bio 220 exam 7

Treponema pallidum

spirochete, causes syphilis, there are primary (chancre sores), secondary (rash that can be on palms of hands and bottoms of feet), and tertiary (neurological damage, may have irregularly-shaped pupils) forms of the disease, can be vertically transmitted to fetus, treated with penicillin. Can be passed congenitally (passed from mother to child) – children have characteristic appearance of teeth.

Borrelia burgdorferi

causes Lyme disease, transmitted by ticks, humans are accidental host, can cause characteristic bull’s eye rash (due to pathogen’s ability to migrate out through the tissues from the initial tick bite and the host’s attempt to fight the disease, not fatal, treated with tetracycline, can affect organs, but not fatal, prevented by insect repellant with DEET.

Vibrio cholera

comma-shaped organism, causes cholera (diarrheal disease) due to dirty water, produces a cholera toxin, ID is 100,000,000 cells, treated by administering clean water, electrolytes and tetracycline if necessary, vaccine available, causes “rice water” stool

Vibrio parahaemolyticus and vulnificus

cause gastroenteritis from raw oysters and seafood, more serious in liver disease patients, treatment is usually fluid and electrolyte replacement, antimicrobials if necessary in more serious cases

Helicobacter pylori

curved-shaped organism, causes stomach ulcers, can withstand very acidic conditions of

the stomach, treatable by antibiotics (though it often returns)

Rickettsia rickettsii

Gram - very small obligate intracellular parasite, requires live cells to cultivate, causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, transmitted by ticks, may damage heart and CNS.

Chlamydia trachomatis

causes Chlamydia STD and sterility, can also infect the eyes of newborns, human reservoir.

Chlamydophila psittaci

causes pneumonia or flu-like disease, transmitted by birds.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae

wall-less organism, pleomorphic (can change shape because it has no wall), causes atypical pneumonia.

Histoplasma capsulatum

most common true pathogen, causes histoplasmosis, grows in moist high nitrogen soil like that found near chicken farms, can become systemic chronic disease, treated with amphotericin B, ketoconazole, spores inhaled into the lungs and germinate there, prevent by wearing a mask.

Candida albicans

yeast, commonly normal flora, opportunistic mycosis, causes everything from superficialvaginal thrush (mouth infection, common in babies) and other yeast infections to fatal systemic disease, important cause of nosocomial infections (causes 10% of them), treated by topical creams for superficial infections, treat systemic infections with amphotericin B or fluconazole.

Cryptococcus neoformans

spread by pigeons, common in AIDS patients, inhalation of spores into lungs causes cough and fever, can infect brain and cause death, treat with amphotericin B and fluconazole

Pneumocystis (carinii) jiroveci

causes most prominent opportunistic infection in AIDS patients called PCP (Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia), secretions blocks breathing, fatal if not controlled

Aspergillus

serious opportunistic threat to AIDS, leukemia, and transplant patients, spores inhaled into

lungs, can affect organs, treated with amphotericin B and nystatin

Trichomonas vaginalis

a top STD that causes discharge in both sexes, particularly foul-smelling in females, but 50% of cases are asymptomatic.

Trichomonas vaginalis

a top STD that causes discharge in both sexes, particularly foul-smelling in females, but 50% of cases are asymptomatic

Giardia lamblia

source is contaminated water, causes diarrheal disease, shed intermittently in feces, water

treatment by boiling, ozone, iodine, or filtering will prevent

Trypanosoma cruzi

Chagas disease, endemic to Central and South America, bug vector, can cause chronic inflammation of heart and brain, we are seeing more cases in the U.S., so this organism/disease has been in the news a lot lately

Plasmodium

causes malaria, mosquito vector, mother to fetus and blood transfusion transmission, 300-500 million cases/year, 2 million deaths/year

Toxoplasma gondii

most cases go undetected except for fetuses and AIDS patients, reason why pregnant women aren’t allowed to change cat litter boxes

Cryptosporidium

source is contaminated water, there is often a low-level in water all the time, causes chronic diarrhea in AIDS patients, no effective drugs available.

Pinworms

children get these, can do tape test to detect

Trichinella

source is undercooked pork (or bear meat), can migrate and form cysts in muscle, heart, and brain – no cure at this point.

Taenia

tapeworm infections, can be serious if they lodge in heart, eye, or brain.

Poxviruses

Variola virus causes smallpox, eradicated with last case worldwide in1977, highly contagious, high fatality rate (30%).

Herpesvirus

HSV-1 = cold sore/fever blister, HSV-2 = genital; healthcare workers can get lesions on their hands caused by HSV-1 or HSV-2, so glove up! Can be passed from mother to newborn if an active infection is present in the birth canal – do C-section in this case to avoid eye infection of newborn

Varicella-Zoster Virus

chickenpox, shingles, vaccines available

Cytomegalovirus

most cases asymptomatic, but affects AIDS and other compromised patients (mono-like diseases.)

Epstein-Barr Virus

causes mononucleosis; 70% of college-age Americans have never had it, but by midlife 90-95% of all people have been exposed to it

Hepatitis

caused by a virus that infects the liver; A = contaminated food, B = blood, sexual or blood transmission, C = sexual or blood contact. Vaccination is available for Hep A and B.

Papillomaviruses

different strains cause common, seed, plantar, and genital warts (HPV) – vaccination available for some strains of HPV that cause genital warts and cervical cancer. Pap smears detect pre-cancerous cells. Even with vaccine, women should get pap smear EVERY single year for the REST of their lives, or as advised by their healthcare provider – cervical cancer is easily prevented through regular pap smears and the vaccine won’t prevent all cases. Most cervical cancer cases are showing up in females 55 and older who are no longer sexually active and think they don’t need to still get pap smears.

Influenza

causes the flu, most cases due to Influenza A strain, strains undergo antigenic shift and drift, mutates rapidly, as most RNA viruses do (RNA as a nucleic acid is less stable and mutates at a higher rate than DNA), vaccine is developed each year on a prediction of the strain(s) that will cause epidemic/pandemic infections in the coming year

Hantavirus

first seen in 1993, transmitted by rats infected from fleas – aerosols left behind from feces,

causes respiratory disease that can be fatal

Paramyxovirus/Parainfluenza

Croup, Mumps, Measles, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). RSV is the most prevalent cause of respiratory infection in children under 6 months of age, can be serious and require hospitalization because of life-threatening blocking of airway by mucus created. Measles and Mumps = “MM” of MMR vaccine

Rhabdovirus

causes rabies, reservoirs = skunks, raccoons, dogs, vaccination available.

Coronavirus

causes SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Rubella

Causes German measles, one of the “R’s” in MMR vaccine

Arborvirus

– transmitted by arthropods, causes viral encephalitis (inflammation and swelling of the brain

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV

retrovirus, RNA virus that has to make a DNA copy of itself to be inserted within our own DNA, destroys the immune system if untreated, treated by protease inhibitors and reverse transcriptase inhibitors, destroy human T cells in the immune system, mutates rapidly, so drugs don’t always work, drugs are expensive.

HTLV-1 –

Human T cell Lymphotropic Virus, causes leukemia.

Poliovirus

causes polio, preventable by vaccination

Rhinovirus

causes the common cold, mutates rapidly

Rotavirus

causes diarrhea in newborns, can be serious if newborn loses too much fluid/electrolytes

Prions

misformed infectious proteins, cause Mad Cow Disease and the human form of the disease = Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, neurological effects, ultimately fatal.