Important pathogens
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- Created by: JS007
- Created on: 02-01-18 15:47
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Bacterium which causes tuberculosis
- 1/3 (2 billion) of the worlds population is infected, this figure includes carriers
- Causes a cough initially, which deteriorates into more life-threatening symptoms
- Diagnosis: Heaf or Mantoux skin test combined with chest x-rays
- Treatment: Combination of 3 or 4 antibiotics for a period of 6 months
- BCG vaccine is available
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Stapylococcus aureus
- Bacterium responsible for skin infections such as spots and boils
- Enters via breaks in the skin, where it is able to kill neutrophils, resulting in pus
- MSRA is a particular strain which is resistant to multiple antibiotics
- A strain which produces an endotoxin is associated with TSS
- Treatment: antibiotics
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Influenza A
- Virus causes flu
- A is avain flu which has recently crossed over into humans
- Viron comprised of an RNA genome which is in 8 sections
- Genetic material is surrounded by a lipoprotein envelope (hemagglutinin & neuraminidase)
- Symptoms: fever, headache, general feeling of malaise & is considered a serious illness
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Yersinia pestis
- Bacterium which causes bubonic plague
- Is zoonotic and is carried by rats and other vermin
- Rare in Europe but still present in the USA and Asia
- The infection cycle is termed the sylvatic infectious cycle
- Bubonic plague has a 50% mortality rate
- May progress into pneumonic plague (into the lungs) which has a 100% mortality rate
- Treatment: antibiotics
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Rabies Virus
- Virus which causea rabies
- Transferred directly through bites and scratches
- Enters the peripheral nervous system where it travels to the brain
- Symptoms: Hydrophobia, excessive salivation, eventual death
- Treatment: May be treated after infection with the rabies vaccine, this is because the virus has varying incubation times (a bite on the foot may take 9 months to reach the brain)
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Rickettsia
- Obligate intracellular bacteria
- May result in either spotted fever or typhus (genus dependent)
- Treatment: antibiotics, specifically tetracycline or doxycycline
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Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Bacterium which causes gonorrhoea
- Attaches to epithelia and replicates at basement membranes
- Diagnosis: microscopy
- Symptoms: Causes painful discharge from the urethra/ rectum in men, causes discharge from the cervix but may not be painful and so could go unnoticed in women
- Treatment: antibiotics. Doxycycline is a good choice as it also treats chlamydia, 50% of people infected with gonorrhoea also have chlamydia but symptoms may mask each other
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Chlamydia trachomatis
- Bacterium which causes chlamydia
- Symptoms: discharge from the urethra/rectum/cervix
- Most common in 18-24 age group
- May exist in 2 forms: elementary bodies or reticulate particles
- Diagnosis: PCR, immunofluorescence
- Treatment: antibiotics, specifically doxycycline
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Treponema pallidum
- Bacterium which causes syphillis
- Symtoms: a painless ulcer on the genitals
- Diagnosis: microscopy
- Treatment: antibiotics, usually penicillin
- Infection is systemtic (spreads throughout the body)
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Haemophilus ducreyi
- Bacterium which causes chancroid
- Uncommon in Europe but common in the tropics
- Symptoms: painful ulcer on the genitals
- Diagnosis: Microscopy
- Treatment: antibiotics
- Has an association with HIV, increases the risk of infection and speeds up progression of the disease
- Chancroid in HIV +ve patients is difficult to treat and the infection may become chronic
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Salmonella
- Food-borne bacterium
- Associated with poultry
- A toxin causes bloody diarrhoea
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E.Coli 0157
- Causes bacterial food poisoning
- Associated with minced beef; occurs due to contamination with cattle faeces at the abattoir
- Toxin causes diarrhoea, may eventually lead to kidney failure
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Campylobacter
- Causes bacterial food poisoning
- Associated with poultry
- Toxin causes bloody diarrhoea
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Listeriosis
- Bacterium (almost anaerobic)
- Associated with unwashed vegetables and soft cheese
- Not usually pathogenic to adults
- Causes serious disease in pregnant women, may lead to abortion or meningitis in the newborn
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Bacillus cereus
- Bacterial food poisoning
- Associated with rice and vegetables
- Produces spores and heat-stable toxins
- Causes vomiting
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Taenia
- Tapeworm
- A parasite
- Associated with spoiled food
- May grow the entire length of the intestine
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Vibrio cholerae
- Causes cholera
- Water-borne
- Toxin affects ion channels to disrupt osmosis
- Causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration
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Cryptosporidium parvum
- Water-borne illness
- Is immune to treatment with chlorine, but may be killed with heat
- Causes diarrhoea
- Infection may become chronic in immunosuppressed individuals
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Typhoid
- Water-borne bacterium
- Induces apoptosis to invade tissues
- Causes fever, headache and rash
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Legionnaires
- Spread via water droplets (e.g. in air conditioning)
- Survives inside cells of the immune system
- Causes severe pneumonia
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Schistosoma
- A parasite found in water snails
- Burrows into the skin
- Is excreted in urine for further propogation
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Leptospira interrogans
- Zoonotic, spread by rats
- Causes flu-like symptoms
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Norovirus
- Water-borne illness
- Associated with water contaminated with raw shellfish
- Causes vomiting & diarrhoea
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