Tularemia Presenting as Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Abstract

A case of pleuropulmonary tularemia was diagnosed by sputum culture and serologic studies in a patient who did not have classic epidemiological risks for tularemia. The patient had atypical pneumonia when initially seen and his condition slowly improved with antibiotic therapy that included erythromycin lactobionate. The diagnosis of tularemia was delayed because the gram-negative rod isolated from the patient's sputum was initially not speciated in an effort to reduce laboratory costs.

Changing the Focus of Infectious Diseases to Pathogen‐Specific Therapy

“…with the performance of a minimum number of blood cultures, Overall, prophylaxis with fluoroquinolones has, until now, led and pneumonia is treated without a single sputum culture [2]; to a decrease in the occurrence of gram-negative infections. Thus, sepsis is treated with empirical broad-spectrum agents that are we entirely agree with the concern expressed by Murphy and coloften continued even after a specific diagnosis is made for reasons leagues regarding the appearance of many reports of bacteremia of convenience and simplicity, not to mention the ease of once-adue to fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli among patients day dosing at home.…”