Mnemonics

Question 1

These Rascals May Microscopically Lack Color (Gram stain limitations)

Answer 1

these bugs don’t gram stain well:
Treponema (too thin to be visualized)
Rickettsia (intracellular parasite)
Mycobacteria (high lipid content in cell wall detected by carbolfuchsin in acid-fast stain)
Mycoplasma (no cell wall)
Legionella pneumophila (primarily intracellular)
Chlamydia (intracellular; lacks muramic acid in cell wall)

Question 2

Certain Bugs Really Try my Patience (Giemsa stain)

Answer 2

Chlamydia, Borrelia, Rickettsiae, Trypanosomes, Plasmodium

Question 3

PASs the SUGAR (PAS - periodic acid-Schiff stain)

Answer 3

stains glycogen, mucopolysaccharides

used to diagnose Whipple’s disease (Tropheryma whipplei)

Question 4

Bordet for Bordetella (special culture req)

Answer 4

Bordet-Gengou (potato) agar for B. pertussis

Question 5

to connect to Neisseria, please use your VPN client (special culture req)

Answer 5

Thayer-Martin (or VPN) media:
Vancomycin (inhibits Gr+)
Polymyxin (inhibits Gr-, except Neisseria)
Nystatin (inhibits fungi)

Question 6

Sab’s a fun guy! (special culture req)

Answer 6

Sabouraud’s agar for Fungi

Question 7

Nagging Pests Must Breathe

Answer 7

Obligate aerobes:
Nocardia
Pseudomonas
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Bacillis

Question 8

Anaerobes Can’t Breathe Air

Answer 8

Obligate anaerobes:
Clostridium
Bacteroides
Actinomyces (facultative anaerobe)

Question 9

stay inside when it is Really Cold

Answer 9

Obligate intracellular - can’t make own ATP:
Rickettsia
Chlamydia

Question 10

Some Nasty Bugs May Live FacultativeLY

Answer 10

Facultative intracellular:
Salmonella
Neisseria, Brucella
Mycobacterium
Listeria
Francisella
Legionella
Yersinia pestis

Question 11

SHiNE SKiS

Answer 11

Encapsulated Bacteria:
Steptococcus pneumoniae
Haemophilus influenzae type B
Neisseria meningitidis
Escherichia coli
Salmonella
Klebsiella pneumoniae
group B Strep

(SHiN secretes IgA protease and undergoes transformation)

Question 12

Even Some Killers Have Pretty Nice Capsule

Answer 12

Encapsulated Organisms:
E. coli
Strep. pneumo
Klebiella
HiB
Pseudomonas
Neisseria
Cryptococcus neoformans

Question 13

you Need PLACESS for your cats

Answer 13

Catalase + organisms: degrade H2O2 before it can be converted to microbicidal products by myeloperoxidase

Nocardia
Pseudomonas
Listeria
Aspergillus
Candida
E. coli
S. aureus
Serratia

Question 14

CHuck norris hates PUNKSS

Answer 14

Urease +

Cryptococcus
HiB
Proteus
Ureaplasma
Nocardia
Klebsiella
S. epidermidis
S. saprophyticus

Question 15

pigment-producing bacteria (4)

Answer 15

Actinomyces - yellow sulfur granules
S. aureus - yellow
Pseudomonas - blue-green
Serratia - red

Question 16

labile in the Air, stable on the Ground

Answer 16

ETEC toxins
labile = adenylate cyclase
stabile = guanylate cyclase

Question 17

ABCDE: lysogenic toxins

Answer 17

toxins with genes encoded in a lysogenic phage

shigA-like toxin
Botulinum toxin
Cholera toxin
Diphtheria toxin
Erythrogenic toxin (S. pyogenes)

Question 18

NO StRESs

Answer 18

Staphylococci - Novobiocin

saprophyticus, resistant
epidermidis, sensitive

Question 19

OVRPS (overpass)

Answer 19

Streptococci - Optochin

viridans - resistant
pneumoniae - sensitive

(viridans live in the mouth because they aren’t afraid of-the-chin - op-to-chin)

Question 20

B-BRAS

Answer 20

Streptococci - Bacitracin

GBS - resistant
GAS - sensitive

Question 21

gamma hemolytic, enterococcus vs nonenterococcus

Answer 21

both grow in bile

enterococcus: 6.5% NaCl
nonenterococcus: not in NaCl

Question 22

ABCDEFG of Corynebacterium diphteria

Answer 22

ADP-ribosylation
B-prophage
Corynebacterium
Diphtheria
EF2
Granules

Question 23

name 6 spore-formers

Answer 23

Bacillus - anthracis, cereus
Clostridium - perfringens, tetani, botulinum
Coxiella burnetii

Question 24

lactose is KEE

test with MacConKEE’S

Answer 24

lactose-fermenting: turns pink on MC agar

Citrobacter
Klebsiella
E. coli
Enterobacter
Serratia

Question 25

Neisseria: MG and G

Answer 25

MeninGococci ferment Maltose and Glucose

Gonococci ferment Glucose

Question 26

VDRL (false positives)

Answer 26

VDRL detects nonspecific antibody that reacts with beef cardiolipin

V: viruses (mono, hepatitis)
D: drugs
R: rheumatic fever
L: lupus, leprosy