Inflammatory Diarrhea Flashcards
What are some causes of inflammatory Diarrhea?
Causes of inflammatory diarrhea
- EHEC
- EIEC
- Shigella
- Salmonella enterica and enteritidis
- Campylobacter jejuni
- Clostridium difficile
- Yersinia enterocolitica
What are some causes of non inflammatory diarrhea?
Causes of non-inflammatory diarrhea
- ETEC
- EAEC
- EPEC
- Vibrio cholerae, parahemolyticus and vulnificus
- S. aureus
- Bacillus cereus
What is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea?
• what is likely the cause of persistent diarrhea lasting more than 10-14 days?
90% of infectious diarrheas are caused by viruses
Persistent diarrhea (> 10-14 days) is likely from a parasite
What should you consider as a diagnosis when someone has chronic diarrhea that is infectious?
Chronic diarrhea, start considering HIV status
Diarrhea is a big problem with AIDS pts
Mycobacterium avium intracellulare, CMV
Differentiate Acute and Chronic Diarrhea.
Acute diarrhea: 3 or more loose stools per day lasting less than 2 weeks.
Chronic diarrhea: persists greater than 4 weeks
What defines inflammatory diarrhea?
I_nflammatory diarrhea:_bloody diarrhea. Also called dysentery
- WBCs and RBCs seen in stool
- Fever is common
- Small volume diarrhea
- Colon is commonly affected
What defines non-inflammatory diarrhea?
Non-inflammatory diarrhea: watery diarrhea
- No cells in stool
- Usually afebrile
- Large volume diarrhea
- Small intestine is commonly affected
Compare E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella with regard to:
• Gram Staining
• Aerobic, Anaerobic, Facultative Anaerobe?
• Oxidase
• Nitrate Reduction
• Motility
• Features used for serotyping?
Features common to salmonella, shigella, and E. coli.
• Gram negative, facultative anaerobic rods
• Ferment glucose with acid production
• Oxidase negative
• Reduce nitrates to nitrite (basis for the dipstick test)
• Motile except Shigella
Antigenic structures used in serotyping
• H (flagellar) antigens
• `: O-side chain (polysaccharide) of LPS
What prevents E. coli that is part of the colonic flora from causing disease?
E. coli are part of normal GI flora and most don’t cause infection because lack PAI (pathogenicity associated island)
Shigella
• Gram Staining
• Motility
• Lactose Fermentation
• Production of H2S
Shigella: gram negative, nonmotile, non-lactose fermenting, does not produce H2S
Shigella
• Type that causes epidemics in Central/South America
• Type that is most common in the US
• Type that is most common world wide
S. dysenteriae: Epidemics in Central/South America
S. sonnei: 70% of U.S. cases, mostly children
S. flexneri: 2nd most common in US, most common worldwide
Shigella
• How transmissible is it?
• How is it transmitted?
• Who is most likely to be infected with it?
Highly transmissible (very low infectious dose): fecal-oral or contaminated water/food
1Daycare centers, 2migrant workers, 3travelers to developing countries, 4nursing homes
Where and how does shigella invade tissue?
• what important proteins does it need to do this?
- Resistant to acidic environment of stomach
- Taken up by epithelial cells (M cells) in the intestine.
- They proliferate intracellularly, escape into lamina propria, and are phagocytosed by macrophages where they induce apoptosis.
- Consequent inflammatory response damages epithelia and allow Shigella to gain access to colonic epithelial cells where they can invade.
- Shigella spreads into adjacent cells via bacterium-induced, membrane- bound protrusions from the surface of the host cell. The formation of these protrusions depends on cellular actin polymerization proteins called FORMINS. The bacterium lyses the membranes that surround it, freeing itself into the cytoplasm of the new cell
How does shigellosis present?
• Incubation period
• Self limited?
Incubation period 1 week
Self-limited illness of diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain lasting about 1 week
Initially watery diarrhea which progresses to dysentery (bloody) in 50%.
Some adults will have a subacute course that lasts several weeks
What are some of the complications of Shigella infection?
• Are any of these complications specific to the species of Shigella involved?
Complications:
• reactive arthritis, urethritis, conjunctivitis (formerly known as Reiter’s syndrome)
• Hemolytic uremic syndrome may occur after infection with S. dysenteriae that produces Shiga toxin (AB toxin)
Are antibiotics useful in the treatment of shigellosis?
• if so which ones are used?
Antibiotics shorten the course and reduce duration of organism shedding in stools
Treatment:
Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Azithromycin
What 5 types or E. coli are known to cause diarrhea?
• is the diarrhea inflammatory or non-inflammatory?
5 major strains of diarrheagenic E. coli:
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (inflammatory)
Enteropathogenic E. coli (non-inflammatory)
Enterotoxigenic E. coli (non-inflammatory)
Enteraggregative E. coli (non-inflammatory)
Enteroinvasive E. coli (inflammatory)
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli
• aka?
• What are the 2 different types?
• Source of infection?
• How transmissible is it?
• How often does it cause severe complications requiring hospitalization?
Also called STEC (Shiga toxin producing E. coli)
2 types:
O157:H7 and non-O157:H7
Source:
Caused by ingesting inadequately cooked meat (hamburgers), contaminated vegetables and milk; also human-to-human
Transmissibility:
Low infectious dose
Severity of Infection:
Hospitalization required in 25-50% of patients
What is the pathogenesis of diarrhea in EHEC infections?
Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE)
1. PAI (pathogenicity associated island) - contains genes required to cause LEE
- Type III secretion system (Esp A, B, D) is used to insert receptors (Tir) for the E. coli to latch onto (with Intimin).
- Pedestal formation for attachment - this is called the attaching and effacing lesion
This process causes Diarrhea
What is the clinical presentation of EHEC?
- Little fever, acute onset cramps and watery diarrhea.
- Diarrhea becomes bloody (hemorrhagic colitis) within 24 hours, lasts up to 8 days
Which of the EHEC strains is more likely to cause large outbreaks of hemorrhagic colitis?
O157:H7 strains more likely to cause large outbreaks, bloody diarrhea, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and ischemic colitis
How does Shiga-like toxin work?
• What strain of E. coli has this toxin?
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli has Shiga toxins (or Shiga-like toxins)
Encoded on a lysogenic bacteriophage
AB toxin
• B subunits bind toxin to its receptor on cells
• A subunit then enters the cytosol and cleaves a specific adenine residue from the 28S rRNA of the 60S ribosomal subunit, halting protein synthesis and causing death
T or F: hemolytic uremic syndrome is more associated with Shigella infection than with EHEC infection.
False, EHEC strains are more likely to cause HUS
What is the pathogenesis of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in EHEC and Shigella infection?
• how does it get into circulation?
• Explain the pathogenesis of the Anemia, Thrombocytopenia, and Renal Failure.
Shiga toxin is absorbed from the inflamed gastrointestinal mucosa into the circulation, where it alters endothelial cell function in some manner that results in platelet activation and aggregation.
- The hemolytic anemia and renal failure occur because there are receptors for Shiga toxin on the surface of the endothelium of small blood vessels and on the surface of kidney epithelium.
- Death of the endothelial cells of small blood vessels results in a microangiopathic hemolytic anemia - red cells passing through the damaged area become grossly distorted (schistocytes) and then lyse.
- Thrombocytopenia occurs because platelets adhere to the damaged endothelial surface.
- Death of the kidney epithelial cells leads to renal failure.
How common is HUS in EHEC infections?
• how commonly is EHEC the cuprit of HUS?
EHEC accounts for over 90% of HUS in children.
Complicates 6-9% of EHEC infections
What is the Clinical Presentation of HUS?
• how often is this disease fatal?
5-10 days after onset of diarrhea:
Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia
AKI with dialysis required in over half of patients (most regain kidney function)
Neurologic symptoms (seizures, somnolence) in 25%
Mortality rate of about 5%
What is an easy why to differentiate EHEC O157 H7 from other types of EHEC and E. coli?
• what are 2 other methods of diagnosis?
the O157:H7 strain cannot ferment sorbitol when plated on Sorbitol-MacConkey agar and will appear WHITE instead of pink
PCR or enzyme linked immunoabsorbant assay (ELISA) used to detect Shiga toxin.
***How should a case of HUS be treated after diagnosis?
Supportive care and monitoring for complications
- *Important
1. Avoid anti-diarrheals**(increase risk of systemic complications) - *2. Antibiotics are NOT beneficial** and may predispose to HUS by inducing more Shiga toxin release