Infection 1+2 Flashcards
What is infection?
Invasion of a host’s tissue by microorganisms
6 microorganism types that can cause infection
• Bacteria - • Viruses - e.g. covid • Fungi • Protozoa = e.g. malaria • Helminths (worms) Prions
5 ways of infection transmission
- Person to person (touch, air droplets, sexually)- Influenza, SARS-CoV-2, EBV, HIV
- Water – Cholera, Hep A
- Food – E.coli, Salmonella
- Insects – Malaria (mosquitos)
- Surface (touching, hand hygiene) – MRSA
2 types of transmission
Direct
Indirect
Direct transmission
→ disease caused by direct contact to disease from the resevoir (disease carrier) to host
Eg. Droplet transmission - coughing respiratory droplets
Indirect transmission
→ diseases caused by transmission through an intermediary source
Eg. Air borne, vehicle (food, water), vectors
6 things to ask about in history taking
- Details of symptoms
- Time since first exposure
- Contacts (including sexual partners)
- Environment (damp building, air conditioner, overcrowding like Tb)
- Food/drink
- Travel
What are markers of infection
Generalised signs of infection
- not everyone has the exact same
7 markers of infection - patient symptoms
- Rise in temperature
- (in some cases temperature may go down)
- General malaise
- (lethargy, body ache, head ache, loss of appetite, eg influenza)
- Pain
- (eg general muscle pain in a number of infections, abdominal pain in Hepatitis, abdomen tender to touch, at site of infection)
- Breathlessness
- (chest infection including pneumoniae)
- Local skin changes
- (eg impetigo –blisters and sores on the skin Cellulitis- redness, heat, pain at the site of infection necrotising faschiitis – deep skin infection)
- Cough
- (dry cough eg whooping cough productive cough - purulent sputum eg tuberculosis)
• Confusion (eg meningitis, sepsis)
Virulence factors
→ molecules produced by bacteria’ fungi and protozoa that add to their effectiveness
- enable them to achieve colonisation in the host
3 things that determine severity of disease
Pathogen level
- Virulence factors
- inoculum size (size of pathogen)
- antimicrobial resistance
2 things that determine severity of disease
Patient level
- Site of infection
- co-morbidities
2 general tests for infection
- White blood cell count
- c-reactive protein
White blood cell count
• Generally increase in WBC when someone has infection BUT in some cases cells may decrease for example CD4+ cells in HIV
C-reactive protein
Increase in C-reactive protein is a marker of infection and inflammation).
• In a study by Wang (2020) CRP levels positively correlated with lung lesions and could reflect disease severity in the early stage of COVID-19 infection)
How do doctors know that patients have infection?
- History, examination, investigations
- full blood count
- c-reactive protein
- liver kidney function tests
- Imaging
- histopathology
5 ways to identify bacteria
- Direct microscopy after staining (Gram stain, acid fast stain) - look at shape and size
- Blood culture (growth and identification) let bacteria in blood grow so you can see if it is there
- Swabs (direct staining and microscopy or growth in appropriate medium)
- Nucleic acid amplification/PCR (faster genetic methods)
- Antigen tests
- Antibody tests
3 ways to identify viruses
- Detection of antigens using Elisa/immunofluorescence - look for antigen and match to virus
- Nucleic acid amplification/PCR
- Antibody tests
Features of prokaryotes
- Circular dna and plasmids
- no nucleus
- no membrane bound organelles
- cell wall normally made of peptidoglycan
- no carbs in plasma membrane
- 70s ribosomes
Features of eukaryotes
- chromosomes
- nucleus
- membrane bound organelles
- cell wall only in plant cells
- carbs and sterois in plasma membrane
- ribosomes 80s
What are commensals?
• Commensals are microorganisms (normally bacteria) that live on the surface of our bodies and in specific areas eg intestinal tract, oral cavity, vagina
- Known as microbiome = all of the commensals together
- Live in harmony with us don’t normally cause disease
Antibiotics and commensals
• Antibiotics can destroy commensals, e.g. leave to yeast infections and thrush in cavities
Naming organisms
- Genus + species. (“Surname + first name”) for example: Staphylococcus aureus (Staph aureus, S. aureus)
- Names are sometimes supplemented by adjectives describing growth, typing or antimicrobial susceptibility characteristics, for example E coli 0157, MRSA (methicillin resistant Staph aureus)
bacteria cell structure
- Plasmids
- Ribosomes
- Cell wall - peptidoglycan
- Food granule
- Plasma membrane
- Chromosome – nucleoid region
- Flagellum