Bio 226 I wanna kms

Meningococcal meningitis

Neisseria meningitidis: college students, droplet spread, fever + stiff neck + photophobia, nonblanching rash, can progress very fast.

Hib meningitis

Haemophilus influenzae: mainly young children, droplet spread, headache + fever + stiff neck; Hib vaccine.

Listeriosis

Listeria monocytogenes: deli meats/unpasteurized foods, especially important in pregnancy; can cause meningitis and fetal complications.

Cryptococcal meningitis

Cryptococcus neoformans/gattii: yeast, pigeon/bird-dropping environment, especially immunocompromised patients; severe headache, confusion, possible CNS disease.

PAM

Naegleria fowleri: warm freshwater enters the nose, rapidly fatal CNS disease over days.

GAE

Acanthamoeba/Balamuthia: soil/freshwater, slower CNS disease over weeks to months, especially immunocompromised people.

Tetanus

Clostridium tetani: soil-contaminated wound, lockjaw + rigid/spastic muscles, opisthotonus.

Botulism

Clostridium botulinum: improperly canned food, no fever, blurred/double vision, flaccid paralysis.

Polio

poliovirus: fecal-oral, can destroy motor neurons and cause paralysis; IPV vaccine.

Rabies

rabies virus: animal bite/saliva, tingling at bite site, abnormal behavior, difficulty swallowing, hydrophobia.

African trypanosomiasis

Trypanosoma brucei: tsetse fly, chancre + lymph nodes + later confusion/personality change and daytime sleepiness.

CJD

prion: rapidly progressive dementia, myoclonus, poor coordination, fatal neurodegeneration.

West Nile

West Nile virus: Culex mosquito, usually mild/asymptomatic, but severe cases cause meningitis/encephalitis, tremor, seizures, weakness.

Malaria

Plasmodium: Anopheles mosquito, liver then RBCs, cyclical fever/chills.

Babesiosis

Babesia: Ixodes/deer tick, infects RBCs, malaria-like illness.

Brucellosis

Brucella: cattle/goats/sheep + unpasteurized milk, undulating fever and heavy sweating.

Leishmaniasis

Leishmania: sandfly, painless ulcer at bite site; visceral form can enlarge liver/spleen.

Chagas disease

Trypanosoma cruzi: kissing bug, Romaña sign, later cardiomegaly, megaesophagus, megacolon.

Plague

Yersinia pestis: rat flea, swollen lymph nodes/buboes, dark skin changes; pneumonic form spreads by droplets.

Tularemia

Francisella tularensis: rabbit/deer fly/tick exposure, skin ulcer + painful lymph nodes.

RMSF

Rickettsia rickettsii: tick bite, fever/headache, rash starts on wrists and ankles and spreads inward.

Epidemic typhus

Rickettsia prowazekii: body louse.

Murine typhus

Rickettsia typhi: rat flea.

Lyme disease

Borrelia burgdorferi: Ixodes tick, spirochete.

Staph food poisoning

S. aureus: very rapid vomiting/diarrhea, no fever, creamy foods; intoxication.

Shigellosis

Shigella: fecal-oral, fever + cramps + dysentery/bloody diarrhea, very low infectious dose.

Salmonellosis

Salmonella enterica: poultry, eggs, reptiles; fever + cramps + diarrhea.

Typhoid fever

Salmonella typhi: human-only reservoir, high fever, headache, later diarrhea; chronic carrier state.

Cholera

Vibrio cholerae: contaminated water, rice-water stool, extreme dehydration, no fever.

EHEC

E. coli: undercooked ground beef, severe cramps + bloody diarrhea + HUS, little/no fever.