Staphlococcus Flashcards
Is S. epidermidis, S. aereus, or S. saprophyticus described as the following:
• Catalase positive, coagulase positive, ß-hemolytic, ferments mannitol
S. aureus
Is S. epidermidis, S. aereus, or S. saprophyticus described as the following:
• Catalase positive, coagulase negative, non-hemolytic, urease positive, does not ferment mannitol, novobiocin resistant
S. saprophyticus
Is S. aereus, S. saprophyticus, or S. epidermidis described as the following:
• Catalase positive, coagulase negative, non-hemolytic, urease positive, does not ferment mannitol, novobiocin sensitive
S. epidermidis
What key factors differentiate staph aureus from S. epidermidis or S. saprophyticus?
S. aureus is coagulase positive and can ferment mannitol (the others cannot)
What key factors differentiate S. saprophyticus from S. epidermidis?
• S. epidermidis is novobiocin sensitive and S. saprophyticus is resistant
Which of the following can staph species do?
• Motility
• Spore Production
• Catalase Production
staph is nonmotile, does not produce spores, but DOES produce catalase
T or F: staphyloccus aureus is a member of the normal flora.
True, mostly in the nose
Here’s a list of what staph aureus can do for you:
• abscessses
• Septic arthritis
• Endocarditis
• Food poisoning
• Scaleded Skin Sydrome
• Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS)
• Hosptial-acquried PNA
• Septicemia
See back
- Surgical wound infections
- Folliculitis
- Impetigo
- Bacterial Conjunctivitis
What is the primary location that you can find staphlococcus epidermidis?
• Infections that is causes?
Found on the skin and really good at bioflim formation
- Endocarditis (with heart valves)
- Prosthetic joints/Harward
What is the major infection caused by staph. saprophyticus?
UTIs
# Define the Carrier State? • who typically falls in this category?
Carrier state - you harbor the pathogen and pose a risk of infecting others.
This typically refers to those who carry an asymptomatic infection or those who have just recovered from a disease
Define colonization.
The bacteria is on you/ in you but it has not intiated an infection yet but it still might, or your immune system might get rid of it before you ever knew it was there.
Define colonization resistance.
non-pathogenic bacteria occupy the attachment sites where most bacteria would try to infect and thus they prevent colonization by pathogenic bacteria
Staphylococcus aureus
• morphology
• coagulase/catalase characteristics
• Hemolysis on blood agar
• fermination
• Mechanism of resistance to penicillin? methacillin?
Staphylococcus aureus forms gram positvie cocci in cluster that are coagulase and catalase positive and produce beta-hemolysis on blood agar. S. aureus can also ferment mannitol.
MOR penicillin:
• this is intrinsic resistance in the majority of staph strains in which the S. aureus codes for a ß-lactamase
MOR methacillin:
• methacillin has a bulky side group to try to prevent ß-lactamases form working however, methacillin resistant S. aureus has mecA gene that codes for new Penicillin Binding Proteins
T or F: 50% of the hospital strains that are isolated are MRSA
True
**Side note: remember that the coagulase test is done with rabbit serum**
Staph. aureus is a part of our normal flora. Where is it typically found?
• is there an increased risk of infecting yourself if you are colonized?
- 30% of people are colonized by S. aureus in their nasal cavity at any given time => this leads to an increased risk of skin infections in these people
- People often have staph on their hand
• 5% of women have colonized vaginas
What is the underlying pathogenesis of all diseases caused by S. aureus?
Toxin production and pyogenic inflammation
Staphyloxanthin (carotenoid)
• what is it?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that produces the golden color of staph colonies and is responsible for inactivating the microbiocidal effects of Superoxides and other ROS in neutrophils
Coagulase
• what is it?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that causes conversion of prothrombin (II) to thrombin (IIa) that then allows cleavage of fibrinogen to fibrin. Clot formation allows Staph to wall itself off from the immune system.
(Remember the vit K dependent factors? they are II, IX, XI, X, protein S and protein C)

Hemolysins
• what do they do?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that cleaves RBCs to recover iron that is needs to grow.
(Remember: its the job of serum hepcidin and serum ferritin to bind up iron so that this doesn’t happen regularly)
Protein A
• what is it?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that binds the Fc region of IgG and thus prevents the activation of complement because there is a reduction in C3b production which greatly reduces phagocytosis of organisms
(note: C3b is needed to complete all paths, it is an important component of C5 convertase (C3bC2aC4b - classic) (C3bx2 + Bb - alt) that generates C5a to work as MAC and chemoattractant, it also can bind to CR1 (complement receptor -1) on macs to directly affect phagocytosis)
Teichioic acids
• what are they?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that mediate adherance of staph to mucosal cells and also induces IL-1 and TNF release from macrophages (via binding to TLR-2)
Polysaccharide Capsule
• what is it?
• Serotypes? most virulent?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that allows bacteria to attach to artificial materials and resist host cell phagocytosis
There are 11 serotypes with type 5 and 8 being to most virulent
Peptidoglycan
• what does it do?
Virulence factor of S. aureus that acts as an endotoxin-like protein that stimulates cytokines production and coagulation/complement cascades leading to gram positivie septic shock (gram + response to Lipid A in LPS of gram negatives?)
**Remember with endotoxins there must be an actual bacteremia for it to have its effects, as opposed to exotoxins or superantigens.


