A 54-year-old man had recently traveled to his hometown in sub-Saharan Africa. Upon returning, he was suffering from cough and shortness of breath for 3-4 weeks. He then presented to the ED with additional complaints of fever, night sweat, loss of appetite and weight loss. Furthermore, the patient reported having a productive cough with grey sputum and small blood clots in some instances. On examination, the patient appeared cachectic.
He had a low-grade fever of 37.4°C. The upper zone of his chest exhibited a few scattered crackles. A chest X-ray revealed a large cavity in the right upper zone along with opacification in the left apical zone (refer to the above figure). Laboratory examination White blood cells: 13.4 X 109/L Hemoglobin: 14.8 g/dL Platelets: 260 X 109/L Sodium: 134 mmol/L Potassium: 3.7 mmol/L Creatinine: 87 µmol/L C-reactive protein: 38 mg/L Source: 100 Cases in Acute…
