Case 6-1963

Presentation of CaseA forty-two-year-old man was referred to the hospital for evaluation of weakness and recurrent pulmonary infections.The patient had had severe pneumonia eight times during the previous twenty-eight years, including three episodes necessitating hospital admission during the year before entry. Each infection was characterized by the sudden onset of fever with the temperature as high as 103°F., shaking chills, nausea, anorexia and subcostal chest pain. A persistent chronic cough had been present for fifteen years, yielding approximately a half cup of yellow-green sputum daily with occasional blood streaking. Studies for acid-fast organisms had been negative.He had . . .