Name That Pathogen!

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Climberak

Climberak

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Hello ladies and gentlemen! It's time to play everyone's favorite game: Name That Pathogen! Every week I will post a picture of some microbe, and you have to guess its latin name and the disease it causes. If you get it right, you get absolutely nothing! ....except for bragging rights, of course.

Hopefully this will help with our microbiology courses... :laugh:


This first one is a personal favorite:

070617_leishmania_300.jpg
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Conehead sperm. It infects oocytes and causes birth defects such as Aykroydism and an increased likelihood of Narflethegarthok syndrome later in life.
 
:laugh:
SpookyDoc said:
Conehead sperm. It infects oocytes and causes birth defects such as Aykroydism and an increased likelihood of Narflethegarthok syndrome later in life.
Click to expand...

Clever, very clever...
 
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OK, problem fixed. This time there shouldn't be any cheating ;)

This first pathogen is quite good at evading immune responses. One such mechanism is the genetic revision of its VSG genes. An insect is its carrier....
 

Attachments

  • Mystery Pathogen 1.pdf
    29.7 KB · Views: 748
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Climberak said:
OK, problem fixed. This time there shouldn't be any cheating ;)

This first pathogen is quite good at evading immune responses. One such mechanism is the genetic revision of its VSG genes. An insect is its carrier....
Click to expand...
Looks like Trypanosomes to me.
 
Hmm, I'll go with Trypanosoma brucei
 
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Hey now, lets stick to the original pathogen at hand. If you want to post pictures, make your own thread.

Beachblonde gets one point for naming the species, and has therefore become our current champion:


Hall of Fame
1) Beachblonde +1


Can anyone name the disease this pathogen causes as well as the insect vector? It's kinda easy now.
 
Climberak said:
Hey now, lets stick to the original pathogen at hand. If you want to post pictures, make your own thread.

Beachblonde gets one point for naming the species, and has therefore become our current champion:


Hall of Fame
1) Beachblonde +1


Can anyone name the disease this pathogen causes as well as the insect vector? It's kinda easy now.
Click to expand...

African Sleeping Sickness and the Tsetse fly. Next.
 
Before you post another one, i have a quick question. i am starting up in the fall. Are the micro questions on step 1 (or MS2 exams) typically identification types like what you would see in histology or is it mostly clinical (ie symptome, Rx etc).

I am a microbiologist and i am wondering how usefull my present knowedge is going to be. i dont have a whole lot of clinical training. Should i just leave my microbe atlas at home?
 
Mr hawkings said:
Before you post another one, i have a quick question. i am starting up in the fall. Are the micro questions on step 1 (or MS2 exams) typically identification types like what you would see in histology or is it mostly clinical (ie symptome, Rx etc).

I am a microbiologist and i am wondering how usefull my present knowedge is going to be. i dont have a whole lot of clinical training. Should i just leave my microbe atlas at home?
Click to expand...

I too was a microbiologist before starting med school (granted, not a post-doc). I found my experience in micro and especially immuno to be helpful during my 2nd-year course. While I recall some straightforward "ID this bug" type questions, most of what you will see on exams and Step 1 will be presented in terms of a clinical scenario - e.g. a patient comes in with these symptoms. What antibiotic do you use to treat them?

Keep in mind that your typical micro course in medical school will be relatively short and lightning-speed. You won't have time to ponder and explore like you did in grad school. You'll need to stick to the basics, and, before you know it, it will be over and done with.

While the background definitely helps, I also struggled a bit with the clinical aspects because I was so used to thinking in terms of molecular and cell biology. I did not really have much exposure to micro-related pharmacology during grad school or while I was working, so much of that was new to me. Learning things like "what infection typically occurs in X population" was also relatively new.

Still, it definitely helps to have at least seen all of these bugs before. There's an emphasis on classification (e.g. single-stranded +-sense RNA viruses vs. - sense viruses) as well as clinical picture, "most commons," and, of course, treatment.
 
Climberak said:
Hey now, lets stick to the original pathogen at hand. If you want to post pictures, make your own thread.

Beachblonde gets one point for naming the species, and has therefore become our current champion:


Hall of Fame
1) Beachblonde +1


Can anyone name the disease this pathogen causes as well as the insect vector? It's kinda easy now.
Click to expand...

Hall of Fame? Wow. I can't tell you the last time I was a champ at something. Sweet! :laugh:

And I totally could name the disease & vector, had somebody not beat me to it, lol.
 
themule said:
African Sleeping Sickness and the Tsetse fly. Next.
Click to expand...

Correct! We now have a tie for the current champion:

Hall of Fame
1) Beachblonde +1
1) themule +1

This next pathogen needs no introduction; most of you should be able to recognize it.

P.S. I'm going to try to lengthen out the time between posting the mystery pathogens, otherwise I'll run out of pictures before winter break is up!
 

Attachments

  • Mystery Pathogen #2.pdf
    35.9 KB · Views: 506
Ah, but note the characteristic "nuclei". Nevertheless, it is indeed a good looking parasite. I liked the parasite section much better than viruses, and certainly much better than fungi. Too bad it is such a small component on the boards.
 
Cpants gets it right for guessing pathogen #2. We now have a 3 way tie for our champion:

Hall of Fame
1) Beachblonde +1
1) themule +1
1) cpants +1

Mast cells play a key role in the immune response against this next pathogen.


P.S. If someone can tell me the disease mystery pathogen #2 causes they will get a point.
 

Attachments

  • Mystery Pathogen #3.pdf
    35.2 KB · Views: 390
Candida causes thrush, yeast infections, and lung and systemic infection in immunocompromised patients.

Is #3 Enterobius vermicularis?
 
It looks to me like a nematode and the only one that I know of is Trichenella spiralis. Causes trichonosis.
 
well look at all the pretty protozoa! I started to think my ugrad protistology class might pay dividends until you said the parasites were a minor component of the boards... oh, well. Americans never get any of the fun diseases, anyway.

heres one that shouldn't be too hard: http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/images/thumb/f/ff/COW137.jpg/300px-COW137.jpg

feel free to give me a minus-one for putting up my own image, but since the most recent one was already answered...
 
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zipmedic said:
I'll go with Babesia; causes babesiosis. Most common insect vector is the tick.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:

I can't wait for micro- keep 'em coming, Climberak!
 
Tick... the Ixodes is the most common tick carrying Babesia. Also carries Lyme disease. Parasites are much more interesting than bacteria/fungi. As for the one above, differential would have to include Ascaris lumbricoides, Balyascaris procyonis, Strongyloides stercoralis, Ancyclostoma sp. or Necator americanus (cant see tail or buccal cavity), Enterobius (as above), and a whole host of others including blood/tissue nematodes... because you didn't give specimen type...
 
Forthegood said:
Tick... the Ixodes is the most common tick carrying Babesia. Also carries Lyme disease. Parasites are much more interesting than bacteria/fungi. As for the one above, differential would have to include Ascaris lumbricoides, Balyascaris procyonis, Strongyloides stercoralis, Ancyclostoma sp. or Necator americanus (cant see tail or buccal cavity), Enterobius (as above), and a whole host of others including blood/tissue nematodes... because you didn't give specimen type...
Click to expand...

I was just going for the pathognomonic "maltese cross" appearance. Specimen type is just a regular peripheral smear, by the looks of it, or is that what you mean?

I am a novice at this stuff- haven't taken a grad course in micro yet. But I think its really cool!
 
Haha... and you know why i did that, because its nice to know SOMETHING... when every day i feel I know LESS and LESS about more and more! haha sad i know...
 
LadyWolverine said:
I always thought it just looked like a happy face. Kind of like :)
Click to expand...

Haha I always used to do that. I remember in ugrad histology I'd look at the slides and think they look like some sort of shape or pattern or object. haha. I so thought that thing looked like a creepy smily face. lol
 
cpants said:
Candida causes thrush, yeast infections, and lung and systemic infection in immunocompromised patients.
Click to expand...

+1

themule said:
It looks to me like a nematode and the only one that I know of is Trichenella spiralis. Causes trichonosis.
Click to expand...

+1

Beachblonde has moved down in the Hall of Fame, and we now have a two way tie for champion!

Hall of Fame
1) themule +2
1) cpants +2
3) Beachblonde +1

No latin name for this next pathogen...
 

Attachments

  • Mystery Pathogen #4.pdf
    20.6 KB · Views: 351
Man that's a tough one. Any hints??
 
Its a filovirus so by your hint, i'm going to say Marburg virus: marburg hemorragic fever. Cousin of Ebola.
 
Mr hawkings said:
Its a filovirus so by your hint, i'm going to say Marburg virus: marburg hemorragic fever. Cousin of Ebola.
Click to expand...

Very good! We have a new Hall of Famer:


Hall of Fame
1) themule +2
1) cpants +2
3) Beachblonde +1
3) Mr hawkings +1

I'm curious if they teach about Marburg virus in micro. Anyone recall?


This next microbe can wreck havoc on our digestive system.
 

Attachments

  • mystery pathogen #5.pdf
    72.6 KB · Views: 311
Looks to me like a biofilm. My guess is H. pylori.
 
Definately not E.coli. It does look like a biofilm but i'm gonna go with C.difficile.

Pseudomembraneous colitis.
 
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