Problem:
Is there any reason to believe that an infection caused this patient's relapse of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? No, there's no strong evidence of infection. The patient's sputum is clear, and he doesn't have a fever, chills, or night sweats. His WBC count is normal, suggesting no systemic infection. While infections are common COPD exacerbation triggers, they're not the only cause. Air pollution, smoking, nonadherence to therapy, and disease progression can also cause exacerbations. GOLD (2023) notes that "not all exacerbations are due to infection; environmental factors and the natural course of disease also play a role" (p. 72). Given the patient's advanced COPD, heavy smoking history, and hypoxemia despite oxygen therapy, this episode is most likely an acute exacerbation of chronic COPD (sometimes called "acute on chronic respiratory failure") rather than an infectious process. Wedzicha and Seemungal (2020) emphasize that "exacerbations are heterogeneous events, and not all are related to infection" (p. 161). Need Assignment Help?