Neurotoxigenic Clostridium Flashcards
What are the Gram Positive Spore Forming Anaerobes?
- Clostridium
- Clostridioides
What are the Gram Positive Nonspore-Forming Anaerobes?
- Actinomyces
What are the characteristics of Clostridium?
- Gram +
- Spore Forming
- Rod shaped
- Except C. spiroforme
- Motile
- Except C. perfringens
- Ferment CHO and Proteins
- Fermentation products have a putrid odor
- Butyric acid and Amines
What is the Habitat of Clostridium?
Ubiquitous in soil and alimentary tract of animals
How many species of Clostridium are there?
- >150 species
- ~20 cause diseases
- 14 produce exotoxins (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc)
- Size: 20 - 600 KDa
What is the mode of infection for Clostridium?
- Ingestion with feed/water
- Wound contamination
- Non Contagious
- Require Oxygen-free environments for growth
- Ischemia due to tissue injury
- Mixed infection with facultative organisms
What is Costridioides difficile?
- Major human pathogen
- also animal pathogen
- Causes:
- Humans = Pseudomembranous colitis
- Animals = Enterocolitis
- “C. diff infection” (CDI) or “C. diff associated diarrhea” (CDAD)
- Based on 16 rRNA sequence analysis it is not a Clostridium
- Named Clostridioides to retaine C. diff name
What are the Neurotoxifenic Clostridia?
- C. tetani
- C. Botulinum
What is Clostridium tetani?
- Causative agent of tetanus
What is the mode of infection of Clostridium tetani?
- Wound contamination:
- Horses - nail wounds
- Sheep/goats - Castration & docking
- Calves - Umbilicus
- Cattle - Castration, dehorning, nose ringing of bulls, after calving
- Clinical signs after 1 - 3 weeks
What are the virulence factors of Clostridium tetani?
- Tetanolysin
- Tetanospasmin
What is Tetanolysin?
- hemolytic toxin
- causes tissue necrosis
What is Tetanospasmin?
- A potent neurotoxin
- 0.00000002 mg is LD50 for a mouse
- An AB toxin
- One antigenic type worldwide
- A protease plasmid-encoded protein (MW 150,000)
- NEED TO WATCH LECTURE/REVIEW NOTES for rest of slide
What is the mechanism of action of Tetanospasmin?
- Binds to ganglioside receptors on nerve cells
- Moves by retrograde axonal transport to the cenral nervous system
- Blocks release of neurotranitters (GABA and glycine)
- Results in spastic paralysis
What is the pathogenesis of Clostridium tetani?
- Enters wounds as spores or vegetative cells
- Spores germinate and organisms grow
- Produce toxin within 4-8 hours
- Toxin moves retrogradely along axon fibers to the spinal cord “Ascending tetanus”
- Regional muscles show signs first “localized tetanus”
- More common in dogs
- Toxin enters lymphatics and blood (toxemia)
- Affects motor nerve centers of face and neck, then limbs “Descending tetanus”
- “Generalized tetanus
- More common in horses, pigs, and humans
- Death due to respiratory failure
What is Idiopathic Tetanus?
- No known cause
- No visiblewounds
- Ingestion of preformedtoxin or toxin is produced in the gut
What animals are susceptible to Clostridium tetani?
- Horse - 1 (most susceptible)
- Guinea Pig - 2
- Human - 3
- Mouse - 12
- Rabbit - 24
- Dog - 600
- Cat - 7,200
- Chicken - 360,000 (least susceptible)
- Cattle > Buffaloes > Sheep > Goats > Pigs
What is the incubation period of Clostridium tetani?
1 - 3 weeks
What are the types of Tetanus?
- Localized infection
- More common in dogs & cats
- Generalized infection
- More common in horses, pigs and humans
What are the clinical signs of Tetanus?
- Stiff gait, difficulty in walking
- Prolapse of the third eyelid
- Trismus (lockjaw); drooling of saliva
- Stiffness of head, neck, ears, extremitis, and tail
- Dehydration because of inability to drink