Mnemonics Flashcards
“These Microbes May Lack Real Color”
= bacteria that do not Gram stain well.
1) Treponema
2) Mycobacteria
3) Mycoplasma
4) Legionella
5) Rickettsia
6) Chlamydia
mnemonic for bacteria that don’t Gram stain well
These Microbes May Lack Real Color
1) Treponema
2) Mycobacteria
3) Mycoplasma
4) Legionella
5) Rickettsia
6) Chlamydia
mnemonic for microbes that Giemsa-Wright stain
Certain Bugs Really Try my Patience
1) Chlamydia
2) Borrelia
3) Rickettsiae
4) Trypanosomes
5) Plasmodium
“Certain Bugs Really Try my Patience”
= microbes that GIemsa-Wright stain
1) Chlamydia
2) Borrelia
3) Rickettsiae
4) Trypanosomes
5) Plasmodium
mnemonic for the periodic acid-Schiff stain
PASs the sugar
PAS stains glycogen and mucopolysaccharides to diagnose Whipple disease (Tropheryma whipplei)
“PASs the sugar”
period acid-Schiff (PAS) stains for glycogen and mucopolysaccharides to diagnose Whipple disease (Tropheryma whipplei)
mnemonic for isolation of Neisseria species: N. gonorrhoeae, N. meningitidis
“to connect to Neisseria, please use your VPN client” - Thayer-Martin (VPN) media
1) Vancomycin inhibits gram-positive organisms
2) Polymyxin inhibits gram-negative organisms except Neisseria
3) Nystatin inhibits fungi
“to connect to Neisseria, please use your VPN client”
for isolation of N. gonorrhoeae, N. meningitidis, use Thayer-Martin (VPN) media
1) Vancomycin inhibits gram-positive organisms
2) Polymyxin inhibits gram-negative organisms except Neisseria
3) Nystatin inhibits fungi
mnemonic for isolation of B. pertussis
“Bordet for Bordetella”
use Bordet-Gengou (potato) agar to isolate B. pertussis
“Bordet for Bordetella”
use Bordet-Gengou (potato) agar to isolate B. pertussis
mnemonic to remember the colors of Gram stains
“I’m positively BLUE over you!”
“No (negative) RED commies!”
mnemonic for isolation of fungi
“Sab’s a fun guy!”
Sabourand agar to grow fungi
“Sab’s a fun guy!”
Sabourand agar grows fungi
mnemonic for obligate aerobes
“Nagging Pests Must Breathe”
1) Nocardia
2) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
3) MycoBacterium tuberculosis
“Nagging Pests Must Breathe”
= obligate aerobes
1) Nocardia
2) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
3) MycoBacterium tuberculosis
mnemonic for facultative intracellular bugs
“Some Nasty Bugs May Live FacultativeLY”
1) Salmonella
2) Neisseria
3) Brucella
4) Mycobacterium
5) Listeria
6) Francisella
7) Legionella
8) Yersinia pestis
“Some Nasty Bugs May Live FacultativeLY”
= facultative intracellular bugs
1) Salmonella
2) Neisseria
3) Brucella
4) Mycobacterium
5) Listeria
6) Francisella
7) Legionella
8) Yersinia pestis
mnemonic for obligate intracellular bugs
“Stay inside (cells) when it is Really Cold”
1) Rickettsia
2) Chlamydia
“Stay inside (cells) when it is Really Cold”
= obligate intracellular bugs
1) Rickettsia
2) Chlamydia
“Even Some Super Killers Have (Pretty) Nice Big Capsules”
= encapsulated bacteria 1) E.coli 2) Streptococcus pneumoniae 3) Salmonella 4) Klebsiella pneumoniae 5) Haemophilus influenzae () Pseudomonus aerigonosa 6) Neisseria meningitidis 7) Group B Strep 8) Cryptococcus Neoformans (yeast)
“SHiNE SKiS” (+C)
= encapsulated bacteria 1) Streptococcus pneumoniae 2) Haemophilus influenzae 3) Neisseria meningitidis 4) E.coli 5) Salmonella 6) Klebsiella pneumoniae 7) group B Strep () Cryptococcus Neoformans (yeast)
mnemonic for encapsulated bacteria
“Even Some Super Killers Have (Pretty) Nice Big Capsules”
“SHiNE SKiS”
mnemonic for facultative intracellular bugs
“Listen Sally Yer Friend Bruce May Leave Now”
1) Listeria monocytogenes
2) Salmonella typhi
3) Yersinia pestis
4) Francisella tularensis
5) Brucella
6) Mycobacterium
7) Legionella
8) Neisseria
“Listen Sally Yer Friend Bruce May Leave Now”
= facultative intracellular bugs
1) Listeria monocytogenes
2) Salmonella typhi
3) Yersinia pestis
4) Francisella tularensis
5) Brucella
6) Mycobacterium
7) Legionella
8) Neisseria
mnemonic for catalase-positive organisms
“PLACESS” for your cats
1) Pseudomonas
2) Listeria
3) Aspergillus
4) Candida
5) E. coli
6) S. auerus
7) Serratia
“PLACESS” for your cats
= catalase-positive organisms
1) Pseudomonas
2) Listeria
3) Aspergillus
4) Candida
5) E. coli
6) S. auerus
7) Serratia
PUNCH KSS” (or CHuck Norris hates PUNKSS)
= urease-positive organisms
1) Proteus
2) Ureaplasma
3) Nocardia
4) Cryptococcus
5) H. pylori
6) Klebsiella
7) S. epidermidis
8) S. saprophyticus
mnemonic for urease-positive organisms
PUNCH KSS” (or CHuck Norris hates PUNKSS)
1) Proteus
2) Ureaplasma
3) Nocardia
4) Cryptococcus
5) H. pylori
6) Klebsiella
7) S. epidermidis
8) S. saprophyticus
mnemonic for characteristics of endotoxin?
ENDOTOXIN
1) Edema (hypotension) - caused by C3a of complement
2) Neutrophil chemotaxis - caused by C5a of complement
3) DIC - caused by activated tissue factor
4) Outer membrane - Lipid A is inner component of LPS
5) TNFa - released by macrophages and leads to fever and hypotension
6) O-antigen - outer component of LPS
7) eXtremely heat stable
8) IL1 - released by macrophages and leads to fever
9) Nitric oxide - released by macrophages and leads to hypotension
mnemonic: What vital interventions should be performed immediately (<1 hr) of a diagnosis of sepsis?
The septic six: BUFALO
1) blood - draw blood cultures them prior to antibiotic administration
2) urine - insert urinary catheter and monitor hourly urine output
3) fluid - treat hypotension with IV fluids and drugs (dopamine and norepinephrine)
4) antibiotics - administer empiric broad spectrum antibiotics stat
5) lactate (and hemoglobin) - measure serum lactate and hemoglobin levels, associated with mortality
6) oxygen - maintain oxygenation, often with high flow O2 with intubation and mechanical ventilation
BUFALO
= the septic six: vital interventions that should be performed immediately (<1hr) of a diagnosis of septis
1) blood - draw blood cultures them prior to antibiotic administration
2) urine - insert urinary catheter and monitor hourly urine output
3) fluid - treat hypotension with IV fluids and drugs (dopamine and norepinephrine)
4) antibiotics - administer empiric broad spectrum antibiotics stat
5) lactate (and hemoglobin) - measure serum lactate and hemoglobin levels, associated with mortality
6) oxygen - maintain oxygenation, often with high flow O2 with intubation and mechanical ventilation
mnemonic for the bacterial toxins encoded in a lysogenic phage
ABCDE
1) ShigA-like toxin
2) Botulinum toxin (certain strains)
3) Cholera toxin
4) Diphtheria toxin
5) Erythrogenic toxin of Strep. pyogenes
ABCDE
= mnemonic for the 5 bacterial toxins encoded in a lysogenic phage
1) ShigA-like toxin
2) Botulinum toxin (certain strains)
3) Cholera toxin
4) Diphtheria toxin
5) Erythrogenic toxin of Strep. pyogenes
mnemonic for how certain streptococci respond to optochin
OVRPS
S. viridans is optochin resistant
S. pneumoniae is optochin sensitive
OVRPS
= how alpha-hemolytic (partial) streptococci respond to optochin
S. viridans is optochin resistant
S. pneumoniae is optochin sensitive
mnemonic for how certain streptococci respond to bacitracin
B-BRAS
Group B strep (S. agalactiae) is bacitracin resistant
Group A strep (S. pyogenes) is bacitracin sensitive
B-BRAS
= how beta-hemolytic (complete) streptococci respond to bacitracin
Group B strep (S. agalactiae) are bacitracin resistant
Group A strep (S. pyogenes) are bacitracin sensitive
mnemonic for the major manifestations of rheumatic fever
JONES
1) Joints - migratory polyarthritis
2) Carditis (O for heart) - endocarditis, myocarditis, or pericarditis
3) Nodules - subcutaneous (rubbery nodules just under the skin) on extensor surfaces (wrist, elbow, knee)
4) Erythema marginatum rash - rash with a red margin that spreads out from its center
5) Sydenham’s chorea - uncontrolled dance-like movements of the extremities, usually begins 2-3 weeks after pharyngitis
JONES
= major manifestations of rheumatic fever (Group A strep (S. pyogenes) infection)
1) Joints - migratory polyarthritis
2) Carditis (O for heart) - endocarditis, myocarditis, or pericarditis
3) Nodules - subcutaneous (rubbery nodules just under the skin) on extensor surfaces (wrist, elbow, knee)
4) Erythema marginatum rash - rash with a red margin that spreads out from its center
5) Sydenham’s chorea - uncontrolled dance-like movements of the extremities, usually begins 2-3 weeks after pharyngitis
mnemonic for remembering which bacterium is associated with colorectal neoplasm
Bovis in the Blood; Cancer in the Colon
Streptococcus bovis
mnemonic for remembering which disease S. bovis is associated with
Bovis in the Blood; Cancer in the Colon
S. bovis is associated with colorectal neoplasm
mnemonic for remembering S. pneumoniae is the most common cause of which diseases
1) meningitis
2) otitis media (in childreN)
3) pneumonia
4) sinusitis
MOPS are Most Optochin Sensitive (and remember OVRPS)
MOPS are Most Optochin Sensitive
= S. pneumoniae is the most common cause of: 1) meningitis 2) otitis media (in childreN) 3) pneumonia 4) sinusitis
and is optochin sensitive (remember OVRPS)
mnemonic for the causes of Clostridium botulinum infection
BOTulism is caused by bad BOTtles of food and honey
