A nurse in the infectious disease division of the local health department is caring for a client. Which of the following infections should the nurse identify should be reported to the health department?

• Temperature: A temperature of 37.4°C is within normal limits and does not specifically support any of the three conditions. While low-grade fever may be seen in appendicitis or Crohn’s flares, the absence of fever at this time limits its diagnostic value in this case.
• Vomiting: Vomiting in intussusception is common and often non-bilious in early stages, aligning with the child's light-colored emesis. Vomiting also occurs in appendicitis, especially in the early stages. However, it is not a prominent or early symptom of Crohn’s disease unless obstruction is present.
• Pain rating: Severe, intermittent abdominal pain where the child draws their knees to the chest and then returns to normal behavior is a classic symptom of intussusception. Neither Crohn’s disease nor appendicitis typically presents with this pattern, appendicitis pain is usually constant and worsening, while Crohn’s pain is chronic and non-episodic.
• Abdominal findings: A distended abdomen with hypoactive bowel sounds and a palpable sausage-shaped mass in the right upper quadrant is highly indicative of intussusception. These findings are not characteristic of appendicitis, which usually involves RLQ pain, or Crohn’s, which rarely presents with a discrete palpable mass.
• Stool: The presence of blood and mucus in the stool ("currant jelly stool") is strongly associated with intussusception and may also occur in Crohn’s disease during flares due to colonic inflammation. Appendicitis does not typically cause bloody or mucoid stools, making this finding inconsistent with that diagnosis.

Rationale:

A. Clamp the catheter distal to the injection port: Clamping the catheter allows urine to accumulate in the tubing, ensuring a fresh specimen can be obtained from the sampling port rather than from stagnant urine in the drainage bag, which could be contaminated.

B. Drain the specimen from the drainage bag: Urine in the drainage bag may be old and contaminated, which can lead to inaccurate culture results. Specimens should be collected aseptically from the catheter sampling port.

C. Collect 2 mL of urine for each specimen: For accurate urinalysis and culture, a larger volume typically 3–10 mL for culture and 10–15 mL for routine urinalysis is recommended to ensure enough specimen for testing and repeat analysis if needed.

D. Obtain the urinalysis specimen before the culture specimen: Culture specimens should be collected first to prevent contamination. Performing urinalysis first can alter the bacterial composition of the sample and compromise culture accuracy.