CASE STUDY A Walking Pneumonia Outbreak at a University Working as an epidemiolo

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CASE STUDY A Walking Pneumonia Outbreak at a University Working as an epidemiologist with the Georgia Department of Public Health, Janet completed her final assessment of the walking pneumonia outbreak that occurred during fall semester 2012 at the Georgia Institute of Technology Figure al. She was relieved that the largest pneumonis outbresk at a U.S, university in 35 years was finally over a. The number of Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases among students at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012 3. Why do the Mycoplasma bacteria shown have such unusual cell shapes? 4. Predict the effectiveness of treating a Mycoplasma infection wilth penicillin, an antibiotie that inhibits cell wall synthesis Janet collaborated with the university health center staff to 5 Sep 29 Out 13 Ot 27 Nov 10 Nov 24est respiratory samplies from the afected students and quickly confirmed M pneumonige as the causative agent. To curtail the Data som Mye pleima pre mon a·Outreak at uaney-Geopa 2012 outbreak, anet sd khool anniseaton implemented prate reach campaign to alent the university community and educate Week of illness onset 2013, August 2). Retrieved July 10, 2015, from htp//www.odk.gom them on healthy practices to mnimize pathogen taranasion, the college setting 1. How long did the outbreak last? 2. How many total students were diagnosed? 5. Should Janet's prevention plan include administering a vac dne ginst walkding p When the physician at the university health center called Janet in October reporting a sudden increase in students pre- senting with sore throat, fever, headache, fatigue, and a dry cough that sometimes occurred as violent spasms, she immedi camp armt was pleased that 79% of the students who were ately suspected the infectious culprit to be Mycoplasma pneu aware of the outbreak reported following her recommendations to moniae (Figure b). She knew this extremely small, wall-less reduce nection spread. She was frustrated, however, to dscover bacterium was easily transmitted via respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes by people living and working in crowded Puting them at high risk both for acquiring the infection and for Using a survey to assess the effectiveness of their outreach that 54%ofthe campus was completely unaware ofthe outbreak. most often in people younger than age 35 and is sometimes 6What methods of communication do you think would be the called walking pneumonia because patients are usualy still most effective means of reaching college students with this able to function. places, like a university. This mild form of pneumonia occurs serving as a pathogen reservair that could extend the outbreak vital information? CONCEPT CHECK 3. What environmental adaptations enable 1. How does the cell wall prevent cell lysis? 2. How are the glycan chains linked into three- Mycoplasma to survive without a cell wall? dimensional structures? The Bacterial Cell Wall 93

Explanation / Answer

1) The outbreaked lasted for about 4 months.

2) Total about 80-82 students were diagnosed.

3) Mycoplasma bacteria have no cell wall and they exhibit many shapes such as elongated or spherical. Thus they have unusual shape.

4) Mycoplasma bacteria infection cannot be treated by penicillin as these bacteria lacka cell wall. Penicillin targets cell wall synthethis. And hence there is not effect of penicilin on mycoplasma bacteria.

5) There should be no vaccine use to prevent Walking pneumonia as there has been no successful vaccine so far that delivers prevention against M. bacteria.

6) College students can be provided with campaign, awarness speeches , statistical ratings to communicate this vital information.

CONCEPT CHECK

1) The cell wall have peptidoglucan. This prevents osmotic lysis. Osmotic lysis occurs when cells move inside the cell. Peptidoglycan prevents the osmotic imbalance and thus preventing cell lysis.

2) Glycans consist O-glycosidic linkages of monosaccharides.  Glycosylation sugars attach the protein together through hydrogen bonds, ans non-covalently bound glycans helps additional stacking interactions.This way glycans gets linked to 3 dimentional structures.

3) Environmental adaptations of mycoplasma such as sterols that make their membranes stronger making them more rigid and their parasitic nature helps them to survive without cell wall.

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