lecture 18 Anaerobes Flashcards
What are the three classes of disease caused by clostridium?
- gas gang gangrene
- botulism
- tetanus
What are two enteric diseases caused by clostridium.
- food poisoning
- antibiotic-associated enterocolitis
What are the characteristics of clostridium?
-Anaerobic, gram-positive rods, form endospores, natural reservoirs -soil intestinal tracts and skin of humans and animals
What is the etiology Clostridial wound infections?
- usually mixed clostridial infection in wound following surgery or trauma.
- By Cl. perfringens, other cl. species
What is the etiology of gangrene?
Toxins caused by infection of clostridium spread to healthy muscle tissue and produce myonecrosis; by locally invasive organisms, Bacteremia is not common, but systemic toxemia can occur.
What is the pathogenesis of clostridium wound infections.
- α-toxin, acts on phospholipids and lecithin, causing cell lyses
- Θ-toxin, pore forming, lyses cell, toxic to heart and alters permeability of capillary
- No effective host defense in necrotic cells.
How are clostridial wound infections dx clinically?
- Clinical sx:
- -gas in tissues (crepitus), edema and shock in wound pain.
- -once a lesion appears, must begin treatment before lab results
How are clostridial wound infection dx in the lab?
-Mixed infection, one must be histotoxic (clostridium)
-Exudate smear - Gram positive rods with cellular infiltrate
-bacterial characteristics - “anaerobic growth”
double xone hemolysis (theta toxin)
check lecithinase activity on egg yolk
How are clostridial wound infection prevented/treated?
- surgical debridement and cleansing -antibiotics -Penicillin
- hyperberic O2
What is the source of clostridium in food?
- Meat prroducts
- spores germinate when food is heated
- enterotoxin is produces pores in enterocytes.
How is Cl. perfingens food poisoning dx clinically?
- onset 7-22 hours post ingestion
- diarrhea, cramps, abd pain, possible fever, nausea vomiting.
How is Cl food poisoning dx in the laboratory?
- non-motile (unlike other clostridia)
- spores sometimes seen on smears
Which genus of cl causes food poisoning?
Clostridium perfingens
How is Cl food poisoning treated?
- supportive therapy
- mortality near zero
What causes botulism?
-Clostridium botulinum
Where can Cl Botulinum be found?
-soil, silt, vegetation, intestinal tracts of humans and animals
What is classical botulism?
-is an intoxication, not an infection, caused by ingestion of preformed toxin in food contaminated with spores
What causes wound botulism?
usually infection of compound fracture, severe laceration or penetrating wound
What causes infant botulism?
caused by germination of spores in intestinal tract of infants; most cases in infants 2 weeks - 6 months; adults not affected by this syndrome