Medical Microbiology Flashcards

1
Q

What is clinical microbiology?

A

The study of how microorganisms cause disease, how it’s managed, the clinical presentation of a disease and how a disease is diagnosed

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2
Q

Where is normal flora found in the human body?

A

Mouth
Skin
Intestinal tract
Genital tract

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3
Q

What professions deliver a clinical microbiology service?

A

Clinical microbiologists
Infection control & link nurses
Doctors
Anti microbial pharmacists
Biomedical scientists
Lab assistants
Lab managers

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4
Q

What are the 2 pathways of transmission?

A

Horizontal- Transmitted from host to host
Vertical- Transmitted from one generation to the next through congenital infection

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5
Q

What are the 2 types of direct, horizontal transmission?

A

Direct contact- Through touch or exchange of bodily fluids with another person
Droplet- Through coughing and sneezing

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6
Q

What are the 3 types of indirect, horizontal transmission?

A

Airborne- Via infectious agent remaining in the air from coughing, sneezing, laughing or breathing
Vehicle- Through an inanimate object that can pass on disease from person to person (via touch)
Vector- Mostly transmitted by insect bites

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7
Q

Define infection

A

Invasion and multiplication of microorganisms in body tissues, especially that causing local cellular injury due to competitive metabolism, toxins, Intracellular replication or antigen- antibody response

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8
Q

What are the 5 major types of pathogens?

A

1- bacteria
2- Viruses
3- Fungi
4- Protozoan (water borne)
5- Parasitic worm

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9
Q

List the routes of entry for invading pathogens

A

Ears
Nose
Mouth
Vagina
Urethra
Anus
Conjunctiva of eye
Broken skin and insect bites

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10
Q

What are the 6 steps of the chain of infection?

A
  1. Infectious agent
  2. Reservoir (pathogen itself often found in reservoir)
  3. Exit portal
  4. Transmission
  5. Entry portal
  6. Susceptible host
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11
Q

Explain the index, primary, secondary and tertiary cases

A

Index- first patient identified with disease
Primary- case that brings infection to the population
Secondary- Infected by a primary case
Tertiary- Infected by a secondary case

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12
Q

What characteristics should pathogens have?

A

Ability to enter the body
Multiply in the tissue
Damage tissue
Result the host defence

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13
Q

Define pathogenicity

A

Pathogenicity- Ability of microbial species to produce disease

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14
Q

Define virulence

A

Ability of microbial strains to produce disease

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15
Q

Where does pathology receive their specimens from?

A

In-patient
Out-patient (follow up etc)
Emergency admissions
General practice
Care homes, Hospice and Convalescents
Environment

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16
Q

List the different types of specimens

A

Blood
Urine
Swab
Sputum
Faeces
Tissue
Food/ water

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17
Q

Where can fluid samples be collected from?

A

Urinary tract
Gastrointestinal tract- Bile and washings
Respiratory tract- Sputum and alveolar lavage
CNS- Cerebrospinal fluid and pus
Skin and soft tissue- Vesical fluid and pus
Bone and joints- Pus and aspirate
Other (e.g Septicaemia (blood))

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18
Q

Where can tissue samples be collected from?

A

Urinary tract- Renal biopsy
Gastrointestinal tract- Liver biopsy, rectal swab
Respiratory tract- Lung biopsy, nasal/ throat swab
CNS- Brain biopsy
Genital tract- Endometrial biopsy, urethral/ cervical swab
Skin and soft tissue- skin/ wound swab

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19
Q

Where are swab specimens collected from?

A

Skin and soft tissue- skin biopsy and scrapings
Bone and joint- Bone
Other- e.g Endocarditis- Heart valve

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20
Q

Why are specimens taken?

A

Due to signs of infection
Rule out infection
Routine upon admission (for MRSA)
Check levels
Look for abnormalities
To see treatment needs to begin/ withdrawn

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21
Q

What are the methods of rapid detection?

A

Light microscopy (Gram stain etc)
Immunofluorescence (tagged antibodes)
Antigen detection (monoclonal antibodies)
Molecular tests (PCR)
Colonial appearance/ selective agar
MALDI- TOF

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22
Q

List the different ways in which bacteria are classified

A

Gram reaction
Cell shape
Sporulation
Atmospheric preference
Requirements from special media/ intracellular growth

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23
Q

List the different types of media and describe what they are used for

A

General purpose- Grow a broad spectra of microorganisms (blood agar)
Enriched - Enhance the growth factors of bacterium
Selective- Enhance the growth of desired bacteria and inhibit others
Differential- Show the differences between bacteria

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24
Q

What are the identification enzyme tests that can be carried out on bacteria?

A

Catalyse
Oxidase

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25
Q

When is the best time to take a patients blood culture sample?

A

Before antibiotics are given

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26
Q

What are the different isolation procedure requirements?

A

Liquid or solid media
Apppropriate temp
Appropriate gaseous conditions (aerobic, anaerobic, facultative or microaerophillic- 2-10% O2)

27
Q

What are the basic requirements that bacteria have to grow?

A

Nutrients- H2O, CHO’s, proteins and minerals
Neutral pH (slight variation between each bacteria)
Sterile
30-35 degrees temp for bacteria
40 degrees for fungi

28
Q

What are the 2 general strategies to grow bacteria?

A
  1. Enriched media for non-selective growth
  2. Selective media- for large numbers of bacteria (normal flora)
29
Q

What is solid media?

A

Nutrients and chemicals added to encourage growth + identification poured into a Petri dish for lab use
Practically no bacteria can digest it

30
Q

What is liquid media?

A

Specialised broths used for the recovery of organisms from sterile sites
Don’t dry out= a good maintence media

31
Q

What are the 4 types of media?

A
  1. Selective- selects what you want to grow, useful for sites with normal flora
  2. Enrichment- good for sterile sites
  3. Differential- used to work out the different types of different types of bacteria are present
  4. Specialised- cultivation of rare and unusual isolates
32
Q

What is blood agar and what is it used for?

A

Basal media
5% horse blood (rest is sheep/ human)
Shows alpha, beta and gamma haemolysis (break down of red blood cells)
Not selective

33
Q

What is Cetrimide agar differential for?

A

Differential for Pseudomonus
Fluoresces when pseudomonas is present with a distinctive smell

34
Q

What is Candida Brillinace agar differential for?

A

Candida species
Present a range of colours from blue-red depending on what yeast is grown/ present

35
Q

What is MacCockney agar differential for, and what colour change occurs?

A

Differential for lactose fermenting bacteria
Crystal violet is gar mixture is differential for Gram +ve bacteria and inhibits the growth of Gram -ve bacteria
Lactose +ve bacteria cause the agar to turn from red- bright pink to
Lactose -ve cause a red- organge/ yellow colour change

36
Q

How is Mannitol salt agar differential and what bacteria is it differential for?

A

Differential for Staphlycococcus
High concentrations of NaCl only allows halototlerant/ halophillic bacteria to grow
Those bacteria ( staph aureus) that can ferment mannitol, reduces the pH causing the agar to turn the phenol red from light red- yellow
Bacteria that don’t ferment the mannitol can still grow so the agar turns a darker pink (staph epidermis)

37
Q

What is MEYP agar?

A

Mannitol egg Yolk Polymyxin agar

38
Q

How is MEYP differential and what bacteria is it differential for?

A

Differential for Bacillus that ferment mannitol (particularly for B. Serious)
Contains polymixin which inhibits the growth of Gram -ve bacteria and Gram +ve cocci (staph)
Fermentation dec pH, turns agar pink only b.serious can do this

39
Q

What are the different atmospheric requirements for growth of bacteria?

A

Obligate aerobes- obliged to use O2
Microaerohillic- lower amount of O2 than the atmosphere
Capnophiles- high amounts of CO2
Facultative anaerobes- growth in prescence OR abscence of oxygen
Obligate anaerobes- strictly only grow n anaerobic conditions

40
Q

What are the 5 techniques used to identify a microorganism?

A

Selective and differential media
Colonial morphology
Gram staining
Confirmatory tests
Antibiotic susceptibility

41
Q

How should a specimen be handled/collected?

A

Before antibiotics have started
Labelled appropriately with clinical detail
Transported and stored accordingly
Special transport medium carried out if required
Correct sample type collected

42
Q

How are specimens processed?

A

Urgent vs non-urgent samples
Sites with normal flora and sites without
Culture conditions should be correct:
Growth time
Atmospheric conditions
Specific factors in the culture media

43
Q

Describe chromogenic media

A

Use in most labs
Acts as an indicator media
Incorporates chromogenic sub rates in the media
Quicker method of identifying and differentiating micro-organisms
Easy to separate mixed cultures
Expensive

44
Q

What is routine plate selection?

A

Often selective an enrichment
Indicator in special circumstances
Plates are usually ready the next day

45
Q

Describe the urease confirmatory test?

A

Tests for bacteria’s ability to degrade urea
Phenol red is used to test for acidity
Yellow appearance= Acidic
Pink appearance= Alkaline

46
Q

What are healthcare associated infections?

A

HCAI are a result of healthcare interventions/ being in contact with a healthcare setting (MRSE or CDI)
Therefore infection prevention and control is a key priority for the NHS

47
Q

Describe the process and effect of MRSA screening

A

Initiative to reduce HCAI
Patients screened according to this policy
2/3 swabs of each patient upon admission, during their stay and prior to discharge
Inc lab workload due to need for quick result

48
Q

What is MRSA?

A

Discovered in 1981
1 in 3 healthy people are carriers
Widespread in most hospitals
Resistant to most antibiotics

49
Q

Which bacteria are catalase +ve/-ve?

A

Staphylococci- +ve
Streptococci- -ve
Gram -ve- +ve
Very few anaerobes are +ve

50
Q

How does the catalase test work?

A

Breakdown of hydrogen peroxide
Generation of oxygen “bubbles” (in 20s on a slide)= +ve
Distinguishes between Strep and Micrococcus from Enetrcoccus and Staph

51
Q

Which bacteria are oxidase +ve/-ve?

A

Staph and Strep- -ve
Many enviromental organisms- +ve
Many pathogens- +ve
Gram -ve bacteria- -ve

52
Q

How does the oxidase test work?

A

Enzyme is only found obligate aerobes that oxidises the TMPD* reagent
Purple/ blue compound is produced in aprox10 seconds

53
Q

What are the 3 major groups of bacteria and their result for the catalase test?

A
  1. Obligate aerobe - Positive
  2. Facultative anaerobe- Positive
  3. Obligate anaerobe- Negative
54
Q

What are the 3 major groups of bacteria and their result for the oxidase test?

A
  1. Obligate aerobe- Positive
  2. Facultative anaerobes- Negative
  3. Obligate anaerobes- Negative
55
Q

What is taxonomic analyses?

A

The process of ordering and classifying bacteria

56
Q

What are the 5 main categories in phenotypic analysis?

A
  1. Morphology- Gram reaction, cell size and shape
  2. Motility- Nonmotile, gliding motility, swimming (flagella)
  3. Metabolism- Mechanism of energy conservation, growth factor requirements
  4. Physiology- Temp, pH, salt ranges for growth, response to oxygen
  5. Other traits- Pigments, luminescence, antibiotic sensitivity, serotype
57
Q

What are the 3 different spore positions that help differentiate bacteria?

A

Terminal
Central
Subterminal

58
Q

Describe phylogenetic analysis

A

The representation of the history f a group of organisms in a phylogenetic tree
PCR is used to amplify and sequence DNA so that sequences can be compared and phylogenetic trees can be created

59
Q

Describe the theoretical aspects of evolutionary analysis

A

Most widely used molecular clocks are a small subunit rRNA genes
They’re found in small domains of life
16S rRNA in prokaryotes and 18S rRNA in eukaryotes
Functionally constant
Sufficient length

60
Q

How is genomic hybridisation used as a taxonomic tool?

A

Genomes of 2 organisms are hybridises to examine proportion of similarities in their gene sequences
Useful for differentiating very similar organisms

61
Q

List some bacteriological uses when naming bacteria

A

Bacterial name must be in italics
Name of all taxa must be in italics
Names should only be abbreviated after they save been first used in text

62
Q

Describe the coagulase test

A

Tube test- performed enzyme within cell-free coagulase
Considered gold standard for S.aureus identification
Clots rabbit palms in the test tube

63
Q

What is MALDI TOF MS?

A

Matrix assisted laser desorption time of flight mass spectrometry
Identification of virtually all clinically relevant bacteria in 20 mins
However only as good as the data base it has