After a chest X-ray and physical examination of Sarah s ear, nose and throat, the physician confirms the diagnosis and prescribes bed rest, aspirin and a nasal decongestant. She has pain on the left side of her chest, is coughing more frequently and her sputum has a yellow color. Her respiratory rate is 32 breaths per minute and her breathing is labored. Her blood pressure is unchanged and does not demonstrate postural changes. Breath sounds indicate inspiratory rales and a chest X-ray indicates a dense infiltrate within the lungs.
Physical examination reveals lymphadenopathy .
The physician suspects pneumonia and orders laboratory tests on Sarah s blood and sputum. The results of the sputum tests indicate the presence of gram positive diplococci and polymorphonucleocytes that are too numerous to count. What concerns the physician, however, are the results of Sarah s blood test. Her blood tests indicate leukopenia , anemia , and thrombocytopenia . In addition, the differential leukocyte count indicates that the concentration of helper T cells has decreased.