Internal Medicine_Infectious Diseases_11 Flashcards
Bacteria_e.coli, kleb, Serratia, Salm., Yersinia, Campy, Vibrio, Proteus, Pseudom, Burkholderia
What are the common infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp., and Serratia marcescens?
Enterobacter family of bacteria that play a significant role as nosocomial infections and share the notable trait of multidrug resistance.
Patients tend to get pneumonia and urinary tract infections.
What is a shared feature of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp., and Serratia marcescens?
Multidrug resistance and fermentation of lactose.
What agar do lactose fermenters like Klebsiella pneumoniae form pink colonies on?
MacConkey agar.
What is unique about Serratia marcescens’ lactose fermentation?
It ferments lactose slowly and can appear non-lactose fermenting initially.
What is a distinguishing feature of Enterobacter spp. in terms of motility?
Enterobacter spp. are motile.
Is Serratia marcescens motile?
yes
Is Klebsiella pneumoniae motile?
No.
What pigment does Serratia marcescens produce?
Prodigiosin, which gives a red pigment.
What type of patients are particularly at risk for Klebsiella pneumoniae infections?
Alcoholics, and those with aspiration pneumonia or abscess formation.
Other infections: GU infections, bacteremia, and intrabdominal infection.
What enzyme does Klebsiella pneumoniae produce, aiding its pathogenesis?
Urease, which hydrolyzes urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia.
What is the consistency and appearance of sputum in Klebsiella pneumoniae infections?
Currant jelly-like (viscous, resembling currant jelly).
What radiological findings might you see in a patient with Klebsiella pneumoniae?
Cavitation and pulmonary necrosis.
What is the treatment for Klebsiella?
Cephalosporins or fluoroquinolne
Consider multi-drug resistance due to ESBL.
What type of bacteria is Salmonella?
Salmonella is a gram-negative rod with peritrichous flagella for motility.
what reservoirs usually house Salmonella?
poultry, milk, eggs, or pets like turtles.
What protects Salmonella from host defenses?
A polysaccharide capsule (O-antigen) helps Salmonella resist host defenses.
How does Salmonella survive within hosts?
It is facultative intracellular, able to live inside macrophages.
What is a unique growth trait of Salmonella?
It produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S), forming black colonies on certain media.
What serious complications can NTS cause?
Gastroenteritis (diarrhea, emesis, abdominal pain, fever).
Bacteremia, meningitis, and osteomyelitis.
How is Salmonella diagnosed?
Stool culture.
How is NTS treated?
supportive care.
high risk/severe: fluoroquinolones or ceftriaxone
How is typhoidal Salmonella (TS) spread?
Through the fecal-oral route, typically via contaminated food or water.
Colonizes the gallbladder (usually asymptomatic patients).
What clinical symptoms are associated with typhoidal Salmonella?
Fever (usually step-wise) is the first clinical sign with a high plateau.
Relative bradycardia where HR is lower than anticipated given temp.
Rose spots (macules on chest and abdomen).
Abdominal pain (intestinal bleeding and sepsis due to crossing the intestinal barrier through M cells) by the third week of infection.
Hepatosplenomegaly.
Osteomyelitis.
Meningitis.
What antigen is unique to TS and resists host immunity?
Vi polysaccharide capsule antigen.
Allows proliferation in macrophages.
Prevents neutrophilic response
(lack of chemotaxis, opsonization, and oxidative burst)
Where is typhoidal Salmonella (TS) most prevalent?
TS infections predominantly occur in developing countries, which may be affected by poor sanitation (i.e., endemic regions are found within South-Central and East Asia as well as Southern Africa).
How is typhoidal Salmonella treated and prevented?
Treated with fluoroquinolones or azithromycin and prevented with vaccines (live attenuated or conjugate). A live attenuated vaccine is taken orally to protect against enteric fever. The conjugate vaccine (Vi capsular polysaccharide vaccine linked to Tetanus toxoid protein) is administered as an injection to provide robust protection against enteric fever
Salmonella is _____ labile
acid
Which patient population commonly get osteomyelitis from NTS?
osteomyelitis commonly occur in patients with sickle cell disease.
Which bacteria are the most common Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS)?
Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium
What is the gram staining and morphology of Shigella spp.?
Shigella spp. are gram-negative bacilli.
What type of colonies does Shigella form on Hektoen enteric agar?
Blue-green colonies due to the lack of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production.
What distinguishes Shigella from Salmonella on Hektoen agar?
Shigella forms blue-green colonies (no H2S production)
Salmonella forms black colonies
Is Shigella motile or non-motile?
Shigella is non-motile.
How does Shigella resist acidic environments?
It is acid-stable, requiring fewer microorganisms to cause infection.
What structure does Shigella manipulate for intracellular movement?
Actin filaments of the host’s cytoskeleton.
Where in the gastrointestinal tract does Shigella invade?
M cells in the Peyer’s patches of the mucosa.
What type of diarrhea is caused by Shigella?
Bloody diarrhea with inflammatory cells (leukocytes).
Other symptoms are abdominal cramps and fever.
What severe syndrome can Shigella dysenteriae lead to?
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS).
Shiga toxin damages endothelial cells in glomeruli, creating schistocytes and causing platelet aggregation, thrombocytopenia, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA), with acute kidney injury.
What is the target of Shiga toxin in protein synthesis?
The 60S ribosomal subunit.
Shiga toxin produced by Shigella dysenteriae, which is structurally and functionally similar to Shiga-like toxin of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, acts by inactivating the 60S ribosomal subunit, leading to inhibition of protein synthesis.
In which population is HUS most commonly seen?
Children under 5 years of age.
What specialized system does Shigella use to inject effector proteins into host cells?
Type III secretion system.
Shigella spp. possess a type Ill secretion system, a needle-like apparatus used to inject effector proteins into host cells; these proteins help the bacteria evade host immune responses and promote their invasion and intracellular survival.
How is Shigella spread?
Person-to-person.
Food.
How is Shigella diagnosed?
stool culture.
How is Shigella treated?
fluroquinolone or macrolide.
What is the gram stain and morphology of E. coli?
E. coli is a gram-negative rod.
What are the significant subtypes of E. coli, and what diseases are they associated with?
ETEC –> most common cause of travelers diarrhea
STEC or ETEC –> invasive bloody diarrhea in children and causes HUS
EPEC –> most common cause of watery diarrhea in developing countries
EIEC –> similar to Shigella causing watery or bloody diarrhea
All are self-limited and require just supportive care with the exception of ETEC which is normally self limited but in severe cases is treated with a macrolide of fluoroquinolone.
How can E. coli be identified on EMB (eosin-methylene blue) agar?
It produces a metallic green sheen.
What are the key microbiologic traits of E. coli?
- Ferments lactose
- Has the K antigen on its capsule (neonatal meningitis)
- Is catalase-positive
- Has fimbriae for attachment
What are the common infections caused by E. coli?
Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Neonatal meningitis (k1 capsular antigen)
Gram-negative sepsis
What is the primary transmission method for Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC)?
Consuming undercooked meat.