bacteria as causes of disease Flashcards
what is a pathogen?
organism that cause or is capable of causing disease
what is a commensal?
organism which colonises the host but causes no disease in normal circumstances
what is an opportunistic pathogen?
microbe that only causes disease if host defences are compromised
What is virulence/pathogenicity?
the degree to which a given organism is pathogenic
which is asymptomatic carriage?
when a pathogen is carried harmlessly at a tissue site where it causes no disease
What colour do gram negative bacteria turn on staining?
pink
What stain is used for TB?
Ziehl-Neelsen stain
What makes up the majority of the cell envelope of gram positive bacteria?
peptidoglycan
What is the substance that is specific to gram negative cell envelopes?
lipopolysaccharide
What is lipopolysaccharide made up of?
lipid A
O antigen
terminal sugars
What is the alternative name for lipoplysaccharide?
endotoxin
what are the three stages of bacterial cell growth in order?
- lag
- exponential
- stationary
Which type of bacteria have a slow growth rate?
mycobacteria
What is endotoxin?
component of the outer membrane of bacteria eg lipopolysaccharide in G- bacteria
What is exotoxin?
secreted proteins of gram positive AND gram negative bacteria
What type of molecule is an exotoxin?
protein
Can endotoxin be converted to a toxoid?
No- but exotoxin can
What type of genes does the plasmid contain?
- antibiotic or virulence determinent genes
- transfer promotion genes
- plasmid maintenance genes
What are the different methods of gene transfer in bacteria?
transformation via plasmid
transduction via phage
conjugation via sex pilus
Give examples of geni that are obligate intracellular bacteria
Chlamydia
Coxiella
Give the genus of bacteria that can be cultured on artificial media with no cell wall
Mollicutes
Give examples of bacteria that can grow as filaments and have a cell wall and can be cultured on media
streptomyces
actinomyces
nocardia
Give examples of geni of spirochaetes
treponema
leptospira
borrelia
How dod perform a gram stain?
Apply a primary stain such as crystal violet (purple) to heat fixed bacteria
Add iodide which binds to crystal violet and helps fix it to the cell wall
Decolorise with ethanol or acetone
Counterstain with safranin (pink)
Why are gram positive bacteria purple?
decolouriser dehydrates the cell wall and the crystal violet iodide gets trapped in the multi-layered petidoglycan
Why are gram negative bacteria pink?
decolouriser interacts with the lipids and cells lose their outer lipopolysaccharide membrane and the crystal violet-iodide complexes, thus they appear pink with counterstain
What are coliforms?
Coliform bacteria are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming and motile or non-motile bacteria which can ferment lactose eg E.Coli
How do staphylococci specifically appear in gram stain?
gram positive cocci in CLUSTERS
think staff like to cluster in the staffroom