B1. Gram positives Flashcards
What is the gross appearance of the colonies for staph aureus?
Grape-like clusters
Golden yellow colonies
How do you tell apart staph and strep?
staph are all catalase positive
catalase is enzyme that converts H2O2 to water
How do you tell staph aureus apart from the other staphs?
S. aureus is coagulase positive, all other Staphs are coagulase negative
Coagulase is enzyme that converts fibrinogen to fibrin
What are the five characteristics on a petri-dish that you would see with staph a?
- Gram positive (violet)
- Catalase positive (tells you its staph)
- Coagulase positive (tells you its staph a)
- Beta-hemolytic (hemolysis of blood)
- Ferments mannitol (agar turns yellow)
What is the main virulence factor for staph a?
Protein A
is a component of the cell wall that binds the Fc portion of antibodies, preventing opsonization
What are the nine diseases caused by staph a?
Pneumonia Septic arthritis Skin infections - abscesses Acute bacterial endocarditis Osteomyelitis Scalded-skin syndrome Toxin shock syndrome Staph food poisoning MRSA
What is the appearance on x-ray film of a staph aureus infections?
patchy infiltrate
What is the most common cause of septic arthritis?
Staph aureus
Where does staph aureus like to colonize?
nares
What is the most common cause of osteomyelitis in adults?
staph aureus
What are the toxin-mediated diseases caused by staph aureus?
Scalded-skin syndrome (expholiative toxin)
Toxin shock syndrome (leaving in a foreign body too long, TSS is a superantigen causing overactivation and cytokine storm)
Food poisoning - pre-formed toxin causes acute vomitting due to meats and mayo
What is altered in MRSA?
penicillin binding proteins that are part of cell walls
How do you tx MRSA?
Methicillin-sensitive staph?
MRSA: Vancomycin
Methicillin-sensitive is treated by nafcilin (Naf for Staf)
What is the most common cause of endocarditis of artificial heart valves?
Staph epidermis
How do you treat a staph epidermidis ifx?
vancomycin
What organism is usually linked to infections that arise from prosthetic joints, indwelling catheters
staph epidermidis
Why doe staph epidermidis cause blood culture contamination so much?
Because it’s part of the normal skin flora, so it’s easy for it to contaminate samples (e.g. drawing blood through needle)
How do you tell the difference between staph aureus and staph epidermidis/saprophyticus
Staph aureus is coagulase positive
Staph epidermidis/saprophyticus is coagulase negative
How do you tell the difference between staph epidermidis and saprophyticus
Novobiocin sensitivity
Novobiocin sensitive = S. epidermidis
Novobiocin resistant = S. saprophyticus
Which staph bacteria produces biofilms?
S. epidermidis
What is a common cause of UTIs in sexually active female?
S. saprophyticus
Relate the following characteristics for staph saprophyticus: coagulase, catalse, urease
Catalse + (so it’s staph)
Coagulase - (so it’s not staph a)
Urease + (so it’s s. saprophyticus)
What does urease do?
converts urea to ammonia