Clinical Case Study: 25 Year Old Woman With Spontaneous Defensive Mutations Part 1

Presentation

A 25-year-old woman presented to an emergency room in REDACTED with symptoms of a flu-like infection. She stated she was fatigued and dizzy, with a low-grade fever. In the hours preceding the visit, she started vomiting large amounts of purple/black liquid, which prompted her transfer to the Canadian Exo-scientific Medical Research Lab CEMRL.

Patient History

No prior hospitalizations or surgeries

No chronic medical conditions (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, etc.)

Up to date with annual physical exams and gynecological exams (last pap smear performed: 12 months ago, results were normal)

Known allergy to penicillin (rash and difficulty breathing reported when last taken)

No history of smoking or substance abuse

Positive family history of asthma (father and brother diagnosed)

Immunization History

Up to date with routine vaccinations as per CDC recommendations (e.g. flu shot, HPV, etc.)

Travel History

Recently came back from a trip to Nunavut and became sick shortly after arriving back in REDACTED.

Social History

She is a single woman who works as a Travel Influencer, explaining her trip above.

Differential Diagnosis

No known disease would cause her vomiting symptoms, resolved a few hours after they began.

Examination

Vital signs: T 98.6 F, HR 98 bpm, RR 18 bpm, BP 124/78 mmHg

General: Patient appears uncomfortable but is alert and oriented. She reports feeling very scared and disgusted by her symptoms and the situation. She asks to contact her relatives.

HEENT: Negative for lymphadenopathy.

Lungs: Clear to auscultation bilaterally

Cardiovascular: Regular rate and rhythm. No murmurs, gallops or rubs

Abdomen: Soft, non-tender, non-distended. (+) bowel sounds

Musculoskeletal: No tenderness or deformity

Skin: No rashes or abnormalities

Investigation

The patient was quarantined upon arrival, and much of the first few days of the investigation were spent watching her symptoms progress while monitoring her vitals. In the first three days, the patient gained 13kg of body weight, which was otherwise not visible on her body, did not match her daily caloric intake, and was otherwise a world record weight gain in that duration. She did not vomit again, and her flu-like symptoms slowly improved. Her weight gain stopped after a week, with her total increase in body mass reaching 17kg, with still no visible sign.
After a week, it was decided some scans of her internals were needed despite the risk of contamination in moving her during the quarantine. X-Rays showed nothing to explain her rapid weight gain.
An MRI produced a surprising result. Firstly, as soon as the machine was activated, the patient complained of a strange feeling inside her body, as if pulses were jostling her insides. This feeling stopped when the machine was turned off. The images produced by the machine were unreadable as if they had been scrambled or blocked by some conductive material inside the patient. MRI was unsuccessful, and the patient was moved back to her room.
The next step was to try exploratory surgery.
The patient was sedated through her IV and brought to a quarantined surgery room. Laparoscopic surgery was attempted to see if any changes to her internal organs could explain her weight gain. An incision was attempted between the patient's ribs, but it sealed itself completely with clotted blood and tinges of purple/black liquid upon removal of the scalpal. Another incision was attempted on another pair of ribs, but this time the knife was unable to penetrate the skin. Other incisions were attempted elsewhere with no success. Examination of the attempted incision sites noted that a purplish hue was noticeable underneath the skin, which hadn't been there before. This discolouration went away after a few hours.
The sedation began to wear off, and the onsite anesthesiologist attempted to increase the dosage and keep the patient under. Still, with every minute, higher doses were needed to keep the patient unconscious. In an attempt to rapidly increase sedation so the patient could be brought back to the clean room, a spinal injection was attempted, but the needle could not penetrate the skin. Furthermore, the IV in the patient's arm fell out, and a dribble of purplish-black liquid was seen clotting the needle's puncture site.
The patient woke up and was brought back to the clean room as she awoke, scared and disoriented. All personnel involved reported immediately for maximum disinfection procedures, and no symptoms have been detected.

Current Status

The investigation is ongoing; the patient's body seems to be rejecting all safe forms of medical examination. No medical tool can penetrate her skin, and no imaging device can see through it, and she has developed a rapid resistance to sedatives. She has also become hostile to lab personnel. We are waiting for instructions from the ethics board and the research board on what further examination course to proceed with.
To be continued in Part 2

Type

Report, Scientific

Medium

Digital Recording, Text

Authors

• Dr. Sarah Pynck

Signatories (Organizations)

• Canadian Exo-scientific Medical Research Lab CEMRL