Spiral Bacteria

Question 1

Spiral bacteria are gram ______ bacteria.

Answer 1

Negative

Question 2

True/False. All spiral bacteria are opportunistic and extracellular pathogens.

Answer 2

True.

Question 3

Which spiral bacteria are microaerophilic?

Answer 3

Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Lawsonia

[microaerophilic - need oxygen because they cannot ferment or respire anaerobically]

Question 4

Which species of Campylobacter causes bovine venereal campylobacteriosis?

Answer 4

C. fetus subsp. venerealis

Question 5

How is bovine venereal campylobacteriosis transmitted?

Answer 5

Sexually at breeding

[fomite transmission also possible]

Question 6

What is the habitat for C. fetus subsp. venerealis?

Answer 6

Subclinical infection in preputial crypts of bulls

Question 7

What is the outcome of a bull transmitting bovine venereal campylobacteriosis to a cow?

Answer 7

Usually infertility

[abortion rare - 10% of cows]

[endometritis and salpingitis of varying severity may cause transient infertility and early embryonic deaths]

Question 8

Is the infertility caused by bovine venereal campylobacteriosis lifelong?

Answer 8

No. Local immunity restores reproductive soundness and eventually clears the organism

[there is a vx but immunity is short-lived]

Question 9

Which species of Campylobacter causes abortion storms? Which species does it commonly infect?

Answer 9

C. fetus subsp. fetus - ovine genital campylobacteriosis

Small ruminants - sheep

[causes sporadic abortion in cattle]

Question 10

Which species of Helicobacter causes gastric ulcers and is associated with gastric carcinoma?

Answer 10

H. pylori

Question 11

Which species of Campylobacter is zoontic causing gastroenteritis in humans?

Answer 11

Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni

[humans who drink unpasteurized milk and on raw chicken breasts you buy from the grocery store]

Question 12

Gastric Helicobacters are urease _______.

Answer 12

Positive

[main virulence factor]

Question 13

Which Helicobacter species that are present naturally in gastric tissue of cats and dogs?

Answer 13

H. canis, H. felis, H. heilmannii

[have not been associated with ulcers in cats and dogs]

Question 14

Which Helicobacter species causes hepatic necrosis, nonsuppurative hepatits, and hepatocellular tumors in mice and other lab animals?

Answer 14

H. hepaticus

H. bilis

Question 15

Which species of Helicobacter causes hypergastrinemia and peptic ulcers in ferrets?

Answer 15

H. mustelae

Question 16

Which spiral bacteria causes porcine proliferative enteropathy?

Answer 16

Lawsonia intracellularis

[picture below is pathognomonic for Lawsonia]

[looks similar to what Mycobacterium causes in intestines, Mycobacterium causes inflammation, Lawsonia will cause proliferation]

Question 17

Which organism causes ulcerative skin lesions in fish and “red leg” in frogs?

Answer 17

Aeromonas hydrophila

[not a spiral bacteria - just important]

Question 18

True/False. Lawsonia intracellularis can be cultured ONLY in enterocyte cell lines.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

Lawsonia are intracellular bacteria that replicate where?

Answer 19

In the apical cytoplasm of enterocytes

Question 20

Which organism causes furunculosis in salmonids and ulcerative skin disease in carp/goldfish?

Answer 20

Aeromonas salmonicida

[not a spiral bacteria - just important]