Medically Important Bacteria
Memorisation Sheet
Type/ Category Bacteria name
Gram (+) Cocci Staphylococcus aureus
 Golden yellow colonies
 Anaerobe
 Found in nasal passages, skin
and mucous membrane
Streptococcus pyogenes
 Large zones of beta haemolysis
on blood agar
 Group A (B-haemolytic)
Virulence Factors
 Coagulase – causes clots
 Invasins such as hyaluronidase,
leucocidin (killing leucocytes),
kinases
 Haemolysins – toxic shock
syndrome toxin, enterotoxins
 Beta-lactamases
 Hyaluronidase
 Cell wall antigens – capsular
polysaccharide, peptidoglycan,
teichoic acid (gram +)
 Streptokinase – digests clots
 Streptolysins – cause beta
haemolysis
 DNAses – liquefaction of pus
 M Protein in fimbriae –
attachment to host cells
 Erythrogenic toxin – scarlet fever
 Pyrogenic toxin
Diseases Caused
 Skin infections (pimples, impetigo)
Impetigo
Most common among preschool children, people who play contact sports
also susceptible
Folliculitis
Inflammation of hair follicles
Cellulitis
Infection of deeper layers of skin (dermis and subcutaneous layer)
 Scalded skin syndrome
 widespread formation of fluid-filled blisters that are thin walled and easily
ruptured
 Pneumonia (inflammation in alveoli)
 Meningitis
 Osteomyelitis (inflammation of bone marrow)
 Endocarditis (inflammation of endocardium)
 Toxic shock syndrome (high fever, low blood pressure, then progress to
coma and organ failure)
 Sore throats (pharyngitis, tonsillitis)
 Cellulitis and Impetigo
 Bacteraemia (presence of bacteria in blood)
 Endocarditis
 Toxin mediated
Scarlet fever (sore throat, fever, red tongue with strawberry appearance)
Toxic shock syndrome
 Rheumatic fever (inflammatory disease that can involve the heart,
joints, skin, and brain)
 Rheumatic heart disease (valve damage especially mitral valve)
 Sinusitis (inflammation of paranasal sinuses)
 Necrotising fasciitis – invasion into subcutaneous tissue
 Poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis – deposition of antigen-antibody
complexes on basement membrane of glomeruli
Type/ Category Bacteria name Virulence Factors Diseases Caused

Streptococcus pneumoniae  Bronchopneumonia (acute inflammation of bronchioles)

 Occurs in pairs  Capsule  Lobar pneumonia (affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a
 Capsulated  Pili – colonisation of upper lung)
 Alpha haemolytic (partial respiratory tract  Meningitis
haemolysis)  Surface proteins  Bacteraemia (presence of bacteria in blood)
 Draughtsman colonies green Pneumococcal surface protein A,
area) PspA (protective)
 Aerobic and anaerobic resp. LytA, B, C (autolysins)
 Soluble in bile Choline binding protein A, CbpA
 Susceptible to optochin (adhesin)

Aerobes
Gram (+)
Bacilli Bacillus anthracis Anthrax
Type/ Category  Endospore forming  Transmitted through contact or consumption of infected meat
 Soil organisms  Respiratory:  cold or flu-like symptoms for several days, followed by pneumonia
 Infection when spores enter  GI Tract:  vomiting of blood, severe diarrhoea, acute inflammation of the intestinal tract, and loss of appetite
skin/ inhaled  Cutaneous/ Skin: boil-like skin lesion that eventually forms an ulcer with a black centre

Bacillus cereus  Food poisoning associated with reheated rice and porridge (link to ‘cereal’)
 Spore forming  Bacteraemia in immunocompromised
 Self-limiting

Anaerobes

Clostridium tetani  Tetanus (lockjaw)

 Spore forming
 Infection by contaminated soil
entering wound (link to
peTANI)
 Ground glass appearance on
muscle spasms,  the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body strong that bone fractures may
occur
Signs and symptoms: fever, sweating, headache, trouble swallowing, high blood pressure, and a fast heart rate
 agar (translucent glass)
Bacteria name
Clostridium perfringens
Clostridium difficile
 Component of gut flora
 Flourish (develop rapidly)
under selective pressures of
antibiotics
Clostridium botulinum
 Forms endospores that resists
heat
 Obligate anaerobe
Non-Spore Forming
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
 Albert’s Stain used to show the
metachromatic granules in the
polar regions (polar granules)
 Blood tellurite agar – black
halo around the colonies
Virulence Factors
 Toxins (exotoxins produce necrosis
impairing blood supply, keep
anaerobic)
 Tissue destroying enzymes
 Pseudomembranous colitis (inflammation of large intestine)
 Antibiotic associated diarrhoea
 Fatality in immunocompromised
 Neurotoxin Botulinum
 Diphtheria toxin (inhibits protein
synthesis by inactivating
elongation factor)
 pili
Diseases Caused
Gas gangrene
 bacterial infection that produces gas in tissues in gangrene
 condition of necrotic damage, specific to muscle tissue
 microorganisms are opportunistic and, in general, enter the body through
significant skin breakage
 Lead to sepsis (whole-body inflammatory response to an infection)
Food-borne botulism
 Food poisoning
 Can occur due to preserved or home-canned, low-acid food that was not
processed using correct preservation times and/or pressure.
Diphtheria
 Upper respiratory tract illness characterised by sore throat, low fever,
pseudomembrane on tonsils, pharynx
 Bull neck appearance due to enlarged lymph nodes
 Myocarditis (inflammation of cardiac muscles)
 Polyneuritis (inflammation and damage of nerves)
 May also affect skin, eyes, genitals
Diagnosis
 Blood tellurite medium
  ELEK test
Based on double diffusion of diphtheria toxin and antitoxin in agar
Formation of toxin—antitoxin precipitin
 PCR for detecting DNA sequence for toxin

Type/ Category Bacteria name Virulence Factors Diseases Caused

Gram (-) Neisseria gonorrhoea Gonorrhoea

Diplococci  Kidney shaped  Sexually transmitted
 In men,  burning sensation with urination and discharge from the penis
 In women, pelvic inflammatory disease (affects upper part of female reproductive system), salpingitis (inflammation
of Fallopian tube)

Ophthalmia neonatorum
 Conjunctivitis contracted by new-borns during delivery. The baby's eyes are contaminated during passage through the
birth canal from a mother infected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae 

Treatment – beta lactamase stable (cephalosporin, amoxicillin, ampicillin)

Gram (-) bacilli Salmonella typhi Typhoid fever

Salmonella paratyphi  A type of enteric fever
Salmonella choeraesuis  High fever over several days, Weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, and headaches
 Diarrhoea and vomiting are UNCOMMON
 Predominantly motile  spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the faeces of an infected person
 Can survive for weeks
outside body
 Transmission: between
humans and animals Paratyphoid fever
 Faecal oral route Symptoms are the same as typhoid fever
There is typhoid vaccine, but no paratyphoid vaccine

Bacteraemia

Shigella dysenteriae Cytotoxins Bacillary dysentery

 Shigella sonnei Dysentery -  inflammation of the intestine causing diarrhoea with blood
Shigella flexneri
Shigella boydii

Type/ Category Bacteria name Virulence Factors Diseases Caused

Escherichia coli  urinary tract infections

 motile
 most strains are harmless
 habitat: gut of men and
animals
 spread by faecal oral route
 grows on MacConkey agar
(pink colonies – lactose
fermenter)
 diarrhoeal diseases
 neonatal meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning)
 pneumonia
haemolytic-uremic syndrome
 characterized by haemolytic anaemia (anaemia caused by destruction of red blood cells), acute kidney
failure (uraemia), and a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia).
 It predominantly, but not exclusively, affects children

Bordetella pertussis Whooping cough (pertussis)

 Initially, symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough.
 This is then followed by weeks of severe coughing fits.
 Following a fit of coughing, a high-pitched whoop sound or gasp may occur as the person breathes in.
 The coughing may last for 10 or more weeks

Haemophilus infleunzae Meningitis

Sinusitis
Upper respiratory infections
Yersinia pestis Plague
Legionella pneumophila Pneumonia

Gram (-) Vibrio cholerae  Mucinase – lyses hyaluronic acid Cholera

comma shaped  Highly motile using a single  Adhesins  rice water diarrhoea
flagellum  enterotoxin

 cytotoxin that haemolyses red

 Vibrio parahaemolyticus
Campylobacter foetus
Gram (-) Helicobacter pylori
Curved/ Spiral
shaped
Type/ Category Bacteria name
Mycoplasma  Lack cell wall, not acted on by
beta lactam antibiotics
 Fried-egg colonies on glucose
agar
Mycobacteria  Difficult to gram stain due to
mycolic acids
 Ziehl-Neelsen stain (acid fast
stain)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
 Causing a lesion in the lungs
called ‘Ghon’s complex’
Mycobacterium leprae
blood cells
Bacteraemia
 Protease that affects gastric mucosa
 Urease – produces ammonia and
buffers stomach acid
Virulence Factors
Mycoplasma pneumoniae – pneumonia
Mycoplasma genitalium – pelvic inflammatory disease
Mycoplasma hominis - pelvic inflammatory disease
 Mycolic acids – prevent attack by
phagocytes
 High lipids in cell wall –
impermeability to stains and dyes
 Resistant to many antibiotics
 Gastrointestinal illnesses
 Gastritis
 Gastric/ duodenal ulcer
 Gastric carcinoma
Diseases Caused
Tuberculosis (TB)
 Pathogenesis: TB infection begins when the mycobacteria reach
the pulmonary alveoli, where they invade and replicate
within endosomes of alveolar macrophages. Macrophages identify the
bacterium as foreign and attempt to eliminate it by phagocytosis. During
this process, the bacterium is enveloped by the macrophage and stored
temporarily in a membrane-bound vesicle called a phagosome. The
phagosome then combines with a lysosome to create a phagolysosome. In
the phagolysosome, the cell attempts to use reactive oxygen species and
acid to kill the bacterium. However, M. tuberculosis has a thick,
waxy mycolic acid capsule that protects it from these toxic
substances. M. tuberculosis is able to reproduce inside the macrophage
and will eventually kill the immune cell.
 Classified as one of the granulomatous inflammatory
diseases. Macrophages, T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes,
and fibroblasts aggregate to form granulomas,
with lymphocytes surrounding the infected macrophages. When other
macrophages attack the infected macrophage, they fuse together to form a
giant multinucleated cell in the alveolar lumen. The granuloma may
prevent dissemination of the mycobacteria and provide a local
environment for interaction of cells of the immune system.

Mycobacterium other than
Tuberculosis (MOTT)
Example: M. avium-intracellulare
Type/ Category Bacteria name
Spirochaetes Treptonema pallidum
 Can be viewed by dark ground
microscopy or
immunofluorescence
microscopy
Leptospira interrogans
 Finely coiled with hooked
ends
 Light microscope – stain by
silver
 Immunofluorescence
Leprosy/ Hansen’s Disease
 granulomas of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes
 Atypical mycobacterial infection which can occur in the later stages of AIDS
 Cause fevers, diarrhoea, malabsorption, as well as loss of appetite and weight loss, and can disseminate to the bone
marrow
Virulence Factors Diseases Caused
Syphilis
 Sexually transmitted infection
Leptospirosis
 Symptoms can range from none to mild such as headaches, muscle pains, and fevers; to severe with bleeding from
the lungs or meningitis
 If it causes lots of bleeding from the lungs it is known as severe pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome