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Spirochaetes
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Presentation Outline
Morphology
Organisms
Diseases
Leptospirosis
Lyme disease
Syphilis
Tests
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Spirochete Morphology
Gram negative cell wall
often too small to see by light microscopy
special stains
Spiral morphology
distinctive tight coils
Motile
Periplasmic flagella
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Spiral
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Spiral bacterium
Spirillum volutans 11/17/201
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Spirochete
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Axial Filament
Between cell wall and
cytoplasmic membrane
Attached at either end of cell
Overlap in the centre
constrictat overlap
pulls ends together
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Spirochetes:Features
Chemoorganotropic
Range of oxygen requirements
Life style
Free living
host associated
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Spirochaete Motility
Click on image
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Spirochetes: genera
Borrelia (lyme disease)
Brachyspira
Cristispira
Leptonema
Leptospira (Leptospirosis)
Serpulina
Spirochaeta
Treponema (Syphilis)
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Leptospirosis
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Leptospira biflexa
free living saprophyte in moist environments
motile, flagella
aerobic
can be grown in 2 weeks
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Leptospirosis
Leptospira interrogans
Zoonosis of wild & domestic animals
acquiredfrom urine of infected animals
Dogs, rodents
Portal of entry
broken skin or mucosa
Bacteremia
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L. interrogans
Carried by wild and domestic animals
source of human infection
Streams, rivers, moist soil
contaminated by animal urine
Person to person very rare.
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Occupational exposure
farmers, slaughter house
workers, veterinarians.
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L. interrogans
mild flu like febrile illness
Weil’s disease
renal and hepatic failure
vasculitis
meningitis
myocarditis
death
Penetrate all organs including CNS
Enter through small cuts 11/17/201
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Leptospirosis
Febrile illness not clinically distinctive
Acute phase
Leptospiremic phase
incubation 7 -14 days
fever, headache, muscle pain nausea
Immune phase
foundin urine
meningitis
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Borrelia
Relapsing Fevers
Lyme Disease
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Relapsing Fever
Borrelia recurrentis
Tick borne Relapsing fever
rodents are reservoir
soft shelled ticks
Louse borne Relapsing fever
humans are reservoir
body louse
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Borrelia
Easily seen in blood smear
Also confirmed by injecting mouse
blood stream teaming with Borrelia
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B.recurrentis
Tick borne relapsing fever is a zoonotic
Clinical evolution: relapsing fever
Serological tests not useful
treatment
tetracycline
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Lyme Disease
Lyme, Conneticut USA -
spring/fall
Borrelia burgdorfii
reservoir rodents, pets,
deer
vector hard shelled ticks
Bite: incubation 3-30 days
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Lyme Disease: Early Signs
Erythema chronicum migrans
Erythematous skin lesion
small macule or papule - enlarges to 68 mm.
Malaise, severe fatigue, headache, fever,
chills,
chronic neurologic, cardiac rheumatic
manifestations.
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Lyme Disease: Complications
1 month or more
myalgia, lymphadenopathy
Up to 2 years
meningitis,encephalitis, peripheral nerve
neuropathy.
Cardiac disfunction, myopericarditis.
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Lyme Disease: Serology
Immunofluorescence assay
Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay
(ELISA)
False positives
other spirochaetes
infectious mononucleosis
autoimmune disease
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Lyme Disease:Treatment
tetracycline or penicillin
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Syphilis
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Stages of Syphilis
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
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Primary syphilis
Chancre: painless blister at
the site of contact
Heals spontaneously even if
untreated
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Syphilitic lesions of vulva
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Secondary Syphilis
Lesions of secondary
syphilis are dispersed
over the body
Lesions appear on the
cooler parts of the body
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Secondary syphilis
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Syphilitic lesion on the cooler
parts of the body
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Neuronal Syphilis
Treponemes have
invaded the nerve
and set up a
lesion
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Syphilic lesions on bones
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Cardio Syphilis
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Tests for Syphilis
Break down products Treponemal antigens
of infected cells more expensive
cardiolipin more specific
VDRL, Wasserman confirmatory test
Simple, well
documented
cross reactive eg
TB
presumtive test
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Performance Objectives
Key terms, concepts
short answers
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Key Terms
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Key Terms
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Key Organisms
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Key Concepts
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Epidemiology of ???
Disease/bacterial factors
Transmission
Who is at risk
Geography/ season
Incidence
Modes of control
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Short Answers
Construct a table of the virulence factors
associated with ??? and the biological
activity of each
Use a series of no more than four diagrams
to describe the mechanism of ??? activity
Describe the clinical manifestions ???
Construct a table listing the common ???
species and the associated human diseases.
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The End
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Icteric leptospirosis
first stage: 3-7 days - septicemic
10-30 days - immune
Cultures positive: blood, then CSF, then
urine
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Icteric leptospirosis
Jaundice, hemorrhage, renal failure,
myocarditis
Anicteric described
Best in CSF, blood, and urine culture -- 1st
week
Lab test -- slide agglutination
Doxycycline - treatment
Prevention: rodent control
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So What
Know importance
#1 communicable disease growing fast
Know how it is spread
Sexual intercourse
skin-skin contact
Know the symptoms
Syphilis can be identified and cured
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