Bacterial and Viral Causes of GI Disease Flashcards
What are the 2 general types of diarrhea?
- inflammatory= hemorrhagic or dysenteric. Will have mucus, blood, or debris from an inflammatory response (leukocytes and fibrin).
- non-inflammatory= watery, osmotic, and often enterotoxin mediated.
If vomiting is a primary symptom with diarrhea, what should you consider?
- enteric VIRUSES (rotaviruses; noroviruses)
- food poisoning due to preformed toxins (staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin, bacillus cereus heat-stable enterotoxin).
What pathogens are associated with a watery (non-inflammatory) diarrhea?
- enteric viruses
- ETEC (enterotoxin E. coli)
- Vibrio cholerae
- parasites (except Entamoeba histolytica)
- food poisoning (Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus enterotoxin).
What pathogenic cause should you consider if the diarrhea is persistent?
parasites
What fungus is associated with a watery diarrhea (non-inflammatory)?
Microsporidia
What are the 3 most common bacteria associated with inflammatory diarrhea?
- Campylobacter jejuni
- Salmonella
- Shigella
What are some other bacterial causes of inflammatory diarrhea?
- Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC)
- Clostridium difficile
- Yersinia enterocolitica
- Vibrio parahaemolyticus
- Entamoeba histolytica (parasite)
How are these pathogens that cause diarrhea transmitted?
fecal-orally via crowding, food handlers (shedding when asymptomatic), ingestion of contaminated food or water, or poor hygiene especially in developing countries, nursing homes, day cares, and military barracks (often occuring via fomites).
How do you determine the etiology of a food-borne illness?
- consider food consumption (raw or poorly cooked food, unpasteurized milk, or home canned food).
- consider incubation period, duration of illness, predominant symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, fever), and patient population.
- consider social activities (pets or a petting farm, day care, travel, camping, group picnics).
If symptoms occur shortly after the ingestion of food, what should you consider?
preformed toxin
What are the most common disease agents associated with food-borne illness?
- Campylobacter
- E. coli
- Listeria
- Salmonella **(very common in U.S.)
- Virbrio parahaemolyticus
- Yersinia
What organisms are a result of food poisoning due to pre-formed toxins?
- Staph aureus
- Bacillus cereus
- Clostridium
What is important to know about Staph aureus in regard to food poisoning?
- food does not taste tainted
- mean incubation period= 4 hours
- diarrhea= watery but not bloody
- severe vomiting, abdominal pain or nausea
- NO fever
- duration= 1 to 6 hours
What is the Staph aureus enterotoxin?
- it is a superantigen= activates T cells
- stimulates cytokine release
- acts on neuronal receptors in upper GI tract (stimulating vomiting center in brain).
- heat stable (ingestion of toxin is sufficient to cause illness).
What is important to know about Bacillus cereus?
- spore forming gram positive bacillus
- makes heat stable toxin (unknown mechanism) and heat labile toxin (resembles E. coli and V. cholerae).
How does the heat LABILE toxin of Bacillus cereus cause pathogenesis?
- stimulates cAMP= hyper-secretion of water and electrolytes
- associated with MEATS and VEGETABLES (causing diarrhea)
In what food is the heat STABLE toxin of bacillus cereus most common?
RICE (causing vomiting)
What is important to know about Clostridium?
- anaerobic, gram positive, spore forming bacillus
- C. difficile= antibiotic associated diarrhea
- C. perfringens= food poisoning and gas gangrene
- C. tetani= tetanus
- C. botulinum= botulism
What does C. perfringens normally involve when causing food poisoning?
- meat dishes
- produces spores, which are heat resistant.
- produces heat labile enterotoxin= released after ingestion of organism, altering membrane permeability causing fluid secretion.
How can you differentiate the symptoms of Staph aureus from C. perfringens?
C. perfringens will no not cause a fever or vomiting
What is the leading viral cause of gastroenteritis in children?
rotavirus
What is the leading viral cause of gastroenteritis of all ages?
norovirus
What happens to the villi with a viral gastroenteritis?
you get blunting and sloughing off of the villi with crypt hyperplasia leading to an osmotic (watery) diarrhea
What is the incubation period for rotavirus and norovirus?
around 1-4 days (little bit longer than toxins)
What is the duration of clinical disease for rotavirus and norovirus, respectively?
- rotavirus= about a week
- norovirus= 1-3 days
How do you treat rotavirus and norovirus infections?
let it run its course and treat the dehydration and electrolyte balance only
*** What is important to know about the rotavirus itself?
- ds RNA, 11 segments (aka segmented genome), and triple-shelled capsid
- very stable virus
- P (VP4) and G (VP7) outer shell proteins= components of the vaccine
- only virus known to secrete an enterotoxin (NSP4) resulting in chloride secretion.
What rotavirus group makes up most human strains?
- group A (VP6)
What vaccines are approved for rotavirus?
- RotaTeq= live, oral, human-bovine reassortant
- Rotarix= live, oral, human monovalent attenuated vaccine
What is important to know about norovirus itself?
- RNA, icosahedral, naked virus
What is a similar virus to norovirus, having the same family (caliciviridae), but milder symptoms?
sapovirus
What virus is the leading cause of sporadic cases and outbreaks of diarrheal illness?
Norovirus via contaminated food or water (cruise ships, nursing homes…)
Can norovirus spread easily?
YES because it has a low infectious dose (less than 100 particles) and pt is asymptomatic when shedding occurs.
- also resistant to disinfectants and has strain diversity