BRAINCAKEStaphylococcus spp.
Staphylococcus species are Gram-positive, spherical bacteria (cocci) that grow in grape-like clusters. The most important pathogen is Staphylococcus aureus.
S. aureus lives harmlessly on the skin and in the nose of many healthy people (roughly 30%). It becomes a problem when it gets into the body through a cut, a surgical wound or a medical device such as a catheter, or when it contaminates food.
Diseases caused by S. aureus include:
• skin infections such as boils, abscesses and impetigo;
• wound infections, and more serious infections of the blood (septicaemia), bones and lungs;
• food poisoning, with sudden vomiting 1 to 6 hours after eating;
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Key terms in this lesson
- exotoxin
- A soluble protein toxin secreted by living bacteria into their surroundings, which can act at a site distant from the bacteria.
- septicaemia
- A serious infection in which bacteria and their toxins enter and multiply in the bloodstream.
More in Bacteria and Disease
- Bacterial Toxins
- Endotoxins
- Salmonella spp.
- Exotoxins
- Host Tissue Invasion
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Antibiotics
- Broad-spectrum, Narrow spectrum, Bacteriostatic and Bactericidal
All 30 lessons in Bacteria and Disease · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics