Case study
An 85-year-old woman with a history of COPD associated with past
smoking complained of fatigue along with increased shortness of breath
and white-grey sputum. She had no fever or chest pain. When she arrived
at the hospital, she had low blood pressure, low blood oxygen levels, an
elevated white blood cell count, and a new shadow on the chest x-ray
image of her right lung, which confirmed the diagnosis of pneumonia. She
was admitted to the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of communityacquired
pneumonia and possible sepsis. (Sepsis is the term used to
indicate that the infection has spread throughout the body via the
bloodstream.) She was treated with intravenous antibiotics, fluids, blood
pressure support medications, and oxygen via a face mask. She improved,
but because of a persistent high oxygen requirement, she underwent a
computed tomography (CT) scan that revealed a large fluid collection
around her right lung. Two needle drainage procedures of this fluid
ultimately resulted in improvement in her shortness of breath and her
oxygen requirement. She returned home after two weeks in the hospital.
No bacteria were ever identified in cultures of her sputum, blood, or fluid
around the lung