BCHM 658 Lecture 7: Ph1BiochemTut07-DNARNAProteinsynthesisAnswers2-211211
Document Summary
An eleven-year-old girl was admitted to hospital in a critical state. She had been in perfect health until four days prior to the admission, when fever, abdominal pain, prostration and a mild sore throat had suddenly developed. On the morning of admission, the child was having difficulty breathing, and a temperature of 38. 9 c (102 f). The tonsils were enlarged bilaterally and covered with a dirty-greyish green membrane that extended over the entire posterior pharynx, and there was a fetid odour to her breath. Routine laboratory studies of blood and urine were normal. An electrocardiogram showed abnormality of the cardiac conducting system and diptheria was therefore suspected. The patient was given 40,000 units of equine diptheria antitoxin intravenously, and treated with an antibiotic (erythromycin). The pharyngeal membrane regressed over the next five days, and the patient was kept in bed for 14 days, by which time the ecg was normal. The antibiotic erythromycin interferes with the process of protein synthesis.
