Bartonella Henselae, Coccobacilli or Bacilli?

[Ronin786]

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So I got the following question in Rx:

Since Bartonella is barely talked about in First Aid, I've had it annotated from Microcards that its a Gram Negative Coccobacilli. Thats what I answered it as, but the First Aid folks obviously seem to think that its a bacilli.

Problem is, even in Wikipedia it says "Bartonella henselae is gram negative rod or bacilli with a polar flagellum." and I can't find any accurate reference to what it really is. On the other hand, medscape has it as a gram negative rod, so I'm confused.

 

[Phloston]

The Microcards say coccobacilli? Do you have the third edition? I have the second edition and Bartonella henselae isn't even listed in the package! I remember this because I had done the Microcards before having touched FA, then got to the micro section in FA and recalled having said, "hmm, a bug not in the Microcards."

Once again, I'm not sure how the third edition is, but I can remember off the top of my head several notable inconsistencies between the second edition of the Microcards and FA.

The first is that the Microcards lists delta virus as an RNA virus, icosahedral nucleocapsid, enveloped, SS(-) circular, but FA lists delta virus as helical.

The other thing is that the Microcards lists arena virus as an RNA virus, helical nucleocapsid, enveloped, single-stranded (-) non-segmented, but FA lists it as circular and with two segments.

The same goes for bunya virus. Microcards lists it as RNA, helical, enveloped, SS(-) segmented, but FA lists it as circular and with three segments.

More specifically in relation to your question though, I'm aware that the Microcards 2nd edition has H. influenziae, Legionella, Bordetella, Brucella, Francisella and Pasteurella all as gram(-) coccobacilli-pleomorphic, but FA lists them simply under the rod category.

In terms of what I would answer on the USMLE, I believe we should allow FA to overrule the Microcards on these points.

I'm glad you posted this topic for review btw.

I'm also not sure if you have this info already, but I've come across Lactobacillus as a gram(+) rod, Gardnerella is a gram-variable rod and Calymmatobacterium donovani is a gram(-) coccobacillus.

 

[ijn]

They probably aren't going to make you pick between coccobacilli or bacilli. I know it's in USMLERx, but this is microbiology for second year medical students, not graduate students. What they're far more likely to do is give you bacteria answer choices A through N and make you diagnose her infection from the case history.

 

[Phloston]

I also forgot to mention (I'm not sure if you had seen this on the scores thread over a week ago): Anaplasma had shown up on someone's exam recently, and that definitely isn't in the Microcards.

 

[Ronin786]

I also forgot to mention (I'm not sure if you had seen this on the scores thread over a week ago): Anaplasma had shown up on someone's exam recently, and that definitely isn't in the Microcards.

I've been mixing in Microcards with First Aid, and I've definitely noticed inconsistencies. For the most part I've opted with whatever is in FA, but in this case its not mentioned.

I guess I'll annotate Anaplasma in, but thats the scary stuff where multiple resources don't even mention the tested matter.

Also I have the 3rd edition, but it still has the same things (I can remember the Delta virus part off the top of my head). It also has a mistake with hepadnaviruses I think but I can't recall it.

What version of FA do you have btw? Because the 2012 edition has Haemophilus, Pasteurella, Brucella and Bordetella as coccobacilli as opposed to bacilli.

 

[Phloston]

I've been mixing in Microcards with First Aid, and I've definitely noticed inconsistencies. For the most part I've opted with whatever is in FA, but in this case its not mentioned.

I guess I'll annotate Anaplasma in, but thats the scary stuff where multiple resources don't even mention the tested matter.

Also I have the 3rd edition, but it still has the same things (I can remember the Delta virus part off the top of my head). It also has a mistake with hepadnaviruses I think but I can't recall it.

What version of FA do you have btw? Because the 2012 edition has Haemophilus, Pasteurella, Brucella and Bordetella as coccobacilli as opposed to bacilli.

I have FA2012 (the colored edition). There may be more than one FA2012 if I recall correctly, because I've seen a version that's not colored. I'm looking at my copy now, and those bugs you just listed are cited as bacilli, not coccobacilli, in mine. WTF!

 

[Ronin786]

I have FA2012 (the colored edition). There may be more than one FA2012 if I recall correctly, because I've seen a version that's not colored. I'm looking at my copy now, and those bugs you just listed are cited as bacilli, not coccobacilli, in mine. WTF!