Chapter 21, Problem 2CCS

Nightmare on the Island

Peggy loves her time on The Island each year. Her parents had taken her every year to the resort destination as a girl, and now she is doing the same with her children. Their seaside home near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is modest in comparison to some of the neighbors’, but it has been in Peggy’s family for over a hundred years, and she has fond memories from every stage of her life. One of Peggy’s fondest memories is playing tag with her friends on the lawns of The Island’s homes. Now, she smiles as she watches her eight-year-old son, Jacob, help the older son of one of her childhood girlfriends mow the grassy expanse. “Building memories- that’s what it’s about ,” she muses. Little does she know that some memories can build nightmares.

Three days later Jacob wakes up complaining of a scratchy throat, headache, and “soreness all over.” Peggy is concerned about his dry cough and 103°F temperature. “A summer cold?” she wonders. She keeps Jacob in bed, which isn't difficult because his breathing becomes more labored and painful. Two days later he begins coughing up blood, and Peggy recognizes that this isn’t an ordinary summertime cold.

She rushes Jacob to the local clinic, where the doctor orders immediate intravenous streptomycin and transport to a hospital on the mainland. The physician tells Peggy that Jacob is likely infected with the most virulent bacterium known. He questions her about Jacob’s activities on the island: Has the boy touched any animals? Done any outdoor activities? Been bitten by a tick? “No, no, no.” Then she recalls that Jacob helped mow the grass earlier in the week.

Within days, Jacob feels better and can answer questions. He tells the doctor that the lawnmower had run over the dried body of a small dead rabbit. The physician suspects the mower had spewed bacteria into the air; Jacob had inhaled a near-fatal dose.

The grassy lawn will no longer recall the fond memories of Peggy’s childhood; instead, she will remember men in biohazard suits taking samples, documenting the nightmarish time she almost lost her son.

1. 1. What bacterium infected Jacob?
2. 2. What is a common name of the disease afflicting Jacob?
3. 3. What do the laboratory scientists at the hospital determine about the Gram reaction of the bacterium?
4. 4. Why didn’t the physician use penicillin instead of streptomycin?