Anaerobic Bacteria Flashcards
Which bacteria are anaerobic gram positive bacilli
Actinomyces israelii, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Eubacterium, Lactobacillus, Mobiluncus, and Propionibacterium
Which bacteria are anaerobic gram positive cocci
Peptococcus niger and Peptostreptococcus
Which bacteria are anaerobic gram negative rods
Bacteroides, Bilophila, Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, Prevotella
Which bacteria are anaerobic gram negative cocci
Veillonella
What are the different types of anaerobic bacteria?
- Facultative anaerobes: can grow aerobically and anaerobically
- Obligate anaerobe: require anaerobic conditions to grow
- Strict obligate anaerobe: cannot tolerate more than 0.5% oxygen
- Moderate obligate anaerobe: can tolerate 2-8% oxygen
- Aerotolerant anaerobes: grows poorly in ambient air (21% oxygen)
General body sites for anaerobic bacteria
Mucosal surfaces in GI tract, genitourinary tract, oral cavity, and upper respiratory tract; anaerobic bacteria can live in sites because facultatively anaerobic organisms use oxygen and outnumber these organisms
Exogenous vs endogenous diseases
Exogenous: from organisms, toxins, or spores from outside of the body, leading to disease; Ex: tetanus or botulism
Endogenous: caused by the host’s normal flora when someone is immunosuppressed, trauma, or malignancy
What are the most common anaerobic bacteria causing infections
Bacteroides fragilis group, pigmented Prevotella spp., Porphyromonas spp., Fusobacterium nucleatum, Clostridium perfringens, and anaerobic cocci
Which specimen are acceptable for anaerobic cultures?
Abscess aspirates, tissue/biopsy, suprapubic aspirate urine, blood/body fluids, protected brush bronchoscopy specimen, and anaerobic swabs (least desirable)
Which specimen are unacceptable for anaerobic cultures?
Material from superficial skin sites, voided or catheterized urine, expectorated sputum, throat/ nasopharyngeal swabs, bronchial washings, genital swabs, rectal swabs, and stool (unless it is for C. diff)
Anaerobic blood agar
nonselective media for growth of obligate and facultative anaerobic bacteria; Ex: CDC BAP, Brucella blood agar, enriched-brain-heart infusion blood agar, and Schaedler blood agar
Anaerobic phenylethyl alcohol blood agar (PEA)
inhibits facultative GNRs and supports growth of facultative GP and anaerobic bacteria
Bacteroides bile-esculin agar (BBE)
selective and differential agar that is used to isolate and identify Bacteroides fragilis group; it contains gentamicin (inhibits facultative organisms), bile (inhibits other anaerobes), and esculin (to identification of this group b/c it hydrolyzes esculin)
Cycloserine-cefoxitin-fructose agar (CCFA)
selective and differential agar for the isolation of Clostridium difficile; Cycloserine and cefoxitin are used to inhibit other organisms and C. difficile metabolizes proteins in the agar resulting is yellow colonies (agar is naturally pink)
Kanamycin-Vancomycin laked blood (KVLB) agar
selects for Bacteroides and Prevotella spp.; Kanamycin inhibits facultative GNRs and vancomycin inhibits GP; laked blood (hemolyzed blood) allows for certain Prevotella spp. to produce a brown/black pigment
Paromomycin-vancomycin laked blood (PVLB) agar
similar to KVLB except it has paromomycin instead of kanamycin; paromomycin will inhibit GNRs that are resistant to kanamycin
Thioglycollate broth (THIO)
nonselective where anaerobic bacteria grow towards the bottom of the broth and aerobic bacteria grow towards the top
What are the incubation requirements for anaerobic bacteria?
Anaerobic environment: 80-90% Nitrogen gas, 5-10% hydrogen gas, and 5-10% CO2; hydrogen gas removed oxygen by forming water with it and CO2 helps capnophiles grow
Grow at 35-37C
Clostridium spp. characteristics
obligate anaerobic GPR, spore-forming, and mostly catalase negative
C. perfringens diseases
most frequently isolated species; can cause bacteremia, food poisoning, cellulitis, female genital tract infections, and myonecrosis (gas gangrene)