Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an infection caused by gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium strains of bacteria that are found generally everywhere in the environment; but they prefer moist or wet areas, like water or soil. P. aeruginosa is a common bacterium that can cause infections in humans, but animals as well. P. aeruginosa do not usually affect healthy people, because it is often referred as an opportunistic human pathogen. This means that it will wait till your immune system is depleted to a certain level before it makes it countering move in a human host. That is why this bacterium is very deadly to patients in hospitals with cancer, cystic fibrosis, and burns. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is considered a nosocomial infection, because some patients go for a simple injury and end up acquiring this infection just because they entered the hospital building. Symptoms from this bacterium infection depend on which part of the body is infected. The list of P. aeruginosa infections array from simple infections of the skin which cause swelling of the skin. To more severe infections in the blood...
The Gram positive bacteria has been nicknamed Posi. The Gram positive species’ morphology includes having an opaque opacity with a smooth margin. The moisture content of the Gram positive species is shiny and the pigmentation is gold. The Gram positive species grows at an optimal temperature of 37°C. The shape of the Gram positive species is a cocci, with an arrangement of grapelike clusters. The Gram positive species’ size ranges from .5-1.5 µm. Oxygen requirement of the Gram positive species is facultative, and has complete lysis of red blood cells. All results are summarized in Table
The purpose of this laboratory is to learn about cultural, morphological, and biochemical characteristics that are used in identifying bacterial isolates. Besides identifying the unknown culture, students also gain an understanding of the process of identification and the techniques and theory behind the process. Experiments such as gram stain, negative stain, endospore and other important tests in identifying unknown bacteria are performed. Various chemical tests were done and the results were carefully determined to identify the unknown bacteria. First session of lab started of by the selection of an unknown bacterium then inoculations of 2 tryptic soy gar (TSA) slants, 1 nutrient broth (TSB), 1 nutrient gelatin deep, 1 motility
The most common infection involving Proteus mirabilis occurs when the bacteria moves to the urethra and urinary bladder. Although Proteus mirabilis mostly known to cause urinary tract infections, the majority of urinary tract infections are due to E. coli. One-hundred thousand cfus per milliliter in the urine are usually indicative of a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections caused by P. mirabilis occur usually in patients under long-term catherization. The bacteria have been found to move and create encrustations on the urinary catheters. The encrustations cause the catheter to block.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae known as the pathogen that causes Gonorrhea, which is a sexually transmitted disease that is only seen in humans. It is only seen in humans since Neisseria gonorrhoeae cannot thrive in the environment we live in. In addition, all genders, age, and ethnicity are vulnerable to getting infected by that bacterium (Lemire, Yen). Gonorrhea, the disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, mostly grows in an environment that is moist and...
It is undeniable that the recent discovery of antibiotics and disinfectants in the past century is leading to the creation of increasingly dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Super bugs like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus have begun breaking out in hospital areas, killing more and more patients due to the lack of people following through with simple safety measures. In order to stop the creation and spread of antibiotic-resistant super bugs, proper precautions must be taken such as avoiding antibacterial cleaners, following through with instructions when taking prescriptions and maintaining adequate hand hygiene. Through adhering to basic safety rules, the creation and spread of super bugs can be minimized and all together discontinued from occurring at such a rapid rate.
Driscoll, James A., Steven L. Brody, and Marin H. Kollef. "The epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections." Drugs67.3 (2007): 351-368.
Being a gram-negative bacterium, L. pneumophila has lipopolysaccharides (LPS) that act as endotoxin within a human host. The presence of a flagella is thought to mediate adherence to human lung cells, thereby causing infection, since flagella-less strains do not cause disease. Once attached to human cells, the organism is engulfed by a macrophage where is utilizes the internal environment to multiply.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae family of organisms. It is a non-spore forming, facultative anaerobic, gram negative rod capable of growing on a variety of media and, similar to other members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, contains the enterobacterial common antigen. Most E. coli are part of the normal flora of the human gastrointestinal tract, however some strains are pathogenic and capable of causing clinical disease. Epidemiologic classification of E. coli is based on the expression of certain surface antigens. The three of greatest importance are the somatic O polysaccharide (part of the lipopolysaccharide or Gram negative endotoxin), the K antigens (part of the capsule), and the H antigens (flagellin proteins). The bacteria regulate the expression of these antigens through antigenic phase variation. This process allows the organism to selectively express or not express the antigens, which aids in protection from antibody-mediated cell death. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) are strains that produce exotoxins (particularly verotoxins) that result in hemorrhage of the intestinal mucosa. There are several serotypes of EHEC; the most clinically significant is O157:H7.
Klebsiella pneumonia is a gram-negative, encapsulated, lactose-fermenting, non-motile, facultative anaerobic, urease positive, indole-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is in the Enterobacteriaceae family (Tufts University, n.d.). Klebsiella is typically found in the nose or mouth, gastrointestinal tract (CDC, 2012). Klebsiella pneumonia was first discovered in 1882 as a pathogen that caused pneumonia (). Klebsiella can cause various types of health-related infections in the bloodstream, wound, and also surgical site infections (CDC, 2012). A common place to become infected with Klebsiella is the hospital settings, while being treated for other illnesses. Patients who get infected this way typically are on a ventilator or intravenous catheters (CDC, 2012). Klebsiella was named after Edwin Klebs, who was a German microbiologist (Obiamiwe, 2013).
bacteria can spread to the heart and arteries causing life threatening problems. It is obvious that
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
Nosocomial infections also known as healthcare associated infections (HAI’s) are infections that patients get while receiving treatment for another condition in a healthcare facility. In 2011, there were an estimated 722,000 HAIs in U.S acute care hospitals and of those about 75,000 died (CDC, 2014).The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) estimates the financial burden attributable to HAIs to be between $28 billion to $33 billion each year.
Bacterial cells, like plant cells, are surrounded by a cell wall. However, bacterial cell walls are made up of polysaccharide chains linked to amino acids, while plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, which contains no amino acids. Many bacteria secrete a slimy capsule around the outside of the cell wall. The capsule provides additional protection for the cell. Many of the bacteria that cause diseases in animals are surrounded by a capsule. The capsule prevents the white blood cells and antibodies from destroying the invading bacterium. Inside the capsule and the cell wall is the cell membrane. In aerobic bacteria, the reactions of cellular respiration take place on fingerlike infoldings of the cell membrane. Ribosomes are scattered throughout the cytoplasm, and the DNA is generally found in the center of the cell. Many bacilli and spirilla have flagella, which are used for locomotion in water. A few types of bacteria that lack flagella move by gliding on a surface. However, the mechanism of this gliding motion is unknown. Most bacteria are aerobic, they require free oxygen to carry on cellular respiration. Some bacteria, called facultatibe anaerobes can live in either the presence or absence of free oxygen. They obtain energy either by aerobic respiration when oxygen is present or by fermentation when oxygen is absent. Still other bacteria cannot live in the presence of oxygen. These are called obligate anaerobes. Such bacteria obtain energy only fermentation. Through fermentation, different groups of bacteria produce a wide variety of organic compounds. Besides ethyl alcohol and lactic acid, bacterial fermentation can produce acetic acid, acetone, butyl alcohol, glycol, butyric acid, propionic acid, and methane, the main component of natural gas. Most bacteria are heterotrophic bacteria are either saprophytes or parasites. Saprophytes feed on the remains of dead plants and animals, and ordinarily do not cause disease. They release digestive enzymes onto the organic matter. The enzymes breakdown the large food molecules into smaller molecules, which are absorbed by the bacterial cells. Parasites live on or in living organisms, and may cause disease. A few types of bacteria are Autotrophic, they can synthesize the organic nutrients they require from inorganic substances. Autotrophic bacteria are either photosynthetic or Chemosynthetic. The photosynthetic bacteria contain chlorophyll that are different from the plant chlorophyll. In bacterial photosynthesis, hydrogen is obtained by the splitting of compounds other than water.
Infection control is very important in the health care profession. Health care professionals, who do not practice proper infection control, allow themselves to become susceptible to a number of infections. Among the most dreaded of these infections are: hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Another infection which has more recently increased in prevalence is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These infections are all treated differently. Each infection has its own symptoms, classifications, and incubation periods. These infections are transmitted in very similar fashions, but they do not all target the same population.
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.