This paper will cover the characteristics of meningococcal disease and the bacteria that cause it, Neisseria meningitides.
Neisseria meningitides is a Gram-negative dipplococcus. It is a facultative anaerobe and is non-motile. The bacteria can live in a commensal relationship with the mucous membranes in the human nose (Peterson, n.d.). When grown in a colony (on a chocolate agar plate or a blood agar plate) it has a clearly defined edge, is round, smooth, moist and convex. As for color it is gray or colorless and opaque (CDC, n.d.). Metabolically, Neisseria meningitides is fastidious (like all pathogenic bacteria) and ferments glucose ideally though is it capable of fermenting lactose (Peterson, n.d.). Since this disease has such a high mortality rate and a very quick onset it clearly has many virulence factors. These factors include the presence of pili, and an antiphagocytic capsule. It also has IgA protease (to inactivate antibodies) and endotoxins (that damage white blood cells and vessels) (Peterson, n.d.).
Meningococcal disease primarily affects the infants, children, and young adults. Sex does not seem to have a determining role in susceptibility, nor does ethnic group. Environment or living conditions play a much bigger role in the prevalence of this disease. The disease is seen more often in lower socioeconomic groups and in overcrowding situations – much like other infectious diseases. This is also why young adults in college dormitories are at risk (Driver, 2013). Meningococcal disease was first seen in 1805 in Geneva, and then in 1806 in Massachusetts. It was recorded in Africa in the early 20th century, and large epidemics still occur there in area called the meningitis belt (WHO, n.d.).
Meningococcal disease is spr...
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...135. Vaccines specific to epidemic strains help control group B outbreaks (WHO, n.d.).
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Chapter 7: identification and characterization of Neisseria meningitides. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/lab-manual/chpt07-id-characterization-nm.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Meningococcal disease. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/
Driver, C. (2013). Meningococcal disease: diagnosis and prevention. Primary Health Care, 23(2), 32-37.
World Health Organization (n.d). Meningococcal disease. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/csr/disease/meningococcal/en/
Peterson, K. (n.d.). Meningococcal meningitis. Retrieved from http://www.austincc.edu/microbio/2704w/nm.htm
Wilcox, A. (2011). Meningococcal B disease: past, present and future. Practice Nursing, 22(12), 650-653.
The first day an unknown sample was assigned to each group of students. The first test applied was a gram stain to test for gram positive or gram-negative bacteria. The morphology of the two types of bacteria was viewed under the microscope and recorded. Then the sample was put on agar plates using the quadrant streak method for isolation. There were three agar plates; one was incubated at room temperature, the second at 30 degrees Celsius, and the third at 37 degrees Celsius. By placing each plate at a different temperature optimal growth temperature can be predicted for both species of bacteria.
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 results of the gram stain test were cocci and purple. This indicated that the unknown bacteria were gram positive. The gram stain test eliminated Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella enterica, and Yersinia enterocolitica as choices because these bacteria are gram negative. Next a Blood Agar plate was used because in order to do a MSA or a Catalase test there needs to be a colony of the bacteria. The result of the Blood Agar plate was nonhemolytic.
Staphylococcus epidermidis is classified as a bacterium. This particular bacterium is identified in laboratory testing by its forms of clusters and a violet stain. The violet stain indicates that the staphylococcus epidermidis is gram- positive meaning that it is sphere shaped and does not contain an outer cell membran). This type of Staphylococcus does not typically cause disease in healthy people. However, S. epidermidis is quite the opportunist.
...uciana L. "Challenges to the Laboratory Diagnosis of Yersinia Pestis in the Clinical Laboratory." Lab Diagnosis of Y. Pestis. UPMC Center for Health Security, 29 Dec. 2005. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
The microbe Naegleria fowleri, commonly called the brain-eating-amoeba, was first identified from a fatal case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in Australia in 1961. In 1965, three further cases of fatal PAM were found, from which clinical and laboratory investigations pointed to a relation with acute bacterial meningitis among the cases of an unknown etiology. According to Fowler & Carter (1965), when post-death examinations of the bodies were performed researchers found that “microscopically the meningeal exudate consisted of about equal proportions of neutrophil leukocytes and chronic inflammatory cells, amongst which small, often degenerate amoebae were sparsely distributed” (p.740). The species of the organism that caused the amoeboflagellate related disease was later named Naegleria fowleri after one of the primary authors of the report, M. Fowler. Butt reports that the first case of PAM in the United States occurred in Florida in 1962 and a further retrospective study reported by dos Santos Netos suggested that additional identified cases of PAM in Virginia may have dated as far back as 1937 (as cited in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013, Pathogen). As research on the microbe ensues, more cases of PAM are beginning to surface and the search for a cure to the fatal infection is imperative.
mutans was problematic due to its difference with Bergey’s Manual result for the catalase test. However, after comparing it with a peers results, it seems very possible that the strain we are working with varies from the strain used in Bergey’s. Bacteria possess the ability to develop varying phenotypes within the same species due to frequent mutation and horizontal gene transfer. Therefore, it is possible that the results obtained in our lab may vary from those provided in Bergey’s Manual. Arriving to the conclusion that the Gram negative bacteria was Klebsiella pneumoniae was much more direct. Using Bergey’s Flowchart for identification, the bacteria shared the test results and had a similar shape and
This pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae, is a gram-positive coccus that is long shaped and usually seen in groups of pairs (Todar, 2008-2012). This pathogen ranges from o.5-1.25 micrometers, which is pretty small in size (Todar, 2008-2012). It “lacks catalase and ferments glucose into lactic acid” (Todar, 2008-2012). To grow this bacterium in the lab the best way to do it would be to grow it on a blood agar at 37 degrees Celsius and produces a green zone arou...
United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Pink Book "Tetanus" N.p.: n.p., n.d. Http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/tetanus.pdf. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Necrotizing Fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria ) from an essay by Katrina Tram Duong, edited by S.N. Carson M.D.
Meanwhile, there is wonder about who can be a carrier of NGU. In case you did not know, men and women both can be infected by the Nongonococcal Urethritis Disease. Found in studies, mostly in men due to their sexual infections. Men between the ages of 15 and 30 tend to have more than a few sex partners, which gives the meaning for a high risk for this abnormality. Some men have both Gonococcal and Non-Gonococcal Urethritis. Slightly in women from the urethra which is not common during a time period of sexual intercourse.
“Meningococcal Disease.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 12 Oct. 2005. Department of Health and Human Services. 27 July 2006 .
Bacterial meningitis is severe in most cases. Many people fully recover but for those who are less fortunate it may cause brain damage leading to learning disabilities and hearing loss. There are many different pathogens that cause bacterial meningitis. The most common here in the United States are Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, group B Streptococcus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Neisseria meningitidis. These bacteria can be transmitted through direct contact with the nose and throat secretions of an infected person. The main reservoirs for these bacteria are humans but can also be the environment, mainly from the soil.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a Gram-positive and fast-growing bacteria which inhabit upper respiratory tract in humans. Moreover, it is an aerotolerant anaerobe and usually causes respiratory diseases including pneumonia, otitis media, meningitis, peritonitis, paranasal sinusitis, septic arthritis, and osteomyelitis (Todar, 2003). According to Tettelin et al., more than 3 million of children die from meningitis or pneumonia worldwide (2001). S.pneumoniae has an enzyme known as autolysin that is responsible for disintegration and disruption of epithelial cells. Furthermore, S.pneumoniae has many essential virulence factors like capsule which is made up of polysaccharides that avoids complement C3b opsonization of cells by phagocytes. Many vaccines contain different capsular antigens which were isolated from various strains (Todar, 2003). There are plenty of S.pneumoniae strains that developed resistance to most popular antibiotics like macrolides, fluoroquinolones, and penicillin since 1990 (Tettelin et al., 2001). Antibiotic resistance was developed by the gene mutation and selection processes that, as a consequence, lead to the formation of penicillin-binding proteins, etc. (Todar, 2003).
Enterococcus faecalis is a genus of gram positive cocci and form short chains or are arranged in pairs. They are nonmotile, facultative anaerobic organisms and can survive in harsh conditions in nature. There are over 15 species of the Enterococcus genus but about 90% of clinical isolates are E. faecalis. E. faecalis is a nosocomial pathogen because it is commonly found in the hospital environment and can cause life-threatening infections in humans. It is a bacterium that normally inhabits the intestinal tract in humans and animals but when found in other body locations it can cause serious infections. The most common sites for E. faecalis infections are the heart, bloodstream, urinary tract, and skin wounds. Due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococci, many antibiotics have been shown ineffective in the treatment. In this paper, I will describe the ecology and pathology of E. faecalis; the antibacterial resistance; treatment; and, what you can do to prevent Enterococcus infection.