Microbiology High-Yield Cram Sheet

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering foundational virology, systematic bacteriology, fungal pathogens, protozoans, and helminths from the microbiology high-yield cram sheet.

Virion Spikes

Glycoprotein attachment tools protruding from the envelope that mutate rapidly to evade host antibodies.

Lytic Cycle Eclipse Period

The interval during viral infection when biosynthesis is underway but complete, infectious virions are not yet assembled or detectable.

Phage Conversion

The phenomenon in the lysogenic cycle where a host bacterial cell acquires new pathogenic or toxic traits from an integrated prophage (e.g., in Diphtheria, Scarlet fever, and Botulism).

Specialized Transduction

A process occurring when an excising prophage accidentally packages adjacent host bacterial genes and carries them to a newly infected cell.

Provirus

Viral DNA produced by retroviral reverse transcriptase that integrates permanently into the host eukaryotic genome.

Prions

Proteinaceous infectious particles lacking nucleic acid that induce vacuoles in the brain, causing spongiform encephalopathies such as Mad Cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), and Kuru.

Variola Virus

The causative agent of smallpox that spreads via the respiratory route to blood and skin; it has been eradicated due to lacking an animal reservoir and is maintained in only two global laboratories (US and Russia).

Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) Latency

The dormant state of the virus within the dorsal root ganglion near the spine, which upon reactivation via aging or stress produces shingles (painful unilateral vesicles along sensory nerves).

Reye's Syndrome

A severe pediatric complication of chickenpox or influenza presenting with persistent vomiting and brain dysfunction, the risk of which is heavily increased by aspirin use.

Herpes Simplex Ganglia Tropism

The anatomical sites of latent viral persistence: HSV-1 remains latent in the trigeminal ganglion, whereas HSV-2 remains latent in the sacral ganglion near the base of the spine.

Koplik's Spots

Pathognomonic oral lesions presenting as red patches with white centers opposite the molars, diagnostic for Measles (Rubeola).

Congenital Rubella Syndrome

A condition resulting from maternal infection during the first trimester, causing a $35\%$ risk of severe fetal damage, including deafness, cataracts, and mental retardation.

Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome

A condition driven by a phage-encoded toxin of Staphylococcus aureus that causes sheets of skin to peel off in children younger than $2\text{ years}$ old.

Streptococcus pyogenes Necrotizing Fasciitis

Rapid tissue destruction mediated by Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci possessing antiphagocytic M proteins and the superantigen Exotoxin A.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

An aerobic Gram-negative rod thriving in moist environments (pools, hot tubs) that opportunistically infects burn wounds and produces a distinctive blue-green pigment.

Poliovirus Pathogenesis

Fecal-oral transmission leading to viral multiplication in the throat and gut, followed by targeting of motor nerve cells in the upper spinal cord to cause flaccid paralysis.

Rabies Virus

A bullet-shaped virus exhibiting retrograde axonal travel along peripheral nerves to the central nervous system, producing fatal encephalitis and hydrophobia.

Listeria monocytogenes

A foodborne Gram-positive rod capable of replicating within macrophages and surviving refrigerator temperatures, posing severe threats to fetuses and immunocompromised individuals.

Tetanus Neurotoxin

An exotoxin produced by the obligate anaerobe Clostridium tetani that blocks muscle relaxation mechanisms, causing spastic paralysis and lockjaw.

Botulism Neurotoxin

An exotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum that inhibits acetylcholine release, causing flaccid paralysis (underlying the infant honey avoidance rule).

Mycobacterium leprae

An acid-fast bacillus that prefers cooler body temperatures, cannot be cultured on artificial agar media (requiring armadillos), and manifests as tuberculoid or lepromatous leprosy.

Cryptococcus neoformans

An encapsulated yeast found in soil enriched with pigeon droppings, producing airborne spores that lead to chronic meningitis in AIDS patients.

Trypanosoma brucei

A flagellated protozoan transmitted via the bite of the Tsetse fly that invades the cerebrospinal fluid, leading to sleeping sickness, lethargy, coma, and death.

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)

A herpesvirus associated with Burkitt's lymphoma (a pediatric jaw tumor in Africa linked with malaria co-infection) and infectious mononucleosis (replicating in parotid glands).

Borrelia burgdorferi

A tickborne spirochete maintained in field mice reservoirs that causes Lyme disease, initially presenting with a bullseye rash before affecting the heart and joints.

Plasmodium Species

The causative agents of malaria; Anopheles mosquitoes serve as definitive hosts (sexual reproduction) and humans serve as intermediate hosts (asexual reproduction), forming RBC signet rings that rupture every $2\text{ to }3\text{ days}$.

Toxoplasma gondii

An intracellular parasite that uses cats as definitive hosts (shedding oocysts in feces); transmissible via litter boxes or undercooked meat, causing congenital brain damage and opportunistic disease in AIDS.

Corynebacterium diphtheriae

An irregular club-shaped bacterium that secretes a phage-encoded exotoxin, forming a tough, grayish pseudomembrane across the throat that obstructs airways.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

An acid-fast rod with a mycolic acid cell wall that replicates inside alveolar macrophages, forms latent tubercles, and is diagnosed via a T-cell delayed-type hypersensitivity skin test.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae

A pleomorphic bacterium that completely lacks a cell wall and produces characteristic 'fried egg' colonies on specialized growth media, causing walking pneumonia.

Pneumocystis carinii (jirovecii)

A fungal organism that forms thick-walled alveolar cysts; it acts as normal respiratory flora in healthy individuals but serves as a hallmark diagnostic opportunistic infection in AIDS.

Hepatitis E Virus (HEV)

An enterically transmitted, fecal-oral hepatitis virus lacking a chronic carrier state that carries a mortality rate exceeding $20\%$ in pregnant women.

Vibrio cholerae

A comma-shaped Gram-negative rod producing an enterotoxin that drives massive electrolyte and water efflux into the intestinal lumen, causing voluminous 'rice water stools.'

Helicobacter pylori

A helical bacterium that neutralizes gastric acidity and degrades the stomach mucus layer, resulting in peptic ulcers and an increased risk of gastric cancer.

Giardia lamblia

A flagellated protozoan lacking mitochondria that adheres to the intestinal wall, contracted by ingesting chlorine-resistant cysts shed into water by wild mammals such as beavers.

Hookworm

A parasitic helminth whose larvae actively penetrate bare skin on feet, migrate to the gut, and feed on host blood, leading to lethargy and anemia.

Treponema pallidum

A spirochete causing syphilis, characterized by a primary painless hard chancre, a secondary maculopapular rash on the palms and soles, and tertiary rubbery gummas or neurosyphilis.

Ophthalmia Neonatorum

A severe neonatal eye infection caused by exposure to Neisseria gonorrhoeae during passage through the birth canal, prevented by universal antibiotic eye drops at birth.