Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Flashcards
What are microbes?
Single cell organisms
What are prokaryotes?
Simple organisms, no organelles
What are eukaryotes?
Complex organisms, have organelles and nucleus
What is pathogenicity?
Measure how easily a bug can make you sick
What are virulence factors?
Factors that enhance the bugs ability to make you sick
What is a virus?
One strand of DNA or RNA, no cell wall therefore antibiotics are ineffective
What is the lifestyle of viruses?
1) Attachment
2) Penetration & uncoating
3) mRNA synthesis
4) Protein synthesis
How do you kill viruses?
- Sunlight
- Bleach
- Antiviral drugs
What are fomites?
Inanimate objects that can transmit disease
What is active & passive protection?
- First line protection - natural host protection/barriers
- Second line protection - Inflammation, fever
What is innate immunity?
- Preformed, non-specific, immediate
- Humoral → complement & neutrophils
- Cell mediated → macrophages & natural killers
- No memory
What is adaptive immunity?
- Highly specific, several days to activate
- Humoral → B-cells & antibodies
- Cell mediated → Helper T-cells & cytotoxic T-cells
- Memory → faster next time
What is the difference between the primary and secondary response?
Both involve immune cells and antibodies but the secondary response is 10 fold stronger
What are macrophages?
- Apart of the innate immune system
Compared to neutrophils - Live longer, larger, phagocyte more pathogens, dominate later (1-2 days), large round nucleus
What are neutrophils?
- Apart of the innate immune system
- Dominate early, multi lobed nucleus
What do dendritic cells do?
Capture and present protein antigens to naive T-lymphocytes
What do mast cells do?
Found in connective tissue, release histamine, promoting inflammation
What are the 5 antibodies/immunoglobulins?
- IgG - Main serum antibody, resolution of infection
- IgA - Secretory antibody
- IgM - Indicates current infection
- IgE - Allergies
- IgD - Attached to B cells, antigen receptor
What are the meninges layers?
- Dura mater
- Arachnoid space mater
- Subarachnoid space → cerebrospinal fluid
- Pia mater
Why is cerebral spinal fluid vulnerable?
Due to lack of defences
What is meningitis?
Inflammation of meninges
What is encephalitis?
Inflammation of the brain
What is meningitis’ causative agent?
Neisseria meningitidis
What is the epidemiology of meningitis?
- A, B, C, X, Y and W are most likely
- Group B most common in NZ
What is the transmission of meningitis?
- Meningococcal bacteria commonly carried in nose and throat, does not cause disease
- Transferred person to person through saliva contact, fomites with saliva
- In rare cases bacteria invade rapidly leading to disease→ reason why not understood
What increases risks of meningitis?
- Tobacco smoke, binge drinking, respiratory infection
- Living in close proximity to others
- Living with people with the disease
- Impaired immune system
- Age and ethnicity’
What are symptoms of meningitis?
- Flu-like symptoms in first 24 hours
- Infants → gradual onset, fever, cry, unsettled, feed poorly, vomit, dislike bright lights, rash, bulging fontanelle
- Older children → fever, malaise, nausea, vomiting, muscle aches & pains, drowsiness, headache, dislike bright lights, neck stiffness, rash
- Atypical symptoms → GI symptoms, pneumonia, septic arthritis, endocarditis, epiglottitis, supraglottitis
What is a petechial rash?
- Small red or purple spots on skin caused by minor bleed from broken capillary blood vessels
- Use glass test to confirm
How to test for meningitis?
- Lumbar puncture → cloudy shows infection
- Diagnosis depends on gram stain of CSF
- More neutrophils in fluid indicate bacterial infection
- More lymphocytes or monocytes in fluid indicate viral infection
How to treat bacterial meningitis?
Antibiotics
What are complications of meningitis?
- Inflammation of membranes around brain (meningitis)
- Blood infection → septicaemia
- Pneumonia - lung infection
- Long-term damage - skin scarring, limb amputation, hearing loss and brain injury (in 1-2 of 10 survivors)
- Death of 1-2 out of 10 people even with rapid treatment
How to prevent meningitis?
- Preventative antibiotics of people patient has been in contact with
- Vaccines for several strands → no vaccines against B which is most common in NZ