Commensal flora

Question	Answer
What are commensal flora?	Beneficial/harmless/opportunistic pathogens Can exclude pathogens Break down indigestible food
Give 2 examples of pathogens that are excluded by commensal flora	Candida albicans - thrush after antibiotic treatment Clostridium difficile - diarrhoea after antibiotic treatment kills of beneficial gut flora so can est itself
Give an example of evidence to support the idea of commensal flora breaking down indigestible food	Notobiotic mice gain weight faster than non-sterile ones - gut flora harvests additional nutrients
Example of probiotic species	Lactobacillus acidophilus
What does bifidobacterium do?	Decrease lactose intolerance Reduce serum cholesterol Anticancer activity
What do streptococci do and where are they found?	Opportunistic pathogen in the mouth Endocarditis if enters bloodstream of someone w/ heart problems
What does Haemophilus influenzae do and where is it found?	Meningitis if enters bloodstream and crosses blood-brain barrier Nose
What does Pseudomonas aeruginosa do and where is it found?	CF/immunocompromised: lung infections Burn wounds Skin and bowel
What is the Gram positive pili important for?	Bacterial adhesion Colonisation Invasion of host tissues Biofilm formation Translocation across host membranes
What is an example of a bacterium that uses the Gram positive pili and what does it do?	Streptococcus pneumoniae Community-acquired pneumonia (main cause) Meningitis Bacteremia Middle-ear infection

Resource summary

	Created by Sophie Byrne over 5 years ago