E. coli, etc Flashcards
Enterobacteriacea: G (+,-) Glucose (+,-) Oxidase (+,-) (Motile, non-motile)
Gram -
Glucose +
Oxidase -
Motile
Which two enteric infectious agents are non-motile?
Klebsiella and Shigella
List two ways to distinguish Enterobacteriaceae from Pseudomonas
- Oxidase: + = Pseudomonas; - = Enterobactericeae
2. Glucose: doesn’t ferment = Pseudomonas; does ferment = Enterobactericeae
What diagnostic method utilizes Enterobacteriaceae’s ability to ferment lactose?
MacConkey agar - turns pink due to pH indicator in agar and production of acid by glucose fermentation
Which two species would be white on MacConkey agar?
Shigella and Salmonella
What are the constituents of a MacConkey agar medium?
Lactose, pH indicator, bile salts, crystal violet
What is the purpose of the bile salts and crystal violet in MacConkey agar?
Kill Gram + spp
What feature of Enterobactericeae is utilized for diagnosing UTIs?
Reduction of nitrates to nitrites
How is antibiotic resistance acquired?
Conjugation/plasmids
Several patients are seen in the ER the day after eating at a local hamburger place. They present with severe abdominal cramps and high volume diarrhea. What test should you run before even considering giving an antibiotic?
Sorbitol MacConkey agar to check for EHEC (which would be white)
(This presentation is suggestive of EHEC, for which you should not give antibiotics to prevent HUS)
Who dies from diarrhea in the US? In developing countries?
US = elderly
Developing countries = infants and young children
Most diarrhea is due to (bacteria, virus)
Virus
What percent of diarrhea is caused by viruses?
80-90%
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: LLQ cramping
Inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: normal temp
Non-inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: methylene blue positive stool
Inflammatory
marker of leukocytes
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: high volume
Non-inflammatory
watery
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: small bowel
Non-inflammatory
Think: this is where most absorption occurs, so makes sense that pathology here would result in watery stool
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: colon
Inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: dysentery
Inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: enterotoxin
Non-inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: cytotoxin
Inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: tenesmus
Inflammatory
Think: little evacuation = tenesmus; not like profuse passage seen with non-inflamm
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: lactoferrin positive stool
Inflammatory
marker of WBCs
When should you suspect a parasitic etiology of diarrhea?
If it persists for >2 weeks
List 3 tests that indicate WBCs in stool
Methylene blue
Lactoferrin
Leukocyte esterase
List two infectious agents that mainly cause diarrhea in AIDS patients
CMV
M. avium
How is bacterial diarrhea usually diagnosed?
Culture
A patient presents with diarrhea that has persisted for 17 days. First step in management?
Examine stool for parasites
>2 weeks = parasitic
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: antimotility drugs contraindicated
Inflammatory
Noninflammatory or inflammatory diarrhea: use antibiotics
Both - but not in inflammatory diarrhea caused by EHEC
Complication of EHEC?
HUS
Complications of campylobacter?
GBS, Reiter’s syndrome
What is Reiter’s syndrome?
Polyarthritis in large joints, conjunctivitis, urethritis
List 4 causes of Reiter’s syndrome following enteric infection
Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Campylobacter
Why can some strains of E. coli cause pathology while resident strains don’t?
Virulent strains have acquired PAIs, plasmids, &/or lysogenic phages with additional genes
Appearance of E. coli on KIA slant
Yellow butt and slant (ferments lactose), cracks (produces H2)
Appearance of Shigella on KIA slant
Yellow butt with red slant (ferments glucose only), no gas
Appearance of Salmonella on KIA slant
Black butt (produces H2S), red slant (doesn’t ferment lactose), cracks (produces H2)
Appearance of non-fermenting G- rods on KAI slant
Red butt and red slant, no gas
Think Pseudomonas
Watery diarrhea that becomes bloody
EHEC, Shigella
Campylobacter jejuni
C. diff
Cause of hemorrhagic colitis
EHEC (0157:H7)
Shiga-like toxin
EHEC
LEE
Locus of enterocyte effacement; encodes EHEC and EPEC virulence factors
List 4 gene products contained within LEE
- Intimin - EHEC attachment protein
- Secreted intimin receptor that incorporates within enterocyte membrane
- Type III secretion system
- Rearrangement of cell actin to create pedestal for EHEC attachment (Attachment-Effacement lesion)
Symptoms of EHEC hemorrhagic colitis
Sudden onset of severe abdominal cramps with watery diarrhea that becomes bloody within 24 hours
EHEC would produce lactoferrin (+, -) stool
Negative (no WBCs in stool)
Would you expect fever in a patient with 0157:H7? ETEC?
No
1 cause of acute renal failure in children
HUS following 0157:H7 infection
How will HUS present?
Acute renal failure, anemia, thrombocytopenia during the second week of an episode of bloody diarrhea
(may also develop seizures, strokes)
HUS following EHEC usually affects:
Children < 5 and elderly
List some sources of EHEC
Ground beef Spinach Unpasteurized juice, milk Sprouts Water Salami Lettuce
List some factors that contribute to spread of EHEC
- Low infectious dose
- Some human-human transmission
- Cattle don’t get sick when they have it
- High carriage in cattle due to feedlots
Describe Shiga-like toxin (Stx)
Cytopathic toxin that inhibits protein synthesis, resulting in cell death; encoded by lysogenic phage
(Remember pathogenic E. coli strains have additional genes)
What is the main cause of diarrhea in EHEC?
LEE pathogenicity island
Why do antibiotics contribute to development of HUS?
They stress EHEC, causing replication of lysogenic phage that encodes Stx gene
List 4 diagnostic methods for EHEC
- Sorbitol MacConkey (will be white)
- RADT of Stx in stool
- Nucleic acid detection of Stx genes
- Serotyping of isolates
Traveler’s diarrhea
ETEC
What type of diarrhea is produced by ETEC?
Profuse, watery diarrhea (similar to cholera)
Where would you expect ETEC toxin to work?
Small intestine (produces a watery diarrhea by preventing absorption, the majority of which occurs in the SI)
LT and ST
ETEC toxins (heat labile and heat stable toxins)
What is the mechanism of LT?
Activates cAMP –> AC –> Cl- efflux
identical to cholera toxin
What is the mechanism of ST?
Mimics guanylin –> binds GC –> activates cGMP –> activates PKA –> activates CFTR