multiple studies have stratified risk factors for MRSA infection. MSSA pneumonia in immunocompetent young patients is uncommon due to healthy host defense mechanisms. However, certain individual risk factors promote infection, such as intravenous drug abuse. Recent multiple research studies implicate increased virulence of S. aureus in colonized patients after exposure to electronic cigarette vapor exposure (ECVE), resulting in pneumonia. A PubMed search revealed no MSSA community-acquired bacterial pneumonia due to ECVE. We report a 38-year-old female who developed acute MSSA pneumonia, which was complicated by left empyema due to ECVE from JUUL device with third-party compatible cannabidiol pods. The patient completed treatment successfully with a chest tube placement followed by fibrinolysis and intravenous antibiotics.
Herpes simplex virus (HSV), a human alpha herpes virus, is responsible for most infections caused by herpes viruses worldwide. Among the herpes simplex viruses, both HSV 1 and 2 cause significant morbidity. HSV-2 accounts for most genital infections with extragenital complications involving the groin, thigh, or other pelvic areas. HSV-2 is the leading viral cause of sexually transmitted diseases. Viral dissemination via the blood or the cutaneous route during primary infection can affect joints, liver, lungs, spinal cord, and brain. HSV-2, by nature of its higher reactivation frequency, leads to clinical reactivation or subclinical shedding, resulting in increased transmission risk during unprotected sexual encounters. HSV-2 reactivation can result in lesions involving the fingers, skin, eyes, brain, and visceral organs such as the esophagus, lung, and liver. Ocular involvement results in keratitis, blepharitis, conjunctivitis, and rarely necrotizing retinitis. Oculomotor cranial nerve involvement by HSV is a rare entity even in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Clinical features associated with reactivation are seen in primary infections, especially in children and adolescents. A medical literature search resulted in a few cases caused by a varicella-zoster virus but none by HSV. Here we describe a young female with a newly diagnosed meningoencephalitis and abducens nerve palsy (first case) due to a primary HSV infection. She came to the emergency department with headache, confusion, abnormal behavior and later developed diplopia as an inpatient. She was treated successfully with two weeks of acyclovir.
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