dysentery = (formerly known as flux or the bloodie flux) is frequent, small-volume, severe diarrhea that shows blood in the feces along with intestinal cramping and tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool). Additional symptoms frequently associated with dysentery include fever and malaise. Possible causes incl ( Read more... )

Which bugs (of the ones we've studied so far) cause vomiting?
Salmonella enteriditis (like cholera, also invades blood stream)
Staphylococcus aureus (endo & exo toxins)
( not for the faint of stomach )

There's this lovely bacterium called Listeria monocytogenes that is gram positive and likes to grow in dairy products. It doesn't produce any toxins or spores, it just gets in your cells and kills them. It gets started invading your body via the gut (gastroenteritis), but can take over much more of your body (invasive disease) given enough time ( Read more... )

One kind of food poisoning and anthrax are caused by bacterium in the genus Bacillus. They are gram positive rods that make spores and have exotoxins. In lecture there was mention of its marshmallowy capsule containing d-glutamate and that being unusual. The capsule and the exotoxin are plasmid encoded, and this organism is also unique in that ( Read more... )