Beta-hemolytic Strep completely destroys red blood cells
Alpha-hemolytic Strep incompletely destroys the red blood cells, turning the blood agar medium a greenish color. These strains are referred to as the viridian Streps, in reference to their color.

Streptolysis - cause injury to many cells and tissues by lysing them
Pyogenic toxins- cause bright red rashes and fevers. (Tip: Pyo is like PYRO, and fire is hot and red. Therefore it induces fever and redness)

Disease/Condition	Signs/Symptoms
Rheumatic Fever	Autoimmune response to antigens left in the body after an S. pyogenes infection. Causes inflammation in the heart or joints, and can damage heart valves or other organs severely
Puerperal Sepsis	A form of septicemia (blood poisoning) caused by Strep. Can occur after childbirth if Strep is present in birth canal. Commonly called the Childbed Fever
Streptococcal Impetigo	Highly contagious rash which breaks out into a yellow crust. Often a schoolyard/hospital epidemic
Erysipelas	Similar to impetigo, but it is deeper. It means "Red Mask" and looks like a red butterfly over the face
Necrotizing Fasciitis	AKA Flesh-eating bacteria. It beings as impetigo but quickly kills large areas of tissue
Streptococcal Pharyngitis	Strep throat. Can lead to scarlet fever and/or rheumatic fever
Scarlet Fever	Bright red, diffuse rash over face, trunk, inner arms, legs and tongue. The skin sheds after the rash leaves.

What about Alpha-Hemolytic Streptococci?!
This group of Strep is also known as the Viridians group. This is a group of several species found in the human mouth, nasopharynx, genital tract and skin. It is not highly invasive, but it can get into tissues or the bloodstream, especially following dental work. (Remember the biofilm that is plaque!)

How does plaque from my teeth damage my heart?
Strep found in your mouth gets through by means of small nicks or cuts in your gums during dental work. It can go from here and course through your body, hitting your heart valves as it is in your blood. If you previously had rheumatic fever or scarlet fever, you are especially at risk. The bacteria colonize here and send boluses of bacteria through your body. Actual pieces of colonized bacteria can break off and cause an emboli that can have similar effects to a blood clot. Extensive damage can only be repaired by a valve replacement . Patients with RF will take prophylactic (preventative) antibiotics before undergoing dental work or surgeries.

Great. Now I'm even more afraid of the dentist. And Strep. Anything else I should know?
Yup! A-Strep also causes cavities in the presence of sucrose. Your mouth is a nice warm environment to which food is regularly added--so what more could bacteria want? Strep begins as a biofilm on your tooth enamel. It then joins up with Lacotobacillus to produce acids which erode your tooth's enamel, causing a cavity. At this point, the dentist will simply give you a filling. If the acid has eroded into the pulp, you risk losing your tooth. Oh yeah. Plaque can also cause gingivitis. This makes your gums irritated and inflamed. Your natural immune response is to further inflame the area, resulting in tissue damage. Diets rich in refined sugars, as well as your anatomical, physiological and hereditary factors all play a role in this process. Remember to brush twice a day, and floss too!

(Hey. Enough of A-Strep. My throat hurts already and I'm pretty sure my teeth are falling out! Continuing...)


Streptococcus pneumoniae: The Pneumococcus
This Strep cases 60-70% of all bacterial pneumonias. It is identified with gram stains done from sputum. It is present in the normal flora of the nasopharynx in many people. You can get pneumonia by breathing in your own bacteria (or someone else's!). This happens when you aspirate (inhale) mucus from your nasopharynx containing S. pneumoniae. Normally, your mucociliary escalator and your phagocytes would take care of this problem. However, if you have a poor immune system, you have a much higher risk of becoming infected.

All about Pneumonia
Pneumonia causes your lungs to fill with copious amounts of fluid. This fluid solidifies, making things worse. It causes chills, fever, shaking, rapid breathing, chest pain, cyanosis, bloody sputum, and abnormal breath sounds. (Streptococcal Pharyngitis is sounding better and better....)

Other conditions associated with S. pneumoniae
Bacteremia - Abnormal findings of bacteria in the blood stream. Leads to sepsis (blood poisoning) and immune responses including fever, chills, etc.
Meningitis - This happens when bacteria enter through the olfactory plate of your skull (through your nose). The bacteria then invade the meninges of the brain, causing a potentially fatal infection.
There is a vaccine against this, and it is advised for all people living in close contact with others (Military barracks, dorms, day cares, etc)
Otitis Media - AKA Middle ear infections. This is common in children since their ear canal is short. Causes infected fluid buildup behind the eardrum, which can rupture.

Treatment of these conditions includes large daily doses of penicillin drugs. Some strains are resistant to penicillin, so vancomycin or cephalosporins are viable alternatives.

MRSA infection

MRSA infection — Comprehensive overview of the symptoms, causes and treatment of this virulent staph infection.

Introduction

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called "staph." Decades ago, a strain of staph emerged in hospitals that was resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. Dubbed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), it was one of the first germs to outwit all but the most powerful drugs. MRSA infection can be fatal.
Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. If you have staph on your skin or in your nose but aren't sick, you are said to be "colonized" but not infected with MRSA. Healthy people can be colonized with MRSA and have no ill effects. However, they can pass the germ to others.
Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. But in older adults and people who are ill or have weakened immune systems, ordinary staph infections can cause serious illness.
In the 1990s, a type of MRSA began showing up in the wider community. Today, that form of staph, known as community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, is responsible for many serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia.

Signs and symptoms

Staph infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also burrow deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.

Causes

Although the survival tactics of bacteria contribute to antibiotic resistance, humans bear most of the responsibility for the problem. Leading causes of antibiotic resistance include:

• Unnecessary antibiotic use in humans. Like other superbugs, MRSA is the result of decades of excessive and unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don't respond to these drugs, as well as for simple bacterial infections that normally clear on their own.
• Antibiotics in food and water. Prescription drugs aren't the only source of antibiotics. In the United States, antibiotics can be found in beef cattle, pigs and chickens. The same antibiotics then find their way into municipal water systems when the runoff from feedlots contaminates streams and groundwater. Routine feeding of antibiotics to animals is banned in the European Union and many other industrialized countries. Antibiotics given in the proper doses to animals who are sick don't appear to produce resistant bacteria.
• Germ mutation. Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don't destroy every germ they target. Bacteria live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others. And because bacteria mutate much more quickly than new drugs can be produced, some germs end up resistant to just about everything. That's why only a handful of drugs are now effective against most forms of staph.

Risk factors

Because hospital and community strains of MRSA generally occur in different settings, the risk factors for the two strains differ.
Risk factors for hospital-acquired (HA) MRSA include:

• A current or recent hospitalization. MRSA remains a concern in hospitals, where it can attack those most vulnerable — older adults and people with weakened immune systems, burns, surgical wounds or serious underlying health problems. A 2007 report from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology estimates that 1.2 million hospital patients are infected with MRSA each year in the United States. They also estimate another 423,000 are colonized with it.
• Residing in a long-term care facility. MRSA is far more prevalent in these facilities than it is in hospitals. Carriers of MRSA have the ability to spread it, even if they're not sick themselves.
• Invasive devices. People who are on dialysis, are catheterized, or have feeding tubes or other invasive devices are at higher risk.
• Recent antibiotic use. Treatment with fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin or levofloxacin) or cephalosporin antibiotics can increase the risk of HA-MRSA.

These are the main risk factors for community-acquired (CA) MRSA:

• Young age. CA-MRSA can be particularly dangerous in children. Often entering the body through a cut or scrape, MRSA can quickly cause a wide spread infection. Children may be susceptible because their immune systems aren't fully developed or they don't yet have antibodies to common germs. Children and young adults are also much more likely to develop dangerous forms of pneumonia than older people are.
• Participating in contact sports. CA-MRSA has crept into both amateur and professional sports teams. The bacteria spread easily through cuts and abrasions and skin-to-skin contact.
• Sharing towels or athletic equipment. Although few outbreaks have been reported in public gyms, CA-MRSA has spread among athletes sharing razors, towels, uniforms or equipment.
• Having a weakened immune system. People with weakened immune systems, including those living with HIV/AIDS, are more likely to have severe CA-MRSA infections.
• Living in crowded or unsanitary conditions. Outbreaks of CA-MRSA have occurred in military training camps and in American and European prisons.
• Association with health care workers. People who are in close contact with health care workers are at increased risk of serious staph infections.

When to seek medical advice

Keep an eye on minor skin problems — pimples, insect bites, cuts and scrapes — especially in children. If wounds become infected, see your doctor. Ask to have any skin infection tested for MRSA before starting antibiotic therapy. Drugs that treat ordinary staph aren't effective against MRSA, and their use could lead to serious illness and more resistant bacteria.

Screening and diagnosis

Doctors diagnose MRSA by checking a tissue sample or nasal secretions for signs of drug-resistant bacteria. The sample is sent to a lab where it's placed in a dish of nutrients that encourage bacterial growth (culture). But because it takes about 48 hours for the bacteria to grow, newer tests that can detect staph DNA in a matter of hours are now becoming more widely available.
In the hospital, you may be tested for MRSA if you show signs of infection or if you are transferred into a hospital from another health care setting where MRSA is known to be present. You may also be tested if you have had a previous history of MRSA.

Treatment

Both hospital and community associated strains of MRSA still respond to certain medications. In hospitals and care facilities, doctors generally rely on the antibiotic vancomycin to treat resistant germs. CA-MRSA may be treated with vancomycin or other antibiotics that have proved effective against particular strains. Although vancomycin saves lives, it may grow resistant as well; some hospitals are already seeing outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant MRSA. To help reduce that threat, doctors may drain an abscess caused by MRSA rather than treat the infection with drugs.

Prevention

Hospitals are fighting back against MRSA infection by using surveillance systems that track bacterial outbreaks and by investing in products such as antibiotic-coated catheters and gloves that release disinfectants.
Still, the best way to prevent the spread of germs is for health care workers to wash their hands frequently, to properly disinfect hospital surfaces and to take other precautions such as wearing a mask when working with people with weakened immune systems.
In the hospital, people who are infected or colonized with MRSA are placed in isolation to prevent the spread of MRSA to other patients and health care workers.Visitors and health care workers caring for isolated patients may be required to wear protective garments and must follow strict hand washing procedures.
What you can do in the hospital
Here's what you can do to protect yourself, family members or friends from hospital-acquired infections.

• Ask all hospital staff to wash their hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before touching you — every time.
• Wash your own hands frequently.
• Make sure that intravenous tubes and catheters are inserted under sterile conditions, for example, the person inserting them wears a mask and sterilizes your skin first.

What you can do in your community
Protecting yourself from MRSA in your community — which might be just about anywhere — may seem daunting, but these common-sense precautions can help reduce your risk:

• Wash your hands. Careful hand washing remains your best defense against germs. Scrub hands briskly for at least 15 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol for times when you don't have access to soap and water.
• Keep personal items personal. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sheets, razors, clothing and athletic equipment. MRSA spreads on contaminated objects as well as through direct contact.
• Keep wounds covered. Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered with sterile, dry bandages until they heal. The pus from infected sores may contain MRSA, and keeping wounds covered will help keep the bacteria from spreading.
• Shower after athletic games or practices. Shower immediately after each game or practice. Use soap and water. Don't share towels.
• Sit out athletic games or practices if you have a concerning infection. If you have a wound that's draining or appears infected — for example is red, swollen, warm to the touch or tender — consider sitting out athletic games or practices until the wound has healed.
• Sanitize linens. If you have a cut or sore, wash towels and bed linens in a washing machine set to the "hot" water setting (with added bleach, if possible) and dry them in a hot dryer. Wash gym and athletic clothes after each wearing.
• Get tested. If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested for MRSA. Doctors may prescribe drugs that aren't effective against antibiotic-resistant staph, which delays treatment and creates more resistant germs. Testing specifically for MRSA may get you the specific antibiotic you need to effectively treat your infection.
• Use antibiotics appropriately. When you're prescribed an antibiotic, take all of the doses, even if the infection is getting better. Don't stop until your doctor tells you to stop. Don't share antibiotics with others or save unfinished antibiotics for another time. Inappropriate use of antibiotics, including not taking all of your prescription and overuse, contributes to resistance. If your infection isn't improving after a few days of taking an antibiotic, contact your doctor.