Mycoplasma Flashcards
Mycoplasma
○ Smallest free-living organisms known
○ Has no cell wall
What are mycoplasma capable of?
○ They can replicate on their own on artificial media
○ This is due to them containing DNA and RNA and
What are the species of Mycoplama associated with human infection? Where?
○ Genital tract: M. hominis and U. urealyticum
○ Respiratory tract: M. pneumoniae
Specimen collection of mycoplasma
○ Swab or fluid samples
○ Swabs are placed in a transport media containing sucrose, phosphate buffer and antibiotics to inhibit other organisms
What is one thing about the swabs? And why?
○ Must be Dacron NOT COTTON
○ Cotton is toxic = no organism
How do you differentiate Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma?
○ Differentiated by their ability to:
○ Ferment glucose
○ Utilize arginine
○ Hydrolyze urea
Describe mycoplasma pneumoniae
○ Respiratory pathogen
○ Community acquired pneumonia (Coughing)
What does mycoplasma pneumoniae do to the body?
○ attaches to the respiratory mucosal cells
○ impairs function of the cilia and causes inflammation
M. hominis
○ Opportunistic pathogen liked to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in sexually active adults
○ Causes: Salpingitis (inflammation of fallopian tubes), postpartum fever in females, Infant meningitis
Ureaplasma urealyticum causes what?
Causes non-gonococcal urethritis in males
What are the medias needed to culture U. urealyticum and M. pneumoniae?
SP4, A8 agar, Shepard’s 10 B broth, E Agar with 5%-10% CO2
How long does U. urealyticum and M. pneumoniae take to grow in the special medias?
○ U. urealyticum grows in 1-5 days
○ M. pneumoniae 1-2 weeks
What antigens are we looking for against M. pneumoniae?
IgG and IgM
What is produced by 50% of patients in response to M. pneumoniae infection?
cold agglutinin antibodies
How to treat mycoplasma?
○ Erythromycin, fluoroquinolones or tetracyclines
○ No cell wall inhibiting antibiotics (beta lactams)
