BIOLOGY- MICROBIOLOGY - What is the microorganism described below? 1. I have som
ID: 73408 • Letter: B
Question
BIOLOGY- MICROBIOLOGY - What is the microorganism described below?
1. I have somewhat an unusual shape, being neither a true rod nor sphere but rather something in between.
2. A student performed a Gram stain on me, substituting a yellow dye instead of safranin. He found that I stained a yellow color.
3. One of my most important virulence factors, which allows me to evade the immune system, is a thick capsule without which I am pretty harmless.
4. I am considered a facultative intracellular parasite given that amongst others I infect macrophages and monocytes. Following their infection I prevent these cells from presenting me on their MHC.
5. I am one of the most infectious pathogenic organisms of my family. My death rate of infected individuals can be as high as 60% and my infectious dose can be as low as 10 CFU.
6. Given its very low infectious dose, ease of spread by aerosol, and high mortality rate, I’ve been included with other Tier 1 bioterrorism agent by the U.S. government.
7. I cause a zoonotic disease, being transmitted from warm blooded mammals to humans, but not between humans. My main mode of transmission makes use of blood sucking arthropods such as ticks, but I may also be acquired in other ways such as inhalation, ingestion and contact.
8. One of the earliest confirmed reports of an epidemic that I caused, was in the 19th century in Asia where I infected and killed numerous people who had eaten infected rabbit meat.
9. Historical documents hint that the Hittites – whose empire stretched from modern-day Turkey to northern Syria – were the first to use acts of bioterrorism. It is suggested that they sent diseased rams to their enemies to weaken them with the disease I cause.
10. In the early 20th century a Japanese physician named Hachiro Ohara described a disease affecting those who hunted or ate rabbit. The Japanese called it Yato-Byo. To identify the infectious agent, He took some blood from an affected rabbit and rubbed it on his wife's skin. Within days, according to Ohara's report, a large ulcer appeared and she experienced clinical symptoms similar to those of people exposed in nature.
11. The first report in Canada of the disease that I cause was of a human case near Timmins, Ontario in 1929 linked to contact with rabbits.
Explanation / Answer
The answer is Francisella tularensis
It is a facultative intracellular parasite, gram negative which is both rod and cocci shaped.
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