GI Bacteria Lecture Notes Flashcards
3 general pathogenic mechanisms for development of bacterial gastroenteritis
- ingestion of preformed toxin with rapid onset of illness
- Ingestion of organisms that produce toxins in vivo that cause disease; sudden or delayed onset
- Infection by enteroinvasive organisms with delayed onset; can be locally or systemically invasive
How are virtually all bacterial diarrheal diseases treated?
-supportive care to replace fluid and electrolytes
Physiology and structure of Vibrionaeceae
- motile, curved gram negative rods
- facultative anaerobes
- growth stimulated by Na+ but no exacting nutritional requirements
- common inhabitants of both fresh and salt water environments
Vibrio cholera strains that invariably produce cholera toxin and possess a pathogenicity island encoding intestinal colonization factors
-Vibrio cholera O1 and O139
Pathogenesis of Vibrio cholera: where does it colonize, is it invasive?
- colonizes proximal small bowel where it secretes cholera toxin which is the cause of massive diarrhea
- not an invasive disease
T/F: You need the vibrio cholera bacteria to achieve the severe diarrhea.
-False; purified cholera toxin is sufficient; bacterium serves as a delivery system
Cholera Enterotoxin (CT) structure
-A-B subunit toxin; 5 B to 1 A
B subunit of CT function; what it is encoded by?
- responsible for binding holotoxin to GM1 ganglioside receptors on enterocyte
- phage encoded
A subunit of CT function
- enters cytoplasm where it separates into A1 and A2 peptides
- A1 affects GTP binding protein, Gsalpha, which regulates AC
- ADP-ribosylates Gsa causing AC to be permanently turned on resulting in increase in cAMP
- increase in cAMP/PKA blocks Na+ absorption and causes Cl- efflux through CFTR which water follows out
Major channel affected by cholera enterotoxin?
-CFTR
Cholera epidemiology: how is it spread?
-fecal-oral route via contaminated food or water
Cholera extraintestinal reservoirs
- environmental reservoir thought to be aquatic sources–estuarine environment
- often in association with copepod, zooplankton, shellfish, and aquatic plants
Cholera epidemiology: host susceptibility/inoculum size and reasons why.
- need large inoculum
- because stomach acidity is an important barrier
Hypochlorhydria and Cholera
-due to surgery, antacids, infection with H. pylori predisposes to infection by raising the pH of stomach
Age incidence of cholera by endemic vs. non-endemic areas
- immune status is important
- high incidence in young children in endemic areas
- all ages affected in non-endemic areas
Spectrum of Cholera diarrheal illness
- wide spectrum: from asymptomatic to mild, moderate, or severe (cholera gravis)
- very rapid onset is possible
Clinical Characteristics of Cholera infection
- voluminous watery diarrhea without abdominal cramps or fever
- in severe purges, stool loses color and odor and flecks of floating mucus give rise to term “rice water stool”
What are the major symptoms of cholera due to?
- depletion of water and salts from intravascular and extracellular spaces of the body by loss into gut lumen
- death can results from dehydration and electrolyte loss leading to shock
Treatment of cholera (2 ways)
- replace lost water and salts (rehydration), usually by oral route, or IV in severe cases
- antibiotics (tetracycline, doxycycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for children) can shorten duration but are not essential
Prevention of Cholera
- adequate santitation (clean water/chlorination)
- adequately cooked seafood
Vibrio Parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of _________ and can also cause _________.
- seafood-borne bacterial gastroenteritis**recent history of seafood consumption should make you think of this*
- also causes wound infections (1/3 of sporadic infections) after exposure to warm seawater
Clinical characteristics of V. parahaemolyticus
- mostly watery diarrhea
- with cramps, nausea, vomiting, sometimes fever and chills, and bloody diarrhea (rare)
V. parahaemolyticus: duration and treatment
- self-limited, around 3 days
- rarely needs treatment: ORS (oral rehydration solution) and tetracycline
95% of seafood-related deaths are due to ____________.
- V. vulnificus
- common inhabitant of coastal waters and shellfish but not all strains are pathogenic
2 distinct clinical syndromes (and their portals of entry) of V. vulnificus
- wound infection: occurs after exposure of wound to seawater during warm months
- Primary sepsis: in compromised hosts after eating contaminated seafood
Characteristics of wound infections caused by V. vulnificus
- cellulitis, sometimes with vesicles or bullae followed by necrosis
- sometimes progresses to sepsis and death
- more severe in patients with some type of chronic disease (diabetes, cirrhosis, leukemia, etc
Who do we see primary sepsis from V. vulnificus in?
- compromised hosts with pre-existing hepatic or other chronic diseases
- due to eating contaminated seafood
Prevention method of V. vulnificus infection
-because of high mortality, patients at risk (cirrhosis and hemochromatosis) should avoid raw shellfish and those at risk with wounds should avoid seawater
Characteristics of primary sepsis
- chills, fever, prostration, and hypotension
- usually secondary skin lesions on extremities with erythematous or ecchymotic areas -vesicles or bullae- necrotic ulcers
Many of the opportunistic pathogens from the gut are members of the Enterobacteraceae as they have a competitive advantage ___________.
-when their is inflammation
While most E. coli are not pathogenic, some highly adapted clones have developed with specific virulence factors that are capable of causing disease in healthy individuals. These strains may cause what 3 things?
- enteric/diarrheal disease
- UTI (local spread from GI to GU)
- sepsis/meningitis (from bacteremia)
Physiology and structure of E. Coli
- gram-negative rods
- facultative anaerobe
Key tests for identifying E. Coli
- negative oxidase test
- most are lactose-fermenters (pink) on MacConkey agar
Special test to detect E.Coli O157:H7
-MacConkey sorbitol agar
Enterotoxigenic E. Coli (ETEC) pathogenesis
- aka toxigenic E. Coli
- produce cholera-like enterotoxin
- adhere to small bowel enterocytes and induce watery diarrhea by secretion of heat labile (LT) and/or heat-stable (ST) enterotoxins
What is the most common cause of travelers’ diarrhea?
-ETEC
Enteropathogenic E. Coli (EPEC) pathogenesis
- adhere to small bowel enterocytes, but destroy normal microvillar architecture, inducing characteristic attaching and effacing lesion
- cytoskeletal derangements are accompanied by an inflammatory response and diarrhea
3 steps of EPEC destruction/pathogenesis
- initial adhesion
- protein translocation by type III secretion
- pedestal formation
Enterohemorrhagic E. Coli (EHEC) pathogenesis
- induce attaching and effacing lesion, like EPEC, but in colon
- Shiga toxin
- can cause hemolytic- uremic syndrome (HUS)
The distinguishing feature of EHEC is the elaboration of shiga toxin. What does this toxin do?
- protein-synthesis inhibitor
- systemic absorption of which leads to potentially fatal complication following an episode of bloody diarrhea
Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome: what can cause it and what is it characterized by?
- can be due to EHEC E Coli O157
- hemolytic anemia, acute kidney failure (uremia), and low platelet count (thrombocytopenia)
Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) pathogenesis
- invades colonic epithelial cell, lysis the phagosome and moves through the cell by nucleating actin microfilaments
- might move laterally through epithelium by direct cell-to-cell spread or might exit and reenter the basolateral PM (like Shigella)
Enteroaggregative E. Coli (EAEC)
- adheres to small and large bowel epithelia in thick biofilm
- elaborates secretory enterotoxins and cytotoxins
ETEC Epidemiology
- contaminated food and water
- major cause of childhood diarrhea in developing countries
- leading cause of travelers’ diarrhea
EPEC epidemiology
- person to person transmission
- leading cause of infantile diarrhea in developing countries
EHEC epidemiology
- food, water, and person to person transmission
- major cause of bloody diarrhea in developed nations
EAEC epidemiology
- mode of transmission unknown
- important cause of chronic diarrhea in developing countries
- emerging cause of acute, chronic, and travelers’ diarrhea
EIEC epidemiology
- contaminated food
- outbreaks in developed countries
ETEC Clinical disease
-acute watery diarrhea
EPEC clinical disease
-severe acute diarrhea or dysentery and vomiting, may be persistent
Dysentery
-severe diarrhea with blood and pus
EHEC
-watery and bloody diarrhea, may be complicated by HUS
EAEC
-mucoid diarrhea, often persisent
EIEC
-watery diarrhea or dysentery
Shigella spps physiology and structure
- facultative anaerobe
- gram negative
- rod-shaped
- member of enterobacteraceae
Key tests for identification of Shigella spps
- oxidase negative
- non-motile
- non-lactose fermenter on MacConkey
T/F: Shigella and E.coli are the same organism but continue to be differentiated for epidemiologic purposes, recognition of clinical disease, and potential treatment differences.
True
General steps of Shigella spp. pathogenesis
-translocation of intestinal epithelium by bacterium and development of the infectious process leading to bacillary dysentery
What cells does Shigella cross in the colon?
-cross M (microfold) cells of the follicle-associated epithelium that covers the lymphoid nodules associated with the colonic mucosal tissues
What does shigella do in the subepithelial location?
- causes extensive apoptosis of macrophages
- this allows escape of bacteria into tissues and efficient basolateral entry into epithelial cells, followed by cell to cell spreading, which generates sufficient intracellular colonization
The expansive macrophage apoptosis assoc. with shigella can also trigger ________. How else is this triggered?
- inflammation through the release of IL-1B
- amplified by presence of intracellular bacteria that activate NOD1 pathway
How does shigella induce the NOD1 pathway of inflammation?
-release of peptidoglycan (PGN) which induced NF-KB activation and chemokine expression