- Joined
- Aug 15, 2003
- Messages
- 28,059
- Reaction score
- 441
Due to my busy schedule of late I start my micro month tomorrow and I don't know anything. I am trying to remember stuff from med school but all I can remember is that chocolate agar grows something specific, acid fast organisms don't often grow on normal culture media, and what staph aureus looks like.
I also know that when a bug has the letter "T" in it, more often than not it is gram positive. If there are two Ts, it often cancels it out. (see, "t" looks like a "+"). I should patent this method for remembering bug type because everyone is always impressed when I tell it to them.
Gram (+): Staph, Strep (2 Ts but if you remember it as strep you do fine), Enterococcus, Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Listeria, Corynebacterium, propionobacterium, peptostreptococcus (3 Ts).
Gram (-): Neiserria, Haemophilus, Enterobacter (two ts), pseudomonas, citrobacter (two ts), moraxella, Eikinella, Kingella, Legionella, brucella, E coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Aeromonas, Vibrio, Burkholderia, Acinetobacter (two ts).
Doesn't work for: Proteus, bacillus, bordetella (but it does if you call it bordetella pertussis - two Ts), actinobacillus.
Based on that, it's easier to remember the exceptions to the rule, eh? The only time this rule failed me is darned old bacillus (gets me everytime) and the time I was convinced Enterococcus was an exception - then I remembered that enterobacter is gram (-) because it has two Ts. Of course, now I just remember "bacillus anthracis" and since there is a T in there, bacillus can be gram (+) now. So that just leaves proteus.
Now I have to figure out how to remember aerobes vs anaerobes. My rule of "when in doubt, the confusing and long name that I don't hear very often is an anaerobe" just doesn't cut it very much. Of course, if you are a clinician, you can just throw around the term "anaerobes" because apparently they all have the same treatment.
Anyone know of a good website that teaches good microbiology techniques in a few minutes? Like, what pimp questions are they going to ask me tomorrow that I will have no idea? What is an alpha pattern? Beta pattern? What type of media does M. Tb grow in? What is the best test for CMV? Etc.
I also know that when a bug has the letter "T" in it, more often than not it is gram positive. If there are two Ts, it often cancels it out. (see, "t" looks like a "+"). I should patent this method for remembering bug type because everyone is always impressed when I tell it to them.
Gram (+): Staph, Strep (2 Ts but if you remember it as strep you do fine), Enterococcus, Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Listeria, Corynebacterium, propionobacterium, peptostreptococcus (3 Ts).
Gram (-): Neiserria, Haemophilus, Enterobacter (two ts), pseudomonas, citrobacter (two ts), moraxella, Eikinella, Kingella, Legionella, brucella, E coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Aeromonas, Vibrio, Burkholderia, Acinetobacter (two ts).
Doesn't work for: Proteus, bacillus, bordetella (but it does if you call it bordetella pertussis - two Ts), actinobacillus.
Based on that, it's easier to remember the exceptions to the rule, eh? The only time this rule failed me is darned old bacillus (gets me everytime) and the time I was convinced Enterococcus was an exception - then I remembered that enterobacter is gram (-) because it has two Ts. Of course, now I just remember "bacillus anthracis" and since there is a T in there, bacillus can be gram (+) now. So that just leaves proteus.
Now I have to figure out how to remember aerobes vs anaerobes. My rule of "when in doubt, the confusing and long name that I don't hear very often is an anaerobe" just doesn't cut it very much. Of course, if you are a clinician, you can just throw around the term "anaerobes" because apparently they all have the same treatment.
Anyone know of a good website that teaches good microbiology techniques in a few minutes? Like, what pimp questions are they going to ask me tomorrow that I will have no idea? What is an alpha pattern? Beta pattern? What type of media does M. Tb grow in? What is the best test for CMV? Etc.