Medical microbiology Flashcards
What is epidemiology the study of
he nature, distribution, causation, transfer, prevention and control of disease (infectious/microbial in this case)
How many deaths did infection cause
1.68 billion
What vaccinations were made last century
Measels, HIV/AIDS/ hepatitis/ influenza pandemics/ respiratory viruses/ smallpox
What vaccinations have been made now and are planned to in the future
HIV/AIDS, influenza, SARS and ebola virus, Covid-19
Major global disease examples
respiratory - myobacterium tuberculosis.
Diarrheal - vibrio cholerae
What do infections involve
host, microorganisms and environment interactions
What are opportunistic pathogens
pathogens capable of causing damage and infection in a compromised host
What are obligate pathogens
causes damage and infection as part of its growth and replication
What are facultative pathogens
causes disease as one part of its lifecycle or when in a different host
What are commensal pathogens
induces either no damage or clinically inapparent damage to the host but may elicit an immune response
Obligate pathogen features
gram-positive, aerobe, phylum: actinobacteria. e.g., TB
Facultative pathogen features
gram-negative, facultative anaerobe, class: gammaproteobacterial. e.g., vibrio cholerae
Opportunistic pathogen features - pseudomonas aeruginosa
gram negative, phylum: proteobacteria, class: gammaproteobacteria.
Opportunistic pathogen features - staphylococcus aureus
gram positive, phylum: firmicutes, class: bacilli
commensal pathogen features
gram positive, phylum: firmicutes, class: bacilli e.g., epithelial or gut bacteria. Lactobacillus acidophilus
Example of how cf lung infections are diagnosed
sputum/cough swab -> microbial growth -> pure culture -> pathogen identification -> antibiotic susceptibility -> treatment and management
how can a pathogen be identified
species PCRs, sequencing, strain typing, MALDI-TOF MS
Issues to consider in medical microbiology
respiratory sample types, microorganisms present, growth media, multiple pathogens, indentification tests, useful antibiotics?, treatment strategies, pathogenic mechanisms
What knowledge do we have about different strains
knowledge of clonality or genetic identity - ribotyping, macro restriction and PFGE, PCR-fingerprinting, DNA sequencing
What are species
consist of large numbers or strains which share similar phenotypic and genetic properties (16S rRNA gene (>97% identity), gyrB or recA gene > 70% DNA-DNA hybridisation, average nucleotide identity)
What can identify a meroclone and a clone
whole-, core-, and accessory- genome multilocus sequencing type
What can identify a strain
ribosomal multilocus sequencing type