Your Friend Joe Recently Visited the Doctor for Steroid Injections

question 51

Multiple Choice

Your friend Joe recently visited the doctor for steroid injections into his knee to reduce swelling due to a previous knee injury.Within a couple of days, he had an infection caused by Pseudomonas, a very pathogenic and drug resistant bacterium.Luckily, Joe went to the doctor immediately and received antibiotics.The doctor tells him that the same problem has occurred to many other people across the United States.Predict the most likely cause of this situation.

• A)The steroid was contaminated at the production plant, so all batches of that drug made at that plant were contaminated with the bacterium.
• B)The bacterium is normally on the skin of people, so can easily access the patient's blood during the needle stick.
• C)The staff giving the steroid injections did not use proper aseptic technique.
• D)The needles were re-used and already contaminated before being used on the patients.

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Definitions:

Leningrad

The former name of Saint Petersburg, a city in Russia, during the Soviet era from 1924 to 1991.

Teratogens

Environmental agents that can cause deviations from normal development and can lead to abnormalities or death.

Prenatal Development

The process of growth and development within the womb, from conception to the birth of a child.

Cleavage

The process of cell division in a developing embryo where a single fertilized cell divides into multiple, smaller cells.