Bacterial STDs Flashcards
What is the etymology of the term “clap”?
It comes from a French word for brothel.
List the prevalence of STDs in the U.S.?
Chlamydia: 1,500,000
Gonorrhea: 400,000
Syphilis: 24,000
______________ is a facultative intracellular pathogen.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Remember the red cushions on the white chairs in the Sketchy scene.
If you have high specificity, then you have low ___________.
false positives
With low sensitivity, what will you have a lot of?
False negatives
____________ describes what percent of people without the disease will test negative.
Specificity
Oropharyngeal samples might test positive (falsely) for ______________.
Neisseria, because there are commensal bacteria that are intracellular Gram-negative diplococci
Gram stains for Neisseria gonorrhoeae have low _____________.
sensitivity (meaning high rate of false negatives)
Which strains of Neisseria are encapsulated?
N. meningitidis
(In the Sketchy scenes, the evidence in the college dorms is covered with glass domes, while in the nightclub scene the glass is broken on the floor!)
What virulence factor causes inflammation in Neisseria meningitidis?
Lipooligosaccharide (remember the LOS envelopes that are burning in the Sketchy college student’s dorm); these are the same as LPS but without the O sidechain
Neisseria require ___________ to grow.
5% CO2
Colonies turn ____________ in positive oxidase tests.
black
Both strains of Neisseria can ferment __________.
glucose
What two things are generally needed for a diagnosis of gonorrhea?
- Either mucopurulent cervical discharge or exposure to an infected person
- Growth on susceptible agar, PCR, or Gram stain showing Gram-negative diplococci
True or false: more men than women are asymptomatic carriers of gonorrhea.
False. Many more women are asymptomatic carriers (about 50%).
PID occurs in about _______ percent of female gonorrhea infections.
10
Untreated, gonorrheal conjunctivitis can cause __________.
corneal perforations
What age group has the highest incidence of gonorrhea?
15 - 24 (over 50%)
What mechanism allows Neisseria to escape the immune system?
- Antigenic variation from amino acid switching in pili (can make up to 1,000,000 different forms)
- Phase variation (on-off switching for expression of genes)
In the 1970s, Neisseria gonorrhea became resistant to _________________.
penicillins (due to expression of beta-lactamases)
______________ are no longer recommended for treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae due to widespread resistance.
Fluoroquinolones