ANAEMIA
Definition. Reduction of the hemoglobin level below the normal for the age and sex of the patient

Classification
1. Blood loss anaemia:
- Acute.
- Chronic (results in iron deficiency).

2. Deficiency anaemia:

- Iron deficiency.
- Megaloblastic anaemia-BI2 and Folic acid deficiency.
- Protein deficiency.
- Scurvy-Vitamin C deficiency.

3. Marrow dysfunction:
- Aplastic anaemia.
- Marrow infiltration.
- Liver failure.
- Renal failure.
- Collagen diseases.

4 Increased destruction (Heamolysis)
- Due to corpuscular defects.
- Due to extra corpuscular defects
 

Lymphopenia:
Causes

-As part of pancytopenia.
-Steroid administration.

Blastomycosis (North American Blastomycosis; Gilchrist's Disease)

A disease caused by inhalation of mold conidia (spores) of Blastomyces dermatitidis, which convert to yeasts and invade the lungs, occasionally spreading hematogenously to the skin or focal sites in other tissues.

Pulmonary blastomycosis tends to occur as individual cases of progressive infection

Symptoms are nonspecific and may include a productive or dry hacking cough, chest pain, dyspnea, fever, chills, and drenching sweats. Pleural effusion occurs occasionally. Some patients have rapidly progressive infections, and adult respiratory distress syndrome may develop.

 LUNG ABSCESS  Lung abscess is a localised area of necrosis of lung tissue with suppuration.

 It is of 2 types:

 - Primary lung abscess that develops in an otherwise normal lung. The commonest cause is aspiration of infected material.

 - Secondary lung abscess that develops as a complication of some other disease of the lung or from another site

ETIOPATHOGENESIS.

 The microorganisms commonly isolated from the lungs in lung abscess are streptococci, staphylococci and various gram-negative organisms. These are introduced into the lungs from one of the following mechanisms:

 1.   Aspiration of infected foreign material.

 2. Preceding bacterial infection.

 3.  Bronchial obstruction.

 4. Septic embolism.

 5. Miscellaneous (i) Infection in pulmonary infarcts, (ii) Amoebic abscesses, (iii) Trauma to the lungs. (iv) Direct extension from a suppurative focus.

Abscesses may be of variable size from a few millimeters to large cavities, 5 to 6 cm in diameter. The cavity often contains exudate. An acute lung abscess is initially surrounded by acute pneumonia and has poorly-defined ragged wall. With passage of time, the abscess becomes chronic and develops fibrous wall.

Microscopic Examination

The characteristic feature is the destruction of lung parenchyma with suppurative exudate in the lung cavity. The cavity is initially surrounded by acute inflammation in the wall but later there is replacement by exudate of lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophages. In more chronic cases, there is considerable fibroblastic proliferation forming a fibrocollagenic wall.

Chemical Mediators In Inflammation

Can be classified as :

A. Neurogenic

Also called the Triple Response of Lewis. It involves neurogenic vasodilatation of arterioles due to antidromic axon reflex arc. The constituents of the response are:

1. arteriolar vasoconstriction followed by

2. arteriolar vasodilatation

3. swelling

B. Chemical

1. Amines: Histamine and 5 hydroxytryptamine. Released  from platelets and mast cells.

Actions: Immediate and short lived.

Dilatation of arterioles.

Increased capillary premeability.

Kinins: Bradykinin and kallidin These are present in inactive from and are  activated by kinin forming proteases

Actions:

Arteriolar dilatation.

Increased vascular permeability

Pain

Kinin forming proteases Plasmin and Kallikrein. Present as inactive precursors.

Cleavage products of complement C₃a und C₅a are called anaphylatoxins

Actions:

Histamine release from mast cells

Chemotaxis (also C₅₆₇ )

Enhance phagocytosis.

 Polymorph components

Cationic: proteins which cause

Increased permeability

Histamine release.

Chemotaxis of monocytes

Neutral proteases which:

Cleave C3 and C5 to active form

Convert Kininogen to Kinin

Increase permeability.

Acid proteases which liberate leucokinins

Slow reacting. substance of anaphylaxis: (SRS-A) is a lipid released from mast cell.

Action --Increases vascular permeability

Prostaglandins: E1 + E2 _.

Platelets are rich source

Action:

Platelets are a rich source.

Vasodilatation.

Increased permeability.

Pain.

VIII. Miscellaneous: like

Tissue lactic acid.

 Bacterial toxins.

Systemic Candidiasis (Candidosis; Moniliasis)

Invasive infections caused by Candida sp, most often C. albicans, manifested by fungemia, endocarditis, meningitis, and/or focal lesions in liver, spleen, kidneys, bone, skin, and subcutaneous or other tissues.

Infections due to Candida sp account for about 80% of all major systemic fungal infections.

Symptoms and Signs

Esophagitis is most often manifested by dysphagia. Symptoms of respiratory tract infections are nonspecific, such as cough. Vaginal infections cause itching, burning, and discharge. Candidemia usually causes fever, but other symptoms are typically nonspecific. Sometimes, a syndrome develops resembling bacterial sepsis, with a fulminating course that may include shock, oliguria, renal shutdown, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Hematogenous endophthalmitis starts as white retinal plaques that can cause blindness as destructive inflammation progresses, extending to opacify the vitreous and causing potentially irreversible scarring. Most often, there are no symptoms in early stages of Candida endophthalmitis. If treatment is not begun before symptoms appear, significant or even total loss of vision is likely to occur in the affected eye. In neutropenic patients, eye involvement is more often manifested by retinal hemorrhages; papulonodular, erythematous, and vasculitic skin lesions may also develop.