Treponema pallidum: Diagnosis
3,706 views
Bacteria - Gram Negative
- Neisseria spp: Overview
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Neisseria meningitidis
- Haemophilus influenzae
- Bordetella pertussis
- Brucella
- Legionella pneumophila
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Overview
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Disease
- Salmonella Overview
- Salmonella typhi
- Salmonella enteritidis
- Shigella
- Yersinia enterocolitica
- Escherichia coli: Overview
- Enterohemorrhagic E. Coli (EHEC)
- Enterotoxigenic E. Coli (ETEC)
- Klebsiella pneumoniae
- Campylobacter jejuni
- Vibrio spp.
- Helicobacter pylori
- Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme Disease)
- Leptospira interrogans
- Treponema pallidum: Overview
- Treponema pallidum: Diagnosis
- Congenital syphilis
- Chlamydia: Overview
- Chlamydia trachomatis
- Chlamydia pneumoniae vs. psittaci
- Rickettsia rickettsii
- Rickettsia typhi vs. prowazekii
- Anaplasma vs. Ehrlichia
- Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)
Diagnosis of Treponema Pallidum
- Dark-field microscopy
- visualize motile spirochetes, which are too small to be seen on light microscopy
- Labs
- Nonspecific serologic screening
- Both tests look for self-antibody that reacts with cardiolipin
- Cardiolipin is released by cellular destruction by T. pallidum
- Both tests are non-specific
- falsely positive in SLE (anti-cardiolipin) and other conditions (pregnancy, rheumatic fever, etc.)
- Used to screen due to cheap costs
- VDRL (Venereal Disease Research Laboratory)
- RPR (rapid plasma reagent)
- Both tests look for self-antibody that reacts with cardiolipin
- Specific serologic confirmation
- FTA-ABS (fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption)
- Treponema pallidum enzyme immunoassay (TP-EIA)
- Diagnosis of neurosyphilis: test CSF for VDRL, FTA-ABS, and PCR
- Nonspecific serologic screening