Pathology and Microbiology Flashcards
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Read the first 7 Pathology and Microbiology flashcards as text
Which protozoan parasite, identified in brain tissue at autopsy, causes ring-enhancing lesions and is common in AIDS patients?
Answer: Toxoplasma gondii
T. gondii reactivates in immunocompromised patients (especially CD4 <100), forming multiple ring-enhancing abscesses in the basal ganglia.
Spongiosis of the gray matter with astrocytic proliferation (gliosis) found at autopsy is characteristic of:
Answer: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Prion diseases cause spongiform encephalopathy — vacuolization of neuropil creating a sponge-like appearance with reactive gliosis but no inflammation.
Which bacterium produces a potent exotoxin causing the 'washerwoman hands' skin appearance seen in cholera victims?
Answer: Vibrio cholerae
Cholera toxin activates adenylate cyclase, causing massive secretory diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and the characteristic wrinkled skin of hands and feet.
At autopsy, brown induration of the lung suggests chronic pathology associated with which condition?
Answer: Left-sided heart failure
Chronic left heart failure causes repeated pulmonary congestion; hemosiderin-laden macrophages ('heart failure cells') accumulate, producing brown induration.
Which universal precaution is most critical when performing autopsies on decedents with known bloodborne pathogen infections?
Answer: Double gloving with cut-resistant gloves
Double gloving with cut-resistant inner gloves significantly reduces percutaneous injuries and the risk of HBV, HCV, and HIV transmission during autopsy.
Which type of cell death is characterized by cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and membrane blebbing without inflammation?
Answer: Apoptosis
Apoptosis is programmed cell death that is non-inflammatory because the cell is packaged into apoptotic bodies rapidly cleared by phagocytes.
A postmortem liver biopsy stained with Oil Red O shows lipid droplets within hepatocytes. This finding is most consistent with:
Answer: Hepatic steatosis (fatty change)
Oil Red O is a lysochrome dye that stains neutral triglycerides and lipids orange-red, confirming fatty change within hepatocytes.
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