• A 30 yr old woman with SLE is found to have a positive serologic test for Syphilis (VDRL test).she denies having had sexual contact with her partner who had symptoms of a venereal disease. The next best step would be to A Reassure her that the test is a false positive reaction related to her autoimmune disorder B Trace her sexual contact for serologic tests C Treat her with Penicillin D Perform a FTA-ABS test on a specimen of her serum
Each of the following statements concerning Treponema is correct EXCEPT A T pallidum produces an exotoxin that stimulates adenylate cyclase B T pallidum cannot be grown on conventional lab medium. C Treponemes are members of the normal flora of the human oropharynx. D patients with T pallidum produce abs that react with beef heart cardiolipin
• A 40 yr old with secondary syphilis is given a single dose of benzathione penicillin and experiences fever and chills. • What is the most likely explanation for these treatment induced symptoms? A the wrong antibiotic was used to treat disease B The patient had another underlying illness C Cell wall endotoxin was released upon treatment D Penicillin stimulates secretion of bacterial pyogenic exotoxins
• Explanation: treatment induced fever after treatment for systemic spirochete infections is called the Jarisch- Herxheimer reaction and is related to the release of bacterial cell wall endotoxin fragments after antibiotic induced cell lysis