WEEK 17: SPIROCHETES Flashcards

1
Q
  • Helical-shaped, motile, unicellular bacteria
  • 0.1- to 3.0-μm wide by 5- to 20-μm long
  • Exhibit various types of motion in liquid media
  • Free-living or survive in association with animal or human hosts
A

Spirochetes

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2
Q

Syphilis

A

Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum

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3
Q
  • Relapsing fever
  • Lyme disease
A

Borrelia

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4
Q

Leptospirosis

A

Leptospira

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5
Q

Rat-bite fever

A

Spirillum minor

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6
Q
  • Obligate aerobic helical rods 0.1-μm by 5- to 15-μm long that are tightly coiled, thin, and flexible.
  • Leptospirosis: L. interrogans
  • 20 serovars
  • Most common
  • Icterohaemorrhagiae, Australis, and Canicola

Virulence factors:
* Unknown but may include
* Reduced phagocytosis
* Soluble hemolysin
* Endotoxin

A

Leptospires

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7
Q
  • Organisms in mud or water enter through breaks in the skin or intact mucosa.

Symptoms:
* Initial phase
* Fever, headache, malaise, and severe myalgia
* Conjunctival suffusion seen in less than half
* Can involve hepatic, renal, and central nervous systems
* Renal lesions are interstitial nephritis with glomerular swelling and hyperplasia.
* Illness lasts from less than 1 week to 3 weeks.

A

Leptospires

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8
Q
  • Late manifestations caused by host immunologic response to infection.
  • Weil’s disease: severe systemic disease
  • Jaundice, acute renal failure, hepatic failure, intravascular disease
  • Can be fatal
A

Leptospires

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9
Q

Organism that causes Weil’s disease.

A

Leptospires

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10
Q

This organism is susceptible to:

  • Streptomycin
  • Tetracycline
  • Doxycycline
  • Penicillin
  • Some limited effectiveness if used early (before fourth day of illness)
A

Leptospires

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11
Q
  • Helical bacteria 0.2 to 0.5 μm by 3 to 20 μm in length
  • Spirals vary between 3 to 10 per organism
  • Less tightly coiled than leptospires
A

Borrelia spp.

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12
Q
  • Pediculus humanus louse-borne infection
  • Epidemic relapsing fever
  • Transmission by crushing or scratching lice into skin
A

B. recurrentis and B. duttonii

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13
Q
  • Tick-borne infection: Ornithodoros ticks
  • Endemic relapsing fever
  • Transmitted by saliva during bite
A

B. hermsii (borreliae)

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14
Q

Symptoms:

  • Incubation period is 2 to 15 days.
  • High fever (104°F) with shaking chills
  • Periods of 3 to 7 days
  • Delirium
  • Severe muscle aches and pain in bones and joints
  • Followed by remission and subsequent repeat of symptoms
  • Sometimes hepatosplenomegaly and jaundice
  • Neurologic symptoms
  • Lymphocytic meningitis and facial palsy
  • Rarely fatal
A

Relapsing Fever

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15
Q

Drug of choice for relapsing fever.

A

Tetracyclines

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16
Q
  • Lyme disease
  • First described in Lyme, Connecticut
  • North America and Europe
A

B. burgdorferi

17
Q

“bulls-eye rash”

A

B. burgdorferi Clinical Manifestations (stage 1)

18
Q

Antibiotics used for B. burgdorferi infections (early stage)

A

doxycycline

19
Q

Syphilis

A

Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum

20
Q

Yaws

A

Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue

21
Q

Endemic syphilis

A

Treponema pallidum subsp. endemicum

22
Q

Pinta

A

Treponema pallidum subsp. carateum

23
Q

Transmission:

  • Infection caused by sexual contact (mucous membranes)
  • Can enter via cuts, abrasions, or directly through intact mucous membranes
  • Can enter other sites such as the lip or transplacental

Incubation period:
* Disseminate throughout the body
* 10 to 90 days (usually about 3 weeks)

A

Syphilitic Infection

24
Q
  • Chancre at infection site (usually one but sometimes several in human
    immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive patients)
  • Clean, smooth base, edge slightly raised and firm
  • Painless but may be tender
  • Heals in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Base contains spirochetes that can be identified by dark field microscopy or
    immunofluorescence or serology
A

Primary syphilis

25
* Begins 2 to 12 weeks after chancre appearance * Widespread macular rash (syphilitic roseola), particularly palms and soles of feet * Secondary lesions * Condylomata lata * Moist, gray-white plaques teeming with spirochetes * Systemic symptoms * Lymphadenopathy, headache, lesions of the mucous membranes and the skin, and rash
Secondary syphilis
26
* Early latent phase: initial 4 years relapses occur; patient is infectious * Late latent phase: indefinite duration; sometimes no complications ever appear * Detected only through serology
Latent syphilis
27
Late complications of syphilis involving many organs
Late syphilis (tertiary)
28
* Central nervous system (CNS) disease, cardiovascular abnormalities, aortitis and valve insufficiency, and granulomatous lesions (gummas) in any organ * Asymptomatic CNS disease * CSF abnormalities without symptoms * Pleocytosis, elevated protein levels, depressed glucose
Tertiary (Late) Syphilis
29
* Intrauterine infection * Nonimmune hydrops: disease of placenta that causes fetal death * Hepatosplenomegaly, meningitis, thrombocytopenia, anemia, and bone lesions * Visible deformities * Deformed tibias or teeth
Congenital syphilis
30
In the treatment of syphilis, if there is a penicillin allergy, what are the two alternative drugs? 
Doxycycline and tetracycline
31
* Yaws: chronic nonvenereal disease * Central Africa, South America, India, Indonesia, and Pacific Islands * Primary, secondary, and tertiary stages * Lesions are elevated, granulomatous nodules.
T. pallidum subsp. pertenue
32
* Endemic syphilis (bejel) * Spread by direct contact or eating utensils * Resembles yaws * Middle East and desert regions * Papules that usually go unnoticed * Gummas of skin, bones, and nasopharynx
T. pallidum subsp. endemicum
33
* Pinta: ulcerative or papulosquamous skin lesions that depigment * South and Central America
T. pallidum subsp. carateum