Respiratory Tract Infections Flashcards
2 Lower tract bacterial infections
Pneumonia (community or hospital acquired)
Acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis COPD
3 Upper tract infections
Sinusitis
Otitis media
Pharyngitis
Examples of RTI specimens
Sputum
BAL/bronchial washing (with bronchoscope)
Nasopharyngeal aspirates/swabs
Endotracheal aspirates
Sinus aspirates (have to punch through bone)
Tympanocentesis (needle through eardrum and aspirate)
Throat swabs
When grading sputum, what do you want to see?
HIGH numbers of neutrophils, LOW numbers of epithelial cells
3 common resp tract pathogens
Strep pneumoniae (vast majority)
Haemophilus influenzae
Moraxella catarrhalis
3 Atypical pathogens
Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Chlamydophyla pneumoniae
Legionella pneumonphila
Empirically you need to make sure to cover…
Strep pneumoniae
The atypical pathogens
Pneumonia
An inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the alveoli
Severity of disease and mortality vary considerably
Community, hospital, or ventilator acquired
Typical signs and symptoms of pneumonia
Fever
Cough (productive or dry)
Chest pain
Shortness of breath
S. pneumoniae
Most common bacterial cause of RTIs
Small gram positive diplococci
Alpha hemolytic, bile soluble, optochin S***
Growth enhanced by CO2
Most are encapsulated
Colonizes the nasopharynx in 5-10% of adults and 20-40% of children (cannot take throat swabs)
Incidence increases in winter months
6 factors that cause a disposition to pneumococcal infection
- Defective Ab formation
- Insufficient numbers of PMNs
- Living in close quarters
- Chronic resp disease
- Infancy and aging
- Diabetes, alcoholism, liver disease
How do you diagnose otitis media?
Look in the ear and see it is red
HAVE to blow air through the otoscope and see how much the eardrum moves
Red ear does not mean otitis
S. pneumoniae virulence factors (3)
Capsule (most important - aids in adherence and escape from phagocytic cells)
Pneumolysin (hemolysin - destroys ciliated epithelial cells, activates complement, suppresses oxidative burst by phagocytic cells
Secretory IgA protease
2 vaccines for pneumonia
- Pneumococcal vaccine - Pneumovax (directed against 23 most common capsular serotypes that cause invasive disease (get into the blood) - but carbohydrate based so no lasting immunity, not very immunogenic, and doesnt work against kids)
- Prevnar (conjugate vaccine - to diptheria toxoid)
Drug treatment for S. pneumoniae
Penicillins (cannot use empirically though - too much resistance) Cephalosporins Macrolides Fluoroquinolones Vancomycin
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
An umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases (emphysema, chronic bronchitis, refractory asthma, some forms of bronchiectasis)
Characterized by increasing breathlessness
Haemophilus influenzae
Most common cause of AE-COPD Small gram negative bacilli Requires X and V factors Will grow on chocolate agar May be encapsulated Type B caused major invasive disease - epiglottitis Satelliting growth on SBA with S. aureus
Porphyrin Test
Determines and isolates X factor requirement
Heavy suspension in amino-levulinic acid, incubate 4 hours, illuminate with UV light and examine for red fluorescence
Positive = X factor independent
H. influenzae Treatment
Approx 18% produce beta lactamase and 1% have altered PBP
2nd/3rd gen cephalosporins
Newer macrolides ok
Fluoroquinolines good, but not in children
Amoxicillin-clavulanate very effective
Which two drugs can you NOT use to treat H. influenzae?
Septra
Penicillin
Moraxella catarrhalis
size, gram stain, shape, associated with what diseases, carriage rate, resistant to, susceptible to
Small gram negative cocco-bacilli
Associated with otitis media, sinusitis, AECB
Carriage rate about 50%
DNase+, asacchrolytic
90% strains resistant to amp/amoxi and Septra
Susceptible to most oral antibiotics
Legionella pneumophila (gram stain, shape, intra/extracellular, where is it found in environment, illness, media, staining, requires what for growth)
Gram negative bacilli Intracellular pathogen Widespread in environment (soil, water, taps, showers) Widespread spectrum of illness Requires special media to grow - BCYE agar Faintly stains, easy to miss Asaccharolytic Requires L-cysteine for growth! Stimulated by 5% CO2
Why do you have to put charcoal or blood in the media with Legionella?
Because you need them to mop up the toxins so they will grow!
2 ways to get a Legionella diagnosis in the lab?
Urinary antigen test
Culture
NOT DFA testing or serology