Bacteriology of the Colon Flashcards
Gut bacteria that can cause systemic disease
Listeria
Salmonella Typhi/non typhoidal salmonella serotypes
Pathogens that invade cells/ cause inflammation/intoxicate
Shigella
Enterohemorrhagic E. Coli
Campylobacter/Helicobacter
Bacteria whose pathology and symptoms are due to exotoxin production
Vibrio Cholerae
What are the sites of terminal digestion and absorption of nutrients
The mucosal villi and crypts lined by a single layer of columnar epithelial cells
What absorbs most of the water from chyme
The large intestine (90%)
Differences in absorption between small and large intestine
In large intestine, villi are absent, and the colonic mucosa is full of Crypts of Lieberkhun
Fluid Balance
How many Liters of fluid enter the upper gastrointestinal tract each day?
What is the the average daily fecal excretion?
8.5 L
150mL
Infections alter normal intestinal physiology in one of three ways:
- Penetration through an intact mucosa
- Inflammatory or cytotoxic destruction of the ileal or colonic mucosa
- Shift in bidirectional water and electrolyte fluxes in the upper small bowel by intraluminal toxins or minimally invasive organisms
Barriers to invading pathogens (6)
- Epithelial barrier and intestinal motility (epithelium continuously regenerating)
- Structural barrier (Tight cell junctions)
- Chemical barrier (Gastric acidity)
- Paneth cells (Secrete antimicrobial peptides)
- Adaptive immunity (Mucosal associated lymphatic tissue)
- Microbial recognition (Pattern Recognition Receptors)
5 Take home points about normal microbiota
- Neonates are colonized following delivery
- Colonization drives the maturation of the mucosal immune system
- Intact microbiota monopolizes physical and nutritional niches at the mucosal surface
- Normal microbiota contributes to nutrient acquisition by fermenting non-digestible dietary components, contributing to normal growth and differentiation
- Normal microbiota provide powerful host defense mechanism to limit the ability of pathogens to take up residence and invade the human body
Listeriosis
Aerobic non spore forming Gram positive rod
Listeriosis
Human Pathogen:
Growth range:
How it enters the body:
Human Pathogen: L. monocytogenes
Growth range: 1-45° and high salt concentrations
How it enters the body: Penetration through an intact mucosa to the reticuloendothelial system
Listeriosis is restricted to well defined populations:
- Neonates
- Elderly
- Pregnant Women
- Persons with defects in cellular immunity
Listeria pathogenesis
- Ingest contaminated food
- L. monocytogenes are able to survive in stomach acid and bile salts
- Adherence to host cells
- Entry into enterocytes or M cells in Peyer patches
- Phagosome is initially intact
- pH drop in the phagosome activates listeriolysin O and 2 different phospholipase C enzymes
- Bacteria replicate free in cytoplasm
- ActA located on one pole of the bacterium polymerizes host actin allowing intracellular movement to membrane
- Actin polymerization pushes the bacterium to uninfected cells and the cycle begins again
- Systemic infection - passage through the intestinal lining, entry into macrophage and spread
Listeria - Epidemiology
Human listeriosis is sporadic
Undercooked processed meats, unpasteurized milk, contaminated cheese…
Can be isolated from the feces of animals
Can grow inside of wide range of temperatures
Human to human transmission of Listeria occurs from _____ to ____ in _____
mother; child; utero
Lysteria Clinical Diseases
Neonatal:
Pregnant Women:
Adults:
- Neonatal disease
Early onset disease acquired in utero - abortion, stillborn or premature birth
Granulomatosis infantiseptica = granuloma formation in multiple organs
Late onset disease -2-3 weeks after birth - characterized by meningitis - Pregnant women (third trimester - influenza-like)
- Adults
Healthy - mild influenza like illness
Immunocompromised - meningitis
Listeria - Laboratory Diagnosis
Gram stain of CSF for meningitis patients
Culture - 1 to 2 days - cold enrichment
Biochemical Tests
Serologic tests - 13 serotypes
Listeria - treatment, prevention, control
Ubiquitous in environment so control is difficult
No vaccine
Combination treatment = gentamicin with penicillin
Naturally cephalosporin resistant
Salmonella:
Method of Entry:
- Gram negative rods, found in soil ,water, normal intestinal flora
- Method of Entry: Penetration through an intact mucosa
- Inflammatory or cytotoxic destruction of the ileal or colonic mucosa
Serotyping schemes to identify individual salmonella isolates
H antigen = flagellar proteins
K or Vi = capsular antigens for E. coli and S. typhi, respectively
O antigens = Lipopolysaccaride
Salmonella does not ferment _________
lactose
Salmonella Pathogenesis
- Broad host range EXCEPT for Typhi and Paratyphi
- Salmonella can resist stomach acid; attach to the mucosa of the small intestine and invade into M cells and enterocytes
- Replicates within endocytic vacuoles
- Endocytic vacuoles are modified and stabilized by the injection of bacterial proteins through two type III systems = spacious vacuole
Pathogenicity Island 1 genes = ______
Pathogenicity Island 2 genes = ______
invasion; evasion of immune response
Gastroenteritis due to Salmonella
- Infection and replication induces an inflammatory response
- Disruption of the enterocytes and malabsorption
- Release of prostoglandins, stimulation of CAMP and fluid secretion
Pathogenesis of Enteric or Typhoid Fever
- Bacteria invade cells and replicate as in gastroenteritis
- Typhi also replicates in macrophages and spreads through the reticuloendotheilal system to liver, spleen, blood and bone marrow
- Bacteremia causes the fever and may lead to localized suppurative infections or in rare cases perforation of the intestine
Gastroenteritis to salmonella Epidemiology (6)
- Ingestion
- Incidence is greatest in children (under 5) and adults (older than 60)
- Occurs most frequently during the summer months
- Common food sources include poultry, eggs, dairy products, ground beef
- Nontyphoidal US infections > 1.4 million with 600 deaths/year
- Infectious dose is high (10^6 - 10^8 bacteria)
Typhoid or Enteric Fever Epidemiology
- Relative to strains causing gastroenteritis, the inoculum for Typhi is low
- Transmission person to person and through fecal contamination
- Enteric fever is endemic to India, South/Central America, Africa
- Travelers should be vaccinated when going to endemic areas
Salmonella outbreaks in children can occur with the introduction of _____
PET TURTLES!
Salmonella clinical diseases:
S. Gastroenteritis:
S. Septicemia:
Enteric Fever:
- S. Gastroenteritis: Symptoms - 6 - 48 hours after consumption of contaminated food (fever, cramps, headache, nausea, vomiting) - persists for 7 days but self limiting
- S. Septicemia: ALL SALMONELLA SPECIES CAN CAUSE A BACTEREMIA
- Immunocompromised patients at risk for septicemia
- Enteric Fever:
10-14 days after ingestion - gradual fever, headache, myalgias, anorexia, rose spots - After bacteremic phase gastrointestinal symptoms occur: colonization of gall bladder and reinfection of the intestines
Mary Mallon - Typhoid Mary
- First person identified in US as asymptomatic carrier of S. Typhi
- She was a cook - infected 51 people, three of whom died
- Typhoid fever was traced to the places where she worked
- Arrested and quarantined
She died of pneumonia and complications of a stroke
Salmonella - Laboratory Diagnosis
- Stool culture - must use selective medium to recover salmonella versus normal flora
- Lactose negative, motile, makes H2S, other differential biochemical tests
- Epidemiological investigations use pulsed-field electrophoresis
Salmonella - Treatment, Prevention, Control
- Symptomatic relief but no antibiotics for Salmonella gastritis
- Careful food preparation and storage, hand washing
- Ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for systemic infections
Traveler vaccinations for Salmonella
Live attenuated vaccine Ty21a: good for 5yrs, 6 capsules every other day, booster at 4 yrs, not recommended for children
Typhim - Vi polysaccharide capsular vaccine, not recommended for children under 2 years of age