Miscellaneous Bacteria Flashcards
Chlamydia are [location]
Chlymadia are obligate intracellular
What are sulfatides?
Molecules secreted by M. tuberculosis that prevent the formation of the phagolysosome
Which species of Borrelia spp. are medically important?
Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia recurrentis
Which bacteria causes relapsing fever?
How is it transmitted to humans?
Borrelia recurrentis
Ticks and lice
What kinds of cells might be found in a tuberculosis granuloma?
- Macrophages
- Giant cells
- Foamy macrophages
- Epitheliod Macrophages
- Monocytes
- Neutrophils
How is M. tuberculosis treated?
Latent infection
- 9 months of Isoniazid
Active disease: 6 month, multi-drug regimen
- 2 months of RIPE
- Rifampin
- Isoniazid
- Pyrazinamide
- Ethambutol
- Follow with 4 months of RI
- Rifampin
- Isoniazid
Mycobacterium tuberculosis are [gram stain, shape, location, metabolism, relevant morphology]
Mycobacterium tuberculosis:
- Gram (+) structure, but does not gram stain
- Use acid-fast method
- Bacillus
- Facultative intracellular
- Obligate aerobe
- Very slow growth
What does Anaplasma phagocytophilum cause?
How is it transmitted?
What cells does it infect?
What is the clinical presentation?
Anaplasmosis
Transmitted by ticks
Infects neutrophils
Fever, headaches, myalgias, thrombocytopenia, leukpoenia
Describe the clinical presentation of M. abscessus
Rapid growth
Pulmonary infection, skin/soft tissue infection
Describe the interferon gamma release assay (IGRA)
Tests for latent tuberculosis infection
- Lymphocytes from the blood are incubated with M. tuberculosis antigen
- Interferon-gamma is produced if there is a latent infection
- Detect with ELISA
- Advantages
- Does not cross-react with other Mycobacterium or BCG vaccine
- No follow-up necessary
In which animal species does Leptospira interrogans causes infections?
How is Leptospira interrogans transmitted to humans?
Rats, cattle, dogs
Transmitted to humans after exposure to water contaminated with animal urine (through ingestion, cuts in skin, exposure of conjunctiva)
How can tuberculosis be prevented?
- BCG vaccine: Derived from attenuated M. Bovis
- Variable effectiveness
- Used in countries outside of USA
- Respiratiory isolation
- Prophylaxis for patients with latent TB
What do Mycoplasma have in their plasma membranes that other bacteria lack?
Sterols (obtained from eukaryotic cells or growth media)
Are mycobacterium gram positive or gram negative?
Structurally, all mycobacteria are gram positive
However, their cell envelopes have high lipid content; this prevents them from taking up gram stain and makes them highly resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics
What is unique about Mycoplasma?
Smallest organisms that can be free-living in nature and self replicating but require a media supplemented with essential components
Mycoplasma plasma membranes contain sterols which are obtained from eukaryotic cells or growth media
No cell walls so do not Gram stain
Which groups are at an increased risk for reactivating a latent tuberculosis infection?
- Elderly
- Alcoholics
- Malnourished
- HIV patients
- Immunosuppressed
- Chemotherapy, immunosuppressive therapy for IBD
- People who acquired latent disease in the last 2 years
- 1/2 of all reactivations happen within 2 years of primary infection
On two different plates with the appropriate agar, which bacteria would grow faster: M. tuberculosis or M. leprae?
- M. tuberculosis*!
- M. leprae* is obligate intracellular, and therefore cannot be cultured in the lab
What is the treatment for Leptospira interrogans?
Tetracycline, penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin
Is this a picture of tuberculoid leprosy or lepromatous leprosy?
How do you know?
Lepromatous; the pink marks are the acid-fast M. leprae taking up carbol fucshin
May bacteria are located in the tissues, a characterisitc of lepromatous leprosy
What does Coxiella burnetii cause?
What is the clinical presentation?
Which animal is it found in?
How is it spread to humans?
Q fever
Presents as fever, pulmonary infiltrates, and NO rash
Harborbed by sheep, especially placenta and fetal membranes
Spread by aerosols during the birth of lambs or other animals and through ingestion of unpasteurized milk
What is the “gold standard” for diagnosing a tuberculosis infection?
Grow M. tuberculosis from a speciment
- Old method: use Lowenstein-Jensen medium
- Inhibits growth of other bacteria, which allows us to (eventually) visualize the very slow-growing M. tuberculosis
- Need 3-6 week incubation period
- New method: use radio-labled palmitic acid agar
- Palmitic acid is metabolized by M. tuberculosis
- Presence of the bacteria is detected using radiolabled CO2
- This is much faster
What is cord factor?
What is its role in M. tuberculosis virulence?
Cord factor is secreted by M. tuberculosis to increase TNF-alpha secretion by the macrophage
You may wonder why a bacteria would promote a host immune response; most experts are also unsure
However, the hypothesis is that increasing TNF-alpha promotes the formation of a caseating granuloma that basically becomes a nice protected home in which M. tuberculosis survive and escape from to cause active diesease if it chooses
Which Chlamydia bacteria are medically important?
Chlymadia trachomatis
Chlymadia pneumoniae
Chlymadia psittaci
What are the medically relevant species of Mycobacterium?
- M. tuberculosis
- M. leprae
- M. bovis
- M. marinum
- M. avium
- M. intracellulare
- M. kansaii
- M. abcessus
- M. fortiuitum
Describe the structure of the Mycobacteria cell envelope
- Typical cytoplasmic membrane
- Cell wall is structurally gram positive, but has a high (60%) lipid content
- Lots of mycholic acids (a type of long-chain fatty acid)
Describe the presentation of an infection by the M. avium-intracellulare Complex
M. avium-intracellulare Complex = M. avium + M. intracellulare
- In HIV patients
- Bacteria are disseminated, leading to GI disease
- In Elderly and Cystic Fibrosis patients
- Pulmonary infection
List the determinants of pathogenicity of Mycobacterium leprae
- Surrounded by a dense, inert capsule
- Difficult for antibiotics to penetrate
- Slow division time
- Takes a long time to clear with antibiotic treatment
- Directly kills Schwann cells
- Causes nerve damage
A “snow storm pattern” on chest radiography is characteristic of which disease?
Tuberculosis, especially miliary tuberculosis
Which two members of the Rickettsiaceae family are transmitted by tick bite and likley to cause fever, headache, myalgia, throboytopenia, and leukopenia?
How would you identify the causative agent?
Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum
Note: Cannot be Coxiella burnetii or Rickettsia rickettsii; decreased platelets and WBC are unique to E. chafeensis and A. phagocytophilum
Look at the cells that are infected
- E. chafeensis* infects monocytes and macrophages
- A. phagocytophilum* infects neutrophils
Mycoplasma are [location]
Mycoplasma are NOT obligate intracellular
Describe a latent tuberculosis infection
Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains in the body, but is controlled by the host immune system
- Granulomas may form to contain the bacteria
- The bacteria survive in the necrotic centers of caseous granulomas, often in the lung
- Rupture releases bacteria, may cause disease conversion
- The host is not infectious or symptomatic
What is Pott’s disease?
Tuberculosis that has spread to the spine
- Arthritis of intervertebral joints
- Damage to soft tissue
Which agents are most concerning for biological warfare?
Why?
Category A Bioterrorism Agents
- Yersinia pestis
- Bacillus anthracis
- Francisella tularensis
- Clostridium botulinum (toxin)
- Hemorrhagic fever viruses
- Smallpox
These bacteria form spores or are contagious via aerosol inhalation (easily transmissible)
They can also cause very severe infections
Describe the clinical presentation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis
Occurs most frequently in HIV or immunosuppressed patients
- Chronic illness
- Fever
- Weight loss
- Night sweats
- May spread to…
- Lymph nodes (most frequent)
- Pleura
- Genitourinary tract
- Bones/joints
- Meninges
- Peritoneum (Rare)
Describe the gram-staining of spirochetes
Spirochetes are technically gram-negative due to characterisitcs of their cell walls, but most are not visualized by gram-stain because of the structure of their cell walls
Bartonella quintana are [size, Gram stain, shape, location]
Bartonella quintana are tiny Gram-negative bacilli that are NOT obligate intracellular
Why does the immune system form tuberculosis granulomas?
Granulomas form to protect the host from the invading bacteria that cannot be killed by the immune system
*
Describe the AFB test
The AFB test detects Acid-Fast Bacilli; can be used to detect M. tuberculosis
- Stain clinical specimens using acid-fast stain
- Faster results
- Not incredibly sensitive or specific
Which bacteria have reservoirs in wild animals?
(Wild FYRe)
- Francisella tularensis*
- Yersinia pestis*
- Rickettsia* spp.
What is the histopathological signature of tuberculosis?
Granuloma
A patient presents with well-defined, non-painful skin legions. The legions are hypopigmented and macular, with raised edges and a depressed center. They are hairless.
The patient states that they have just returned from a 2-month global health trip to Indonesia.
What is causing the skin legions?
How would you confirm your diagnosis?
How should the patient be treated?
- The legions are most likely Tuberculoid leprosy, a result of M. leprae infection
-
Confirm diagnosis with histologic exam and biopsy of the skin legion
- Tuberculoid leprosy will NOT have many bacteria present in the tissue
- Treat the patient with Dapsone + Rifampin for 6-12 months
Describe the clinical presentation of a Mycobacterium marinum disease
Causes an ulcer in soft tissue
Occurs after contact with fish, fish tanks, or salt water
What are the two types of tuberculosis disease?
Pulmonary TB and Extrapulmonary TB
Note: Miliary TB is a particularly severe case of tuberculosis that is classified as both pulmonary and exrapulmonary; the diesease is systemic
Describe the clinical presentation of pulmonary tuberculosis
- Chronic, productive cough
- Sputum tinged with blood
- Fever
- Weight loss
- Night sweats
- Usually forms cavities in the apex of both lungs
- Lots of bacteria thrive here
Pulmonary TB is the most common kind of TB disease
Rickettsia rickettsii are [size, Gram stain, shape, location]
Small Gram-negative coccobacilli that are obligate intracellular
(Does not visualize well with gram stain; use Giesma stain)