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0:00
Hello everyone. My name is Dr.
Sarah Fouch and welcome to
this short talk where we will
be considering Bacillus cereus.
We will be discussing
the types of clinical conditions
that this organism is
associated with and also
the virulence factors
that it produces in order to
make it a successful pathogen.
0:26
When we discuss Bacillus cereus,
we call this an opportunistic
pathogen because
normally we have made
ourselves susceptible
to this organism.
As we go through this recording,
you'll understand why.
Now, here we have an image of
Bacillus cereus on
a culture plate,
and you can see it has
a waxy appearance.
There are also
zones of clearing,
so the organism causes
hemolysis and breaks down
those red blood cells.
Now, bacillus cereus is
a facultatively
anaerobic organism,
which means it can survive in
both the presence and
absence of oxygen.
It's a motile organism
with peritrichous flagella
meaning that the flagella
protrudes from all around
the bacterial cell wall.
Interestingly, bacillus cereus
can grow at a range
of temperatures.
We have psychotropic
Bacillus cereus
which will grow
below seven degrees,
and also mesophilic Bacillus
cereus that will grow in
a range of
temperatures including
our body temperature,
which is 37 degrees.
