Module 11: Infectious Disease - Diagnosis and Epidemiology Flashcards
A subdiscipline of microbiology whose focus is diagnosing infectious diseases by identifying pathogenic microbes and advising medical providers on treatment.
Clinical Microbiology
Six rules of microbiology laboratory safety standards:
- restrict access
- practice good personal hygiene
- use PPE
- vaccinate
- handle specimens safely
- decontaminate
A local or systemic infection acquired at a healthcare facility.
nosocomial infection
These infections are frequently resistant to antibiotics.
hospital acquired infections
(nosocomial infections)
Search for antibodies or antigens using agglutination, immunofluorescence, EIA, etc.
Immunological Assays
Search for microbial or virus antigens using fluorescent antibody, EIA, etc.
Antigen Assays
Search for pathogen genes by gene amplification.
Molecular Assays
The reliability of any test is based on it ____________ and ______________.
- specificity
- sensitivity
The ability to recognize the target pathogen, minimizing false positives.
Specificity
The minimum amount of a pathogen needed for the test to detect it, minimizing false negatives.
Sensitivity
One of several selective media used for primary isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Thayer-Martin (MTM) agar
Gram stain can positively identify this pathogen in samples taken from males – while female samples have a positive identity in 60% or less.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
An isolate is often tentatively identified by observing ______________ on various media, followed by more detailed tests to make a positive identification.
colony characteristics
Support growth of most aerobic and facultatively aerobic organisms .
General-purpose media
(e.g. blood agar, chocolate agar)
Contain specific growth factors that enhance growth of certain fastidious pathogens.
Enriched media
This type of media inhibits growth of some bacteria while support growth of others.
Selective media
This agar inhibits growth of Gram + and supports growth of Gram - organisms.
EMB agar
(eosin methylene blue)
This type of media allows for identification based on growth, colour and appearance.
Differential media
This media contains bile salts and crystal violet – inhibits Gram +, contains sugars to differentiate Gram -, is both selective and differential.
MacConkey agar
_____________ is a selective medium because it contains antibiotics that inhibit the growth of other bacteria.
Thayer Martin Agar
The isolation, growth and identification of _________________ can be complicated by specimen contamination and the need to maintain anoxic conditions.
obligate anaerobes
A method for assessing antimicrobial susceptibility to antibiotics.
Disc diffusion test
The lowest concentration of antimicrobial agent that completely inhibits growth.
Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC)
Two methods to determine MIC
- antibiotic dilution assay
- Etest
Non-diffusion-based antimicrobial susceptibility testing method that uses a preformed and predefined gradient of an antimicrobial agent immobilized on a plastic strip.
Etest
This process uses fluorescent probes to label PCR amplicons, thereby allowing the accumulation of target DNA to be visualized.
Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR)
Binds non-specifically to double-stranded DNA and fluoresces only when bond.
SYBR Green
Uses pathogen-specific RNA to produce complementary DNA directly from patient samples.
reverse transcription PCR
(RT-PCR)
Uses labeled hybridization primers that are incorporated into an amplicon product of a qPCR reaction.
Determines presence but not amount of pathogen DNA.
Qualitative PCR
What are the steps of a dipstick assay?
- Lyse and denature sample in NaOH.
- Hybridize sample to probes (probe has reporter, region of complementary DNA to target, capture sequence) in solution. Nucleases destroy unhybridized probe.
- Capture with dipstick.
The study of antigen-antibody reactions in vitro.
Serology
Three example reactions of a serological reactions used for diagnostic immunology tests:
- neutralization
- precipitation
- agglutination
As antibody titer rises, body temperature ________.
drops
Use antibodies specific for pathogens or their products for in vitro tests designed to detect specific infectious agents.
Immunoassays
A quantitative measure of antibody level – defined at the highest dilution (lowest concentration) of serum at which an antigen-antibody reaction is observed.
Antibody titer
Serological reactions often use __________ antibodies.
monoclonal
Antibodies for a single epitope.
Monoclonal antibodies