Sunday, 9 October 2022

Microbiology Q&A

Normal Flora

1. De ne Normal ora.
Answer: Normal ora - various bacteria and fungi that are permanent residents of
some anatomical body parts.

2. De ne Human microbiome.
Answer: Microbiome - encompasses all of the genetic material associated with
these normal constituents.

3. De ne symbiotic relationship.
Answer: When two organisms permanently are associated to each other,
permanently live together.

4. Compare the mutualistic, comensal and parasitic relationships, give an

example of each type of relationship.
Answer:

* Mutualistic - Both associated organisms are bene ted from the relationship.
(Example: E. Coli in the intestinal tract).

* Comensal - One organism is bene ted, other one is not a ected at all. (Example:
pathogenic/nonpathogenic organisms found on the skin).

* Parasitic relationship - One organism is bene ted, other is harmed. (Example:

Pathogenic bacteria, viruses).

5. Name anatomical locations where it is normal to nd normal ora.

Answer: Skin, GI tract, upper respiratory tract, vagina, urethra.

6. Name anatomical locations that normally are sterile.

Answer: Blood, CNS, lower respiratory tract, liver, spleen, kidneys and bladder.

7. What is a carrier state?

Answer: The term carrier is not used in association with normal ora. It means that a
person is colonized by a potentially pathogenic microorganism and therefore can be
a source of disease for others. Most often this term is used for people who have
recently recovered from an infectious disease but they still may have a pathogenic
organism inside their body.

8. What is colonization?
Answer: Colonization is the growth of bacteria at the site of adherence without
invasion of deep tissues.

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9. What is resident ora?

Answer: Resident ora is a part of normal ora which is present in the humans from
a very young age.

10. What is transient ora?

Answer: Transient ora is when an microorganism stays in a given area (for example:
skin, mucous epithelia) for some time, but then it goes away. Sometimes, if the
normal ora are a ected and less then normal (for example this can be caused by
antibiotics), transient ora can proliferate, colonize and cause disease.

11. What are bene cial functions of normal ora?

Answer: Normal ora has several bene cial functions for our organism:

* It can be the source of nutrition and health (E.coli)

* Normal ora gives “instruction” to the developing immune system at a young age.

* Through bacterial interference can cause colonization resistance.

12. What is bacterial interference? Give an example.

Answer: Bacterial interference is when normal ora interferes with the potentially
pathogenic bacteria. This may be done by competing with pathogenic bacteria for
nutrition, receptors or binding sites on the host cells, mutual inhibition of metabolic
or toxic products, mutual inhibition by antibiotic materials or bacteriocins or other
mechanisms.

13. What is colonization resistance?

Answer: Colonization resistance occurs when normal ora doesn’t leave space for
pathogenic bacteria to proliferate.

14. What are harmful e ects of normal ora?

Answer: There are two harmful e ects of normal ora:

* They can be a cause of disease in case of overgrowth.

* They are nonpathogenic in some anatomical spaces but can cause disease if they
get to another anatomical location, for example e.coli is normal for intestine but it
can cause disease if it gets into genitourinary tract.

15. What are opportunistic microorganisms? Give an example.

Answer: Opportunistic microorganisms are organisms that are usually
nonpathogenic but can cause disease in certain conditions. In this case we can also
have an example of e. coli

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16. Name the important member of normal ora of the skin, and what disease
can be associated with it?
Answer:

* S. Epidermidis - Important cause of infection in prosthetic heart valves and

prosthetic joints.

* C. Albicans - A yeast. If enters blood stream can cause disseminated infections

such as endocarditis in intravenous drug users. Also causes Vaginitis.

17. Name the important member of the normal ora of the nose and what
medical signi cance does it have?
Answer:

* S. Aureus - Can cause abscesses in the skin and other areas of the body

18. Name the important member of the normal ora of the (oropharynx) throat
and what medical signi cance does it have?
Answer:

* Viridans streptococci (examples: S. Anguinis and S.mutans) - Can cause

Endocarditis.

19. Name the important members of the normal ora of the colon and what
medical signi cance do they have?
* B. fragilis and the facultative E. coli. E. faecalis, a facultative bacterium - cause
diseases outside of the colon. For example escherichia coli can cause urinary
tract infections in vagina.
20. Name the important members of the normal ora of the vagina and what
clinical signi cance do they have?
Answer:

* Lactobacilli - the predominant normal ora organ- isms in the vagina. They keep
the pH of the vagina low, which inhibits the growth of other organisms, such as
e.coli or c.albicans.

21. Name the important member of the normal ora of the urethra.
Answer:

* The outer third of the urethra contains a mixture of bacteria, primarily S.

epidermidis.

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