Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative aerobic bacterium with a rod shape, belonging to the family Pseudomonadadaceae. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a free living bacterium commonly found in soil, water, and occasionally on the surfaces of plants and the normal flora of animals (Todar, 2008). It acts as an opportunistic pathogen of humans and will infect almost any compromised tissue causing a range of infections from urinary tract infections, bacteremia, and a variety of systemic infections; especially in those with a compromised immune system (Todar, 2008). The infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be frustrating to clinicians because of its resistance to antibiotics. Primarily a nosocomial pathogen, it is known to cause ten percent of hospital-acquired infections (Todar, 2008).
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is motile by means of a single polar flagellum used for adhesion and invasion during bacterial infection. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is omnipresent in soil and water or surfaces that come in contact with soil or water; as well as all manmade reservoirs. Its metabolism is always respiratory, but it will grow in the absence of oxygen if nitrous oxide is available to work as a respiratory electron acceptor (Todar, 2008). Its most favorable temperature for growth is thirty-seven degrees Celsius, but it can grow in temperatures as high as forty-two degrees (Medscape, 2009). In nature, Pseudomonas is a fast-swimming hearty bacterium because of its flagellum (Medscape, 2009). It has very simple nutritional requirements, making it easy to thrive almost anywhere. Organic growth factors are not required, yet it can use over seventy-five organic compounds for growth (Todar, 2008). Pseudomonas aeruginosa is tolerant of many conditio...
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...the best way to treat an infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but it cannot always be prevented. Most strains are susceptible to gentamicin, tobramycin, and fluoroquinolins, but resistant strands have emerged making treatment virtually impossible (Todar, 2008).
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Escherichia coli is a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is a bacterium with a cell wall that has many components. Escherichia coli can live without oxygen which means that it is a facultative anaerobe. It is also capable of fermenting lactose under anaerobic conditions, and in the absence of alternative electron acceptors. There are effects and various factors that limit its growth rate. Its morphology consists of a rod-shaped gram negative bacteria that is commonly found in soil, water, vegetation, human intestines, as well as the intestines of animals. Its presence can be good or bad.
ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 591-594. Print.
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.
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In the documentary, Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria, reporter David Hoffman investigates this new untreatable infection along two individuals and a bacterial virus within a hospital. The first individual Hoffman investigates is Addie Rerecich of Arizona, she was treated for a staph infection with antibiotics, but other complications arise. Addie had a lung transplant, she was given several different antibiotics, but her body became pan-bacteria, non-resistance to the bacteria. Addie’s life was on the edge, she had to be on life support, and finally she received new lungs. The transplant helped Addie but it would take years before could go back to normal before the infection. The second individual is David Ricci; he had his leg amputated in India after a train accident. The antibiotic treatment he received became toxic to his body increasing problems. While in India, he underwent surgery almost every day because of infections he was developing. Back in Seattle, doctors found the NDM-1 resistance gene in his body; NDM-1 gene is resistance to almost all antib...
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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.
Biofilms are formed by a six step process. First is a reversible process, when an organic monolayer(made of polysaccharides or glycoproteins) absorbs to the surface, altering the chemical and physical properties of the surface. This makes the surface more conditioned and increase the chance that planktonic bacteria will attach. Secondly, also a reversible step, is when the free-floating or planktonic bacteria encounter the conditioned surface, and some attachment of the bacteria may occur. The third step is when the bacteria is left attached too long, then an irreversible attachment occurs. F...
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