What is the most common cause of URI infections?
What is the most common URI?
Viruses are the most common causes of URI with the common cold (rhinovirus in adults and parainfluenza/coronaviruses in kids) being the most prevalent
What are the potential causes of pharyngitis?
Children under 3 and adults -- viruses Older children (5-15)- GABHS, viruses, mycoplasma pneumonia,
How can you distinguish between virally caused and bacterially caused pharyngitis?
Microbiological tests for GABHS infections.
You cannot tell from clinical grounds alone
What are the 6 main viruses that can cause pharyngitis?
What are the 3 main bacterial causes of pharyngitis?
Describe the aerophilicity, mobility, spore forming capability, capsulation and gram stain properties of Corynebacterium diptheriae.
What are the special media used to grow C. diptheriae?
2. Potassium tellurite - colonies look grey/black
Where does diphtheria reside?
What is the mode of transmission?
Who is most likely to get pharyngitis from diphtheria?
What are the 3 primary determinants of pathogenesis of diptheriae?
What are the local and systemic effects of C. diphteriae infection?
Local:
Systemic:
Describe the toxin of C. diptheriae.
Why can you not remove the pseudomembrane associated with local C. diptheriae infection?
It can cause swelling, bleeding and aspiration
What determines the severity of myocarditis and neuropathy associated with C. diphtheria infection?
The amount of toxin absorbed **not necessarily the number of bacteria present
How are C. diphtheria infections treated?
How are they prevented?
Treatment:
1. anti-toxin - antibody to toxin from horses injected with inactivated diphtheria toxin used for treatment in conjunction with antibiotics
Prevention:
DTaP vaccine- diphtheria toxoid, tetanus toxoid, acellular pertussis components
What are the characteristics of streptococci? Gram staining spores? catalase? motility? oxygen usage?
Gram + cocci in pairs or chains non-spore forming catalase - non-motile facultative anaerobes or microaerophiles
What are the 3 growth patterns of streptococci on sheep agar plates? What is the major organism of each group?
After you have identified a hemolysis pattern, how can streptococci strains be further categorized?
Which strains are most pathogenic in humans?
By their group specific carbohydrates using Lancefield classification.
It is meant to differentiate b-hemolytic strains, but there are some a/non-hemolytic strains that can be classified with this method.
Serogroups A-H, K-V
Humans are affected by A-D and G
What is the hemolysis pattern of S. bovis?
It is an alpha hemolytic strep that is group D on the lancefield scale
How are GABHS differentiated from other B-hemolytic strep?
Based on sensitivity to bacitracin.
A disk impregnated with bacitracin is placed on a lawn of bacteria and incubated.
If there is a clearing around the disk, the bacteria is sensitive to bacitracin and is GABHS
What is the major virulence factor of GABHS that allows it to be further subdivided?
What are the 3 throat strains?
M proteins are major virulence factors that have a variable region in the exposed amino terminus (over 100 serotypes)
The throat strains are usually M1, M6, M12
What are the 2 ways we are able to classify GABHS by their M proteins?
What are the 3 major modes of transmission for GABHS?
What are the 2 major portals of entry into the human body?
2. skin
Since no known reservoirs of GABHS exist in nature, _____________ in humans is required for persistence of the organism.
an asymptomatic carrier state