Mucosal infections Flashcards
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- Causative agent and description
- Transmission
- Disease description
Causative agent and description:
• Syphilis is an infection caused by the spirochaeteTreponema pallidum.
• Corkscrew-like
• Dies when exposed to air and temperature changes
Transmission:
• Sexual contact with someone who has active lesions
• Infected blood contact/ vertical transmission
• Requires a breach in mucosal membranes to invade host
Disease description:
• Has three stages; primary, secondary and tertiary infections
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- histological features of primary syphilis
Chancre:
• Ulcerated granulation tissue
• Dense mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltrate
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- histological features of secondary syphilis
- Neutrophils in stratum corneum
- Epidermal hyperplasia
- Rete ridges thinning
- Lymphocytic inflammation
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- histological features of tertiary syphilis
Gumma:
• Central area of coagulative necrosis well demarcated
• Peripheral zone of fibrosis = chronic inflammatory cells
• The causative microorganism, Treponema pallidum, cannot usually be found
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- clinical features of primary syphilis
- Called chancre “shallow, painless ulcer with an indurated base”
- Highly infections
- Forms when the spirochete enters the body
- Accompanied by regional lymphadenopathy
- Heals spontaneously without treatment, then goes into latency
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- clinical features of secondary syphilis
- Diffuse eruptions occur on the skin and mucous membranes
- Very infectious
Oral lesions are known as mucous patches:
• Multiple
• Painless
• Greyish white plaques covering ulcerated mucosa
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- clinical features of tertiary syphilis
- Appears as a firm mass that eventually becomes an ulcer
- Called a gumma and is non-infectious, though it is a destructive lesion and can lead to perforation of the palatal bone (occur on tongue and palate)
- Involve the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system
Describe syphilis in terms of:
- congenital syphilis
Description:
• Syphilis can be transmitted from an infected mother to the fetus (organism crosses the placenta)
• Causes serious and irreversible damage to the child, including facial and dental abnormalities
Oral consequences:
• Enamel hypoplasia
• Hutchinson’s incisors: affected incisors are shaped like screwdrivers: broad cervically and narrow incisally, with a notched incisal edge
• Mulberry molars: First molars appear as irregularly shaped crowns made up of multiple tiny globules of enamel instead of cusps
Describe tuberculosis in terms of:
- Causative agent
- Pathogenesis
Causative agent:
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria
• Travels in aerosol droplets. Bacteria have an affinity for the lungs
Pathogenesis:
• Bacteria lodge in the alveoli of the lungs
• After undergoing phagocytosis by macrophages, the organisms are resistant to destruction and multiply in the macrophages
• They then disseminate in the bloodstream.
• Primary tuberculosis: latent disease, asymptomatic
• Secondary tuberculosis: active disease, symptomatic
Describe tuberculosis in terms of:
- general clinical signs of tuberculosis (7)
- Fever
- Chills
- Fatigue
- Malaise
- Weight loss
- Persistent cough
- May present with tuberculous lymphadenitis, most frequently affecting the cervical nodes
Describe tuberculosis in terms of:
- oral signs of tuberculosis (5)
Cause:
• They most likely appear when organisms are carried from the lungs in sputum and transmitted to the oral mucosa
• The tongue and palate are the most common sites for oral lesions
Lesion descriptions:
• Painful
• Not healing
• Slowly enlarging ulcers that are superficial or deep
Describe tuberculosis in terms of:
- histological features
- Necrosis surrounded by macrophages
- Multinucleated giant cells
- Lymphocytes.
- Langhan’s type giant cells
Describe tuberculosis in terms of:
- mycobacterium bovis
- atypical tuberculosis
Mycobacterium bovis:
• Source: infected milk
• Primary infection site: tonsils, mouth, intestine
• Only affects cattle
• Prevention: pasteurization of milk, cattle skin tested
Atypical tuberculosis
• Sources: soil, avium (poultry) or other mycobacterium species
• Most affected: Children, immune compromised
Describe candidiasis in terms of:
- pathogenesis
- histopathology
Pathogenesis:
• Candida albicansis the principal species associated with infection
• Commensal organism -> only causes disease in dysbiosis
• Occurs most commonly on tongue
• Commonly seen in new-borns, pregnant women, those who take antibiotics and those who are immunocompromised
Histopathology:
• Candidal hyphae invade the parakeratin more or less at right angles to the surface, but never penetrate deeper into the prickle cell layers
List the types of candida
Acute & Chronic pseudomembranous
Acute & Chronic Erythematous
Chronic Hyperplastic (pre malignant potential)
Candida Associated Denture Stomatitis
Candidal Angular Chelitis
Median Rhomboid Glossitis
Chronic Mucocutaneous