A 53-year-old woman comes to the physician in February because of a 1-day history of fever, chills, headache, and dry cough. She also reports malaise and generalized muscle aches. She works as a teacher at a local high school, where there was recently an outbreak of influenza. She has a history of intermittent asthma, for which she takes albuterol as needed. She declined the influenza vaccine offered in the fall because her sister told her that a friend developed a flulike illness after receiving the vaccine. She is worried about possibly becoming ill and cannot afford to miss work. Her temperature is 38.5°C (101.3°F), pulse is 58/min, and respirations are 12/min. Physical examination shows watery nasal discharge, pharyngeal erythema, and clear lungs on auscultation. Droplet precautions are immediately instituted to prevent spread of the infection. Hand hygiene with an alcohol-based disinfectant following patient contact is also initiated. This patient's infecting pathogen is likely susceptible to the disinfectant due to the presence of which of the following characteristics?

Question

A 53-year-old woman comes to the physician in February because of a 1-day history of fever, chills, headache, and dry cough. She also reports malaise and generalized muscle aches. She works as a teacher at a local high school, where there was recently an outbreak of influenza. She has a history of intermittent asthma, for which she takes albuterol as needed. She declined the influenza vaccine offered in the fall because her sister told her that a friend developed a flulike illness after receiving the vaccine. She is worried about possibly becoming ill and cannot afford to miss work. Her temperature is 38.5°C (101.3°F), pulse is 58/min, and respirations are 12/min.   Physical examination shows watery nasal discharge, pharyngeal erythema, and clear lungs on auscultation.  Droplet precautions are immediately instituted to prevent spread of the infection.  Hand hygiene with an alcohol-based disinfectant following patient contact is also initiated.  This patient's infecting pathogen is likely susceptible to the disinfectant due to the presence of which of the following characteristics?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Alcohol-based disinfectants kill enveloped viruses (eg, influenza) by dissolving their outer lipid envelope.  Nonenveloped viruses are less susceptible to some alcohol-based disinfectants because they have no lipid envelope to target.

A 53-Year-Old Woman Comes to the Physician in February Because