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Common Mistakes (Case Study)

Name: Emma Taylor

Age: 15 years old

Race: German on Father’s side and Japanese on Mother’s side

Gender: Female

Occupation: Hunter

               

            Emma Taylor is a half German and half Japanese, 15 years old girl. She is the only daughter of the Taylor family and youngest of three children. One day after attending her usual archery classes she was informed that her parents had allowed her to go on her very first hunting trip with her brothers, Tim and Aaron. The Taylor family is known in their hometown of Esquire for being the best hunters in town. Many of their prizes come from over populated deer, rabbits, and other animals. Emma is a very obedient but an easily frightened child. Many of her peers wonder what got her into the hunting lifestyle. Although she is the daughter of a hunting family, she still hasn’t gone on a hunting trip. The reason for that is because her parents didn’t allow her to go out into an actual hunting ground until she was a certain age.

In the grounds Emma followed precautions that she usually would have to do if she was in a training room. She put on a camouflage jacket and slipped on a pair of the matching pants to cover her jeans so they wouldn’t get so dirty. Her two brothers handed her a bow and arrow while they equipped themselves with Model SP-10 Magnum Camos to also match their camouflage. Tim and Aaron both wore gloves to fight of the cold winter breeze but Emma was left wearing fingerless gloves because they helped her grip the strings of the bow. All of them remained quiet and slowly walked along the foot trails until they found a bunch of rabbits huddled together like sitting ducks. Tim motioned Emma to aim for them as her first kill and the boys positioned themselves so that they could attack when necessary. Emma slowly walked over to the closest tree to the rabbits and took out an arrow from her back sack as she got into her own position. She prepared to let go of the string when she heard footsteps ruining her concentration and allowing her to accidentally shoot her arrow because she was startled by the noise. The arrow went off hitting one of the rabbits in the leg. As the rest of them tried to fend for themselves and run away, Tim and Aaron fired their guns killing the ones nearest to the injured rabbit. Startled to go for another round she decided to put away her bow and ask her brothers to finish off the job. Both boys enjoyed the offer but only Tim went off to finish the rabbit while Aaron helped Emma settle down. Tim picked up the dead rabbit and yelled for Emma asking her if she would like to hold her prize. As strange as that may sound, she agreed wanting to know how it felt like to have her first kill or injury. Her bare fingers held the rabbit, petting it as if it were still alive, and she turn it over looking for the marks of her arrow and Tim’s bullet.

A few days after that trip she lived her life normally but wasn’t allowed to go on anymore hunting trips after her parents learned that she freaked out at the sound of footsteps. She didn’t mind as much though because she was partially satisfied with her dead rabbit of whom she buried herself and playfully made a funeral for. Unfortunately her normalness ended there as she started to get rashes on her hand and it slowly grew to her arms causing her to scratch them irritatingly. Her teachers advised her to stay at home and not come back until she felt better but at that time she had already gotten a headache along with back pain and weakness throughout her whole body. Emma was in no mood to be questioned on how she became that way so after school she found her way to her room and stayed there for hours not coming out except for the use of the bathroom. In the restroom she stared at the mirror touching the red patches on her face and feeling around for a temperature change. She realized that she now had a fever on top of the itching, pains, aches, and overall weak feeling in her body. Emma’s parents Larry and Mia were very busy and were always out so she went over to her oldest brother Tim and told him to take her to the hospital. Tim observed her face and noticed she was squeezing her arm. He agreed without asking why and drove the both of them to the nearest hospital and straight to the ER area. During the car ride over she had remained silent and didn’t complain about her pain. It seemed as if the weak feeling in her body was sucking the life out of her. Either that or she just wanted to get to the hospital without distraction.

Emma was later admitted into a room and left alone while she waited for a doctor. She felt really hot so changing into a hospital gown relieved her body from the heat. A doctor stepped in and noticed that she was extremely pale. He introduced himself to her as Dr. Styles.  Dr. Styles began regular procedures and asked her what was wrong with her. Emma replied saying that she has a fever, a terrible rash, aches, pains, and feels very weak over all. Dr. Styles put on disposable gloves and first looked at the areas in which she had rashes in. Her arms were covered in red blotches almost forming into one because of the constant scratching and a mixture of dry skin from the cold weather. He then went on to a regular check up getting her temperature, measuring her heartbeat, making sure her breathing was okay, and so on. During the check up he resumed with the questioning starting with how long she’s been feeling this way. She told him for a few days and then was encountered with the next question of what she was doing a week before. Her response was a hunting trip outside with her brothers. Dr. Styles looked as her with confused eyes and continued with saying her last name was Taylor and that she was a child from the Taylor family. Styles then began to understand it all and considered that it may be rabies since is aware that many hunters either do not use gloves or do not clean their gloves after handling a dead animal.

Emma was sent to a different room where she was checked for other illnesses with similar symptoms and then was given tests in order to figure out what exactly she had contracted. After long hours of searching and leaving her family on the edge of their toes, the doctors had come up with a conclusion that it may be a case of Tularemia after getting more information on the type of animals they were hunting a week ago. Dr. Styles came back to work with her and had given her a Streptomycin shot in muscle followed by a Gentamicin treatment later on. She was advised to stay at the hospital so that they could keep a good watch on her and make sure that she didn’t react strangely to the medicine.

The rest of the Taylors were relieved after hearing that their little girl was on the road to recovery but they were worried about getting the same disease themselves until Dr. Styles informed them that the illness was not transmitted from human-to-human. Now they were allowed to see her and converse with her, which probably brought her spirits up after feeling so out of it. Thankfully Emma was released from the hospital but was constantly reminded by the doctors that she they use disposable gloves after handling a dead animal that way they could not endanger themselves into getting the same sickness. Delighted with a new idea she decided to go up to the private hunting ground’s main cabin, a few days later, and talk to the director, who was happy to talk to a member of the very famous Taylor family. He listened as she told her story about the illness that was caused by a common mistake and got his permission to promote that all hunters use disposable gloves when handling their prizes in hopes that no one will make the same mistakes that she did.

Poor Bunnies! (Tularemia)

Tularemia

• Caused by a bacterium called Francisella Tularensis
• Once used for bioterrorism bomb tactics 
• Found in rabbits, other small animals, and blood sucking insects
• Transmitted from insect-to-animal, insect-to-human, animal-to-human, intake of contaminated food, water or directly from the bacteria
• Not transmitted from human-to-human
• Mistaken to be other diseases because of its similar symptoms
• Vaccine is not Available in the United States
• Documented to have occured in the North America, Europe, and Asia 

Symptom include:

Fever Rashes Enlarged Lymph Nodes Chills Weakness Swelling Bumps Ulcers Headaches Joint Pain Dry Cough Chest Pain Difficulty Breathing Similar illnesses: Meningitis Pneumonia Bone Infection Sac around Heart Infection Treatment: Streptomycin shot Gentamicin shot Teracycline oral treatment Chloramphenicol shot (not for children) Prevention: Use insect repellants with 20% or 30% of DEET When outdoors in forests or wooded areas, wear long pants, sleeved shirts, and socks Remove ticks with tweezers Don't drink untreated surface water Center for Disease Control and Prevention & World Health Organization:  Continuing to research on the epidemiology and natural ecology of Tularemia Developed improved diagnostic tests for Tularemia Created a bioterrorism preparedness plan to stockpile antibiotics