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What organism is associated with:
Clinical conditions: Leptospirosis (Weil's disease), Fever, Kidney infection, Liver infection, CNS problems
Diagnosis: Direct examination by darkfield microscopy or with silver stain, Blood cultures are the most sensitive in early infections, Urines should be cultured after the 2nd week, Serology is also used
Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-HarrisFletcher's media used
Leptospira
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What media is used to culture Leptospira?
Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-HarrisFletcher's
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What organism is associated with:
Epidemic relapsing fever (high fever, chills, muscle pain, and headache)
Transmitted by Body lice
Diagnosed: Observing bacteria in the peripheral blood stream via the Giemsa or silver stains, or by darkfield microscopy
Borrelia recurrentis
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What clinical conditions are associated with Borrelia burgdorferi?
Lyme disease (also known as Lyme borreliosis)
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What is the most common tickborne disease in the US?
Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
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How is Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted?
Deer tick
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What are the stages of Lyme disease?
- Early localized (stage I) - rash at the bite site (erythema migrans) produces the "bull's eye" pattern
- Early disseminated (stage II) - bacteria enter the blood stream (flulike symptoms) and then can go to the bones, CNS, or heart
- Late stage (stage III) - chronic arthritis and acrodermatitis that can continue for years
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How is Borrelia burgdorferi diagnosed?
Western immunoblotting is considered the most accurate
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What clinical condition is associated with Treponema pallidum?
Syphilis
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What organism is associated with syphilis?
Treponema pallidum
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How is Treponema pallidum transmitted?
- Sexual contact
- Direct blood transmission
- Transplacentally (congenital syphilis)
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What are the stages of syphilis?
- Primary - chancre at the site of inoculation
- Secondary - skin rash and lesions on oral mucosa
- Latent - absence of clinical symptoms
- Tertiary - CNS disorders (neurosyphilis), aneurysms, and skin, liver, and bone disorders
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What are the symptoms of the Primary stage of syphilis?
Chancre at the site of inoculation
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What are the symptoms of the Secondary stage of syphilis?
Skin rash and lesions on oral mucosa
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What are the symptoms of the Latent stage of syphilis?
Absence of clinical symptoms
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What are the symptoms of the Tertiary stage of syphilis?
- CNS disorders (neurosyphilis)
- Aneurysms
- Skin, liver, and bone disorders
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How is Treponema pallidum cultured and/or seen, what does it look like?
- Cannot be cultured in the lab
- Bacteria exhibit corscrew motility
- Seen by darkfield microscopy on material taken from lesions
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How is Treponema pallidum diagnosed?
- Generally by serology
- Nontreponemal antigen tests include VDRL (Venereal Disease Research Laboratory) and RPR (Rapid Plasma Reagin) - nonspecific
- Treponemal antigen tests include FTA-ABS (fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption) test and TP-PA (Treponema pallidum particulate antigen) test - specific and confirmatory
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What are other clinically important sub-species of Treponema pallidum?
- Pertenue (yaws)
- Endemicum (endemic syphilis)
- T. carateum (pinta)
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What Genera of Spirochetes cause human diseases?
- Treponema
- Letospira
- Borrelia
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What do spirochetes look like?
Long, slender, helically curved bacilli
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What stain is used to see spirochetes?
- Cannot usually be seen on a Gram Stain
- Silver will stain spirochetes
- Giemsa only for Borrelia
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What type of microscopy is used to see spirochetes?
- Darkfield
- Phase-contrast microscopy
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