GI Flashcards
Duration of GI symptoms
- acute: < 14 days
- persistant: < 30 days
- chronic: > 30 days
GI anatomic considerations
- esophagus to stomach to small intestine to large intestine
- pH of stomach can withstand most bacteria
- peristalsis of small intestine inhibits adherence
- colon flora and IgA compete with pathogens
GI risk factors
- number of ingested organisms
- achlorhydia
- reduction in normal flora due to antibiotics
Traveler’s diarrhea
Enterotoxigenic E. coli
Parasitic infections
Giardia, Entamoeba
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea
C. difficile
Practical diagnosis
- History (food ingestion, travel, activities)
- Duration of illness
- Medications
- Underlying conditions
- Physical exam (state of hydration, exam of abdomen)
- Laboratory studies
- Fecal exam
Direct fecal smear
- Gram stain of smear
- WBC’s indicate invasion, not toxin
Enterotoxin-mediated diarrhea
- rapid onset indicates preformed toxin
- lack of fever
- absence of blood or pus
- large number of watery stools (> 20/day)
- Enterotoxigenic E. coli, cholera, S. aureus, C. perfringens, Bacillus cereus, viral or parasitic
Diarrhea mediated by invasion of bowel mucosal surface
- fecal leukocytes, RBC’s, fever
- Salmonella, Campy, Shigella, E. coli, Entamoeba
Diarrhea mediated by invasion of full thickness of bowel with lymphatic spread
- S. typhi, Y. enterocolitica
- presents with constipation
- fecal leukocytes and RBC’s
Common viral pathogens
Norovirus, Rotavirus, Adenovirus,? Some Enterovirus
Common bacterial pathogens
Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter. E coli, Yersinia, Clostridium difficile
Common parasitic pathogens
Giardia intestinalis, E. histolytica, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Microsporidia
common protozoa
Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba
common toxins associated with GI
Staphylococcal, Bacillus cereus, Cl botulinum, Cl perfringens, Scrombotoxin
- most common cause of diarrheal illness worldwide
- microaerophilic, Campy BAP, 42C
- seagull wing appearance, darting motility
- oxidase +, catalase +
Campylobacter jejuni
- contaminated meat, eggs
- symptoms 6-8 hours after ingestion
- usually self-limiting
- indole -, K/A H2S +, oxidase -
- enteric fever
- high inoculum required
Salmonella typhi
how many salmonella organisms need to be ingested for infection?
need around 1000 organisms per g of food to get infected
- dysenteriae, flexneri, boydii, sonnei
- sonnei is most common in US
- non-motile, oxidase -
- causes dynsentery
- low inoculum required
Shigella
- infantile diarrhea
- adhesive, mucus in stool (no blood)
Enteropathogenic E. coli
- Traveler’s diarrhea
- due to poor sanitation
- requires large inoculum
- releases toxins
Enterotoxigenic E. coli
- dysentery with direction invasion/destruction of mucosa
- similar to Shigella, but higher inoculum
- watery diarrhea with blood, mucus and WBCs
Enteroinvasive E. coli
- rice-water stool
- large loss of electrolytes
- associated with epidemics
- catalase +, oxidase +
- toxin produced
- yellow on TCBS
Vibrio cholera