Microbiology and Immunology 2500A/B Lecture Notes - Penicillin, Polysaccharide, Antimicrobial Resistance
16 Oct 2012
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Gram-positive, coccus shaped, facultative anaerobe (don"t need oxygen to grow) Coagulase positive staphylococci: staphylococcus aureus, aureus = latin for gold. Coagulase negative staphylococci: staphylococcus epidermidis, staphylococcus saprophyticus, many other coagulase negative species. An efficient colonizer of humans that doesn"t usually cause problems. Carriers of s. aureus are healthy, asymptomatic people. Colonization leads to greater risk of infection, but prognosis is also generally better. The leading cause of hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections. In the united states: causes more than 10 million skin and soft tissue infections/year, about 94, 000 invasive infections (31. 8 per 100,000, about 19,000 deaths. A pyogenic or pus-producing infection (pus body mounting in immune response) The hallmark of s. aureus infection is the abscess: heat, redness, swelling, and pain, a collection of dead neutrophils (pus) due to infection. Abscesses can occur in any organ but are most frequent on the skin. Can cause major complications if the organisms spread from the abscess.
