Synapse10

Paramedic

Objective:

Identify the pathological entity being referred to in each case and find the word that links all four cases.

For example, the answer to the last Synaptic Connections Game was “Milk”

Setting:

Emergency Room in Colorado, USA

Case A: An MIT student and camping aficionado returns home for summer. She presents with drooling, difficulty enunciating consonants, difficulty swallowing. On more thorough investigation, deficits are identified reflecting the glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, and hypoglossal nerves.

Case B: An aid worker volunteering in rural Africa returned home after she took ill. Now she presents with vermiform structures in her eyelids.

Case C: A 26-year-old Navajo man who works for a critter cleanup service (such as bat guano cleanup) initially presented with fever, myalgias, and GI symptoms. He later deteriorated into life-threatening pulmonary edema. The nameless virus was identified.

Case D: A park ranger presents with fuzzy thinking and expresses concern about exposure to proteinaceous infectious particles.

All cases hypothetical. This is a game. No actual patients.

Trending Cases:

1. A 52-year-old man presented with a 20-minute history of chest pain radiating to the left shoulder and neck, associated with dyspnea and diaphoresis.

2. A 28-year-old woman presented with a 3-day history of intense pruritus over the lower back. She reported no recent travel or exposure to new environments.

3. A 4-month-old male infant presented with skin lesions localized to the chin for the past 3 days.

4. Patient in late teens presenting after a collapse, no chest pain, no previous cardiac history, no history of sudden death in family.