Enterobacteriaceae Flashcards
What are enterobacteriaceae?
A large group of gram negative bacillus that are uniquitous in soil, water, vegetation, and other natural environments
What do enterobacteriaceae form?
A significant part of the natural intestinal microbiota in humans
What are the major pathogenic genera of the enterobacteriaceae?
- Escherichia (mainly Escherichia Coli)
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Klebsiella
- Proteus
- Yersinia
What does Yersinia Pestis cause?
The plague
What are the major sites of infection from the enterobacteriaceae?
- The GI tract
- Urinary tract
- Septicaemias
- Soft tissue infections
Where do enterobactericeae sometimes infect?
- The genital tract
- Lower respiratory tract
- Meninges
What kind of organisms are enterobacteriae?
Rapidly growing, facultative anaerobes
What is the result of enterobacteriaceae being faculative anaerobes?
They require very little oxygen and produce large numbers in a very short space of time
How can enterobacteriaceae be grown in the labaratory?
They can be cultivated on sterine sites, or on more selective media
Give an example of a sterile site that enterobacteriaceae can be grown on?
Horse-blood agar
Give an example of a more selective media that enterobacteriaceae can be grown on
MacConkey agar
What features allow enterobacteriaceae to be identified microbiologically?
They are oxidase-negative, and can convert nitrates to nitrites
How can enterobacteriaceae be differentiated between themselves?
E. Coli and some other bacillus can ferment lactose, whereas shigella and salmonella cannot
Why does care need to be taken when testing enterobacteriaceae?
They can rapidly multiply and are highly infectious
On what basis can enterobacteriaceae be classified?
Serologically, based on the three main groups of antigen
What are the groups of enterobacteriaceae?
- K antigens
- O antigens
- H antigens
What do K antigen enterobacteriaceae have?
Capsular polysaccharide
What do O antigen enterobacteriaceae have?
Polysaccharide polymer on outermost portion of the LPS
What do H antigen enterobacteriaceae have?
Flagella proteins
What is the result of the serological classification of enterobacteriaceae?
Certain serotypes of the pathogens can be identified by these antigens
Give an example of a serotype of an enterobacteriaceae
E. Coli O157:H7
What does E. Coli O157:H7 cause?
Haemolytic uraemia
What is haemolytic uraemia?
Diarrhoea with potential for causing renal failure
What virulence factors do enterobacteriaceae possess that result in their relatively high ability to cause disease?
- Endotoxins are found abundantly in the outer membrane of the bacillus
- Polysaccharide capsule
- Flagella
- Exotoxins are released
- Antigenic variation
- Molecular protein syringes
- Antimicrobial resistance is acquired regularly from bacteria
- Sequestration of iron
What does the abundance of endotoxins found on the outer membrane of the enterobacteriaceae allow for?
The development of SIRS and septic shock
When are the results of endotoxins in the enterobacteriaceae outer membrane particularly significant?
Following antibiotic mediated cell lysis
What is the virulence advantage of the polysaccharide capsule of the enterobacteriaceae?
It enhances ability to evade phagocytic response
What is the purpose of the enterobacteriaceaes flagella?
Locomotion
What mechanism of action is used by the exotoxins released by enterobacteriaceae?
Similar to the A-B toxin structure to cholera-like toxins
What is the virulence advantage of the antigenic variation of enterobacteriaceae?
Regulation of the K and H antigens regularly protect the bacteria from any adaptive immune response
What is the virulence advantage of molecular protein syringes in enterobacteriaceae?
They allow the injection of bacteria into the host cell, disrupting the host cell metabolism and protein-protein interactions
What is the result of the regular acquisition of antimicrobial resistance by enterobacteriaceae?
Constant antibiotic resistance
What do enterobacteriaceae have a remarkable capacity to do?
Exchange genetic information with related and unrelated bacteria