Mycoplasma, chlamydia, rickettsia, spirochetes, and curved rods (complete) Flashcards
What are the smallest free living microbes
Mycoplasmas
What are three significant structures that most bacterial organisms have, but mycoplasmas do not
cytochromes
enzymes of the krebs cycle
cell walls
What is necessary for the groth of mycoplasmas
cholesterol (sterols)
Where do you usually find colonized mycoplasmas in the human body
the mucus membranes or respiratory and urinary tracts
What is the mycoplasma that causes walking pneumonia
mycoplasma pneumonia
what is another name for walking pneumonia
primary atypical pneumonia
Where does mycoplasma pneumonia attach
to receptors at the bases of cilia on respiratory epithelial cells
What is different about walking pneumonia (primary atypical pneumonia) caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae
it causes a fever, headache, and sore throat those aren’t typically pneumonia symptoms
how is walking pneumonia spread
by nasal secretions among people in close contact
how serious is walking pneumonia
it is usually not severe enough to require hospitalization and death
Why is diagnosis difficult for mycoplasma pneumoniae
because they are small and slow growing
why is treatment of walking pneumonia difficult
because patients can be infected for a long time without signs or symptoms
how big is rickettsias
Extremely small
what is the cell wall of rickettsias like
it has such a small amount of peptidoglycan that it appears almost wall less
Rickettsias are OBLIGATE INTRACELLULAR PARASITES, what is unusual about them?
it is unusual that an obligate intracellular parasite has functional genes for:
protein synthesis
ATP production
and reproduction
What are the four genera of rickettsia that cause disease in humans
Rickettsia
Orienta
Ehrlichia
Anaplasma
What causes rocky mountain spotted fever
Rickettsia Rickettsii
How is Rocky mountain spotted fever (Rickettsia Rickettsii) transmitted
it is transmitted by infected wood ticks (hard ticks)
What causes epidemic typhus
Rickettsia Prowazekii
What is the primary host of rickettsia prowazekii
humans
how is Rickettsia Prowazekii transmitted
by infected lice (when their feces is rubbed into a bite)
what is the mortality rate of epidemic typhus without treatments
70%
What is it called when epidemic typhus occurs many years later
Brill-Zinsser disease
What is the structure of chlamydial cell walls
Two membranes without any peptidoglycan between them
Chlamydias are obligate intracellular parasites, but where inside the cell do chlamydias grow
only within the vesicles of host cells
What is unique about Chlamydia’s developmental cycle
it involves two forms Elementary Bodies (EB) and Reticulate Bodies (RB).
- EBs enter the cell via endocytosis
- EB converts into RB
- RB rapidly divides
- Most RBs convert back into EBs
- EBs are released from the host cell
how is chlamydia diagnosed
with a direct fluorescent Ab test
What is the bacteria that causes a sexually Transmitted disease and Trachoma
Chlamydia Trachomatis
What is the problem associated with the chlamydia STD
Lymphogranuloma veneruem