If the patient experienced a traumatic extremity injury that was exposed to one of these water sources, Aeromonas is a likely culprit. Members of this genus have been isolated from just about every type of water source including fresh water, brackish water, drinking water and polluted water. When a patient presents with a wound infection after any sort of fresh water exposure, one pathogen should come to the front of a microbiologist's mind: Aeromonas. Patient History Example: A teenage patient presents with a necrotic leg wound after a jet-skiing accident in a lake. Patients With a History of Fresh Water Exposure It is the clinician's job to produce a differential diagnosis, and the microbiologist's job to identify the suspected pathogen and its antibiotic susceptibility profile using diagnostic methods and existing knowledge of the pathogen and its respective characteristics.Medical laboratory professionals provide up to 70% of al laboratory medicine data for a physician / clinician to make an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. In fact, obtaining a patient history is so important, it may be possible for a microbiologist to identify the cause of an infection based on the patient history and only a few simple microbiological tests. Why? The patient history provides an idea of which pathogen may cause infection and allows the microbiologist to optimize culture and identification methods, as well as interpret results from more advanced tests like MALDI-TOF MS and PCR. While new testing methodologies may provide an answer faster, the clinician and clinical microbiologist must also have a strong understanding of which pathogen to expect based on the patient history. While these technological developments are crucial to providing excellent patient care, they are quickly replacing traditional microbiological methods that may still be useful, easy to perform and cost effective. Advancements in technology like mass spectrometry, PCR and whole genome sequencing have given clinical microbiologists the power to identify organisms more efficiently and with better accuracy.
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