Parasites Flashcards
ingesting solid food particles
Cytostome
protozoa secrete a protective coat and shrink into a round armoured form
Cyst
when ingested into humans, this is the motile form of the bacteria.
trophozoite
creeping projections = pseudopodia
asymptomatie most of the time inside the host carrier
fecal-oral transfer
more common in homosexual men.
chromotoid bodies = ribosomes
10% of the time they invade the intestinal mucosa causing erosions. results in abdominal pain, a couple of loose stools a day with fecks of blood and mucus in the stool. can become severe, with bloody, voluminous diarrhea.
can cause liver abcesses, followed by spreading to the diaphram into the lung. pulmonary abscesses lead to death.
trophozites with RBC in the cytoplasm suggest active disease, while cycts or trophozites without internalized red cells suggest asymptomatic carriage.
diagnosis = antigen assays or CAT scan
prevention by good sanitation.
Entamoeba histolyca
microscopy cannot differentiate between H. histolytica and non-pathogenic intestinal protozoa Entamoeba dispar
looks like a kite.
reservour = rodents and beavers or clear mountain water.
adheres to the small intestine and interferes with fat absorbtion. leads to fatty poops with a
HORRIFIC ODOR
NO BLOOD IN STOOL
Diagnosis: stool with cysts, immunoassay kit to detect antigens in stool samples, or sanitation measures
Giardia Lamblia
is everywhere, causes diarrhea outbreaks, round oocyst that contain 4 motile sporozoites. list cycle within the intestianl epithelium causing diarrhea and abdominal pain. self-limiting. immunocompromised = life threatening due to losing 3-17 liters of stool per day.
Crytosporidium
severe diarrhea in immunocompromised pts. fecal-oral route. contaminated rasberries, ACID FAST STAIN, flurescent microscopy is alternative.
Isospora and cyclospora
STD, lives in vagina and male urethra.
itching, burning on urination, copious vaginal secretions. thin, watery, frothy, malodorous discharge in the vaginal vault. males are asymptomatic.
diagnosis: microscopic examination reveals highly mobile parasites. urine will reveal T. vaginalis.
Trichomonas vaginalis
Free-living meningitis causing amoebas?
Naegleria fowleri, Acanthamoeba, and Balamuthia mandrillis live in fresh water and soils
In fresh water, when they penetrate the cribiform plate into the brain and spinal fluid, they cause sudden deadly infection. most die within a week.
FOWL PLAY
fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, history of swimming a week earlier, CSF: high N, low Glucose, High protein (just like bacteria) but NO GRAM STAIN AND CULTURE. microscopic examination shows amoeba.
Acute meningoencephalitis in normal hosts
mature amoeba ONLY in brain tissue (no cyst)
no corneal infection.
Nageria Foeleri
chronic, granulomatous, brain infection in immunocompromised pts. headache, fever, seizures, focal neurologic deficits. CSF show cyst stage and trophozoite stage.
CHRONIC meningoemcephalitis in immunocompromised
cyst and mature amoeba found in brain tissue
corneal infection: diagnose by scraping the cornea.
Acanthamoeba
CHRONIC meningoencephalitis in normal and immunocompromised hosts
cysts and mature amoeba found in brain tissue
granulomatous skin lesions - diagnose by skin biopsy.
Balamuthia mandrillaris
infects animals and within raw pork and cats.
sexual division within the cat and secretes live cysts. leads to fetal infections
fever, lymph nodes, liver, and spleen enlargment, meningies can be infected too. most common CNA infection in AIDS pts. symptoms like a tumor with a headache and focal neurologic defecits. retina reveal yellow-white, fluffy (like cotton) patches that stand out from the surrounding red retina. TORCHES
diagnosis: CAT of brain shows a contrast enhancing mass. , retinas will be inflammed, serology: elevated Ig titers suggest that the pt has at some tie been exposed to this organisim.
Toxoplasma gondii
in AIDS pts and fetus Toxoplasma gondii is TOXIC to the brain and eyes.
Major infections in AIDS patients?
Toxoplasma gondii and pneumocytstis carinii
flying saucer appearing FUNGUS. invades the lungs. most people have it by age 4. causes severe intersital pneumonia called pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)
chest x-ray shows bilatering intersitual infiltrates or can be normal.
Pneumocystis carinii (PCP)