ETIOLOGY
Gas gangrene is one of the most fatal infections. It has a mortality rate of 25% and can be 100% in patients with spontaneous gas gangrene or those with delayed treatment. Gas gangrene is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium perfingens. The bacteria is a gram positive, rod shaped, obligate anaerobe, endo-spore forming, toxin producing prokaryotic cell. It is found in soil, sand, dust, and humans. The Clostridium perfingens are the only anaerobic spore-forming genus found in humans. The bacteria have been found in mucous membranes, the GI tract, and female genital tract.
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Gas gangrene is rare only 1,000 to 3,000 cases annually in the U.S. It is seen in patients in the age ranges of 15 to 25 and 60 to 70 years of age. The bacteria enter the body through deep tissue or parenteral route. Gas gangrene can be classified as posttraumatic, postoperative, or spontaneous. Posttraumatic gas gangrene accounts for 60% of the cases and most of them involve automobile accidents. With posttraumatic gas gangrene, the patients have sustained serious injury to the skin or soft tissues. The causes of these injuries are crush injuries, compound fractures, gunshot wounds, thermal or electrical burn and frostbite; especially farm or industrial injuries in which the patient's injury is contaminated with soil. Postoperative gas gangrene is usually associated with colon resection, ruptured appendix, bowel perforation, and biliary or other GI surgery. Also, illegal or self-induced abortions are the leading cause of uterine gas gangrene. Spontaneous gas gangrene occurs without external wound or injury. One-third of all gas gangrene cases occur spontaneously. Spontaneous gas gangrene usually occur in patients with under...
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...al oxygen increases during compression, the amount of oxygen dissolved directly into plasma increases.
REPORTERS COMMENTS
What really interested me about this disease is the fermentation of the carbohydrates in the body. The fermentation is what causes the gas feeling under the skin. Also, how fast this bacteria spreads is also amazing. The incubation period of less than 24 hours is really quick. This bacterium doesn't even give you too many warning signs to stop it before it starts.
Works Cited
Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia. (n.d.) Retrieved April 3, 2005, from www.nlm.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000620.htm.
Diabetes. (n.d.) Retrieved April 2, 2005, from www.garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~jg18870/index.htm.
Case, Christine L., Funke, Berdell R., Tortora, Gerard J. (2004). Microbiology: An Introduction (8th ed.). San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings.
The purpose of this study is to identify an unknown bacterium from a mixed culture, by conducting different biochemical tests. Bacteria are an integral part of our ecosystem. They can be found anywhere and identifying them becomes crucial to understanding their characteristics and their effects on other living things, especially humans. Biochemical testing helps us identify the microorganism present with great accuracy. The tests used in this experiment are rudimentary but are fundamental starting points for tests used in medical labs and helps students attain a better understanding of how tests are conducted in a real lab setting. The first step in this process is to use gram-staining technique to narrow down the unknown bacteria into one of the two big domains; gram-negative and gram-positive. Once the gram type is identified, biochemical tests are conducted to narrow down the specific bacterial species. These biochemical tests are process of elimination that relies on the bacteria’s ability to breakdown certain kinds of food sources, their respiratory abilities and other biochemical conditions found in nature.
Stout, M.A, et al. "Microbiology Lab Notebook". Lab handbook. University of Texas. Arlington. 2014. Print.
The eighteenth exercise of the laboratory manual titled Unknown Identification and Bergey’s Manual is an experiment to identify an unknown bacterium. In this exercise, a student must randomly choose a numbered bacterium available to the class. The keys in Appendix H, located on the last pages of the book, are the major helpful tools in this exercise because it provides completed steps of tests that needs to be performed in order to distinguish certain bacteria. This means that in this exercise, various types of tests and techniques must be performed to identify the chosen unknown bacterium. The unknown bacterium that I selected was number thirty-nine in which I discovered as the Bacillus megaterium after conducting several tests.
The purpose of the study is to identify an unknown microorganism using multiple microbiology lab techniques. Through this process I will gain knowledge on how to perform these techniques as well as the importance of these tests on identifying unknown microorganisms. This is significant as the goal of this course is to familiarize ourselves with the common microbiology tests as well as the microorganisms we encounter in our daily activities.
As an ICU nurse I constantly watch how patients develop pressure ulcers, a pressure ulcer is an area of skin that breaks down due to having constant friction and pressure, also from having limited movement and being in the same position over a prolonged period of time. Pressure Ulcers commonly occur in the buttocks, elbows, knees, back, shoulders, hips, heels, back of head, ankles and any other area with bony prominences. According to Cox, J. (2011) “Pressure ulcers are one of the most underrated conditions in critically ill patients. Despite the introduction of clinical practice guidelines and advances in medical technology, the prevalence of pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients continues to escalate” (p. 364). Patients with critical conditions have many factors that affect their mobility and therefore predispose them to developing pressure ulcers. This issue is significant to the nursing practice because nurses are the main care givers of these patients and are the ones responsible for the prevention of pressure ulcers in patients. Nurses should be aware of the tools and resources available and know the different techniques in providing care for the prevention of such. The purpose of this paper is to identify possible research questions that relate to the development of pressure ulcers in ICU patients and in the end generate a research question using the PICO model. “The PICO framework and its variations were developed to answer health related questions” (Davies, K., 2011).
Necrotizing Fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria ) from an essay by Katrina Tram Duong, edited by S.N. Carson M.D.
T. pallidum is highly sensitive to oxygen and has a decreased ability to survive when not in human body temperature environments 1. The mode of transmission is through sexual contact or vertical transmission from the mother to the fetus. T. pallidum lacks the lipopolysaccharide which is the endotoxin normally present in gram negative bacteria1. The bacterium does produce many lipoproteins which are thought to prompt the inflammatory mediators through the recognition of toll-like receptors1. T. pallidum has a virulence factor of being highly motile due to its ability to propel itself forward by rotating on a longitudinal axis1. The spirochetes easily penetrate the skin or mucosal membranes and spread throughout the lymph nodes and then the blood circulation, affecting many parts in the body1.
Vorvick, Linda, Jatin Vyas and David Zieve. "Gangrene." 24 August 2011. MedLine Plus. 20 November 2013 .
Correspondingly, this sickness is spread and contracted by sexual, non-sexual, and perinatal contact. Through sexual contact, it goes to penis to vagina and or penis to rectum. Germs caused by NGU are reliable to be passed down during sex, vaginal or orally, which involves direct mucous membrane contact with an infected person. “T...
...nvironmental Microbiology. New York: A John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 1992. pp. 125?156. Accessed December 2, 2013.
Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment in which they grow. The effects
Leboffe, M. J., & Pierce, B. E. (2010). Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application, Third Edition 3rd Edition (3rd Ed.). Morton Publishing
My interest in the role of microbes and viruses began from UG classes (1993-1999) wherein professors taught us...
Engelkirk & Burton (1979) state that bacteria can reproduce asexually by simple division of cells and some bacteria reproduce sexually by conjunction. A bacterium is a waste producer of products and secretions. This allows pathogens to invade their hosts to cause disease some of these harmful diseases are Scarlet fever, an acute illness, characterized by a reddish skin rash, which is caused by systematic infection with the bacterium streptococcus. St. Anthony’s Fire is another bacterial disease. “St. Anthony’s Fire which is an acute superficial form of celluitus involving the dermal lymphatic, usually caused by infection with streptococci and chiefly characterized by a peripherally spreading hot, bright red, oedematous.