What is Gram Postive Cocci?

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone

A couple of days before New Years Eve (8 yrs) took sick.

It started with a cold then came the dreaded cough. My normal GP was away on

holidays. Rather than fight with a locum for antibiotics I decided to start

treatment (luckily I had Augmentin on hand).

I was worried that he might have pseudomonas again (we only stopped nebs back in

October) and that Augmentin wouldn't help. On top of that two days later he got

a viral infection on top. For the first time ever we managed to get up some

sputum (although it was more like he threw it up rather than huff it up). I

decided to see a Doctor and get it tested. He confirmed a few things - 1st was

he did have a chest infection starting so I got a pat on the back for commencing

treatment and they would get the sputum tested. 2ndly the viral infection would

just run it's course.

The sputum test results show " gram positive cocci " . I usually get told it is

Staph A. or Pseudomonas etc. They said the Augmentin would kill it but I wonder

what is this?

If you can throw some light on it I would appreciate it. Our doc's not back to

ask for a couple of weeks.

Regards Margaret

[Guest guest]

Margaret,

Sorry to hear about your . I hope he is feeling better now. I have

never heard of this but I am sure someoune will come up with the right

explaination.

Elliot also has a virus and is taking an oral antibiotic. Started as a cold

with cough, fever, etc. He will be retested for Pseudomonas after this

treatment of toby in 2 weeks.

Happy New Year

Mom to Elliot

11mths wcf

[Guest guest]

I'll do my best, but don't take it as the gospel - I'm sure that someone

knows more than I.

they try to grow the bacteria and then stain it to see what kind it is -

Gram positive includes staph - Gram negative includes pseudomonas.

they usually test the bacteria to see what kind of antibiotics will look

after it (the problem with pseudomonas or cepacia is that they are often

drug resistant).

about gram staining

http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/DeptWebs/microbio/med/gram/tech.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/05288.html

the last three are a bit technical

about bacteria

http://www.sciencenet.com.au/profiles.htm

Gram positive

http://www.sciencenet.com.au/grampositivebacteria.htm

Gram negative

http://www.sciencenet.com.au/frames/profiles/negative/f_negat.htm

Pat

father of Cameron 1 year wcf

What is Gram Postive Cocci?

> Hi Everyone

>

> A couple of days before New Years Eve (8 yrs) took sick.

> It started with a cold then came the dreaded cough. My normal GP was away

on holidays. Rather than fight with a locum for antibiotics I decided to

start treatment (luckily I had Augmentin on hand).

>

> I was worried that he might have pseudomonas again (we only stopped nebs

back in October) and that Augmentin wouldn't help. On top of that two days

later he got a viral infection on top. For the first time ever we managed

to get up some sputum (although it was more like he threw it up rather than

huff it up). I decided to see a Doctor and get it tested. He confirmed a

few things - 1st was he did have a chest infection starting so I got a pat

on the back for commencing treatment and they would get the sputum tested.

2ndly the viral infection would just run it's course.

>

> The sputum test results show " gram positive cocci " . I usually get told

it is Staph A. or Pseudomonas etc. They said the Augmentin would kill it

but I wonder what is this?

>

> If you can throw some light on it I would appreciate it. Our doc's not

back to ask for a couple of weeks.

>

> Regards Margaret

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Typically, they will do a " gram stain " initially and all they can tell

you is if there are gram neg rods, or gram positive cocci growing.

All this does is narrow it down, basically. Then, in the lab, they

should (though maybe in peds offices they don't?) grow it further

to identify the bug, then they separate the colonies if there are

more than one, and they test them for sensitivities. This is why it

can take 48 hours or more to identify the bugs they are

growing....they actually have to grow it in the lab, in laymans

terms, on a media culture plate. They don't just look at the

sputum under a microscope, in other words, to determine if it is

pseudo, staph, or whatever.

If it helps to know, staph and strep and pneumococcal bugs are

gram positive, as examples.

Pseudomonas, cepacia, S. maltophilia, and H. Flu are all gram

negative examples. Oh and I think that e.coli is gram negative

also, but not as sure about that one, would have to ask

microbiologist daddy.

Of course, different antibiotics target gram positives than target

gram negatives. zithromax is good for some gram negatives, for

example, like h.flu. augmentin is good for alot of the gram

positives. simple staph is often treated with keflex or bactrim or

something similar, though bactrim is also sometimes used for a

few gram negatives depending on sensitivity cultures (cepacia, if

you can believe it)

Hope this helps

take care,

Jen

> Hi Everyone

>

> A couple of days before New Years Eve (8 yrs) took

sick.

> It started with a cold then came the dreaded cough. My normal

GP was away on holidays. Rather than fight with a locum for

antibiotics I decided to start treatment (luckily I had Augmentin on

hand).

>

> I was worried that he might have pseudomonas again (we only

stopped nebs back in October) and that Augmentin wouldn't

help. On top of that two days later he got a viral infection on top.

For the first time ever we managed to get up some sputum

(although it was more like he threw it up rather than huff it up). I

decided to see a Doctor and get it tested. He confirmed a few

things - 1st was he did have a chest infection starting so I got a

pat on the back for commencing treatment and they would get

the sputum tested. 2ndly the viral infection would just run it's

course.

>

> The sputum test results show " gram positive cocci " . I usually

get told it is Staph A. or Pseudomonas etc. They said the

Augmentin would kill it but I wonder what is this?

>

> If you can throw some light on it I would appreciate it. Our

doc's not back to ask for a couple of weeks.

>

> Regards Margaret

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say hi and let you know allie is still in the club.

Today i am home because connor is sick and needed to go to the doc. he has a

lung infection now. anyway, the way they taught us in microbiology for

nursing school was gram staining is a process of putting dye on the slide to

see how much is absorbed by the lining of the bacteria. Gram positive

bacteria have a thicker lining and absorb more dye. the thicker lining

makes them harder to kill- more cell wall for the antibiotic to penetrate.

Gram negative don't absorb as much indicating a thin membrane that can more

easily be penetrated by antibiotics and destroyed. Just my two cents. Take

care, hope to be home by Friday.

-, mom of allie 3w/cf and in club med and connor 1

no cf but rethinking his sweat test with his most recent infection.

>

>Reply-To: cfparents

>To: cfparents >

>Subject: Re: What is Gram Postive Cocci?

>Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 21:48:35 -0400

>

>I'll do my best, but don't take it as the gospel - I'm sure that someone

>knows more than I.

>they try to grow the bacteria and then stain it to see what kind it is -

>Gram positive includes staph - Gram negative includes pseudomonas.

>they usually test the bacteria to see what kind of antibiotics will look

>after it (the problem with pseudomonas or cepacia is that they are often

>drug resistant).

>

>about gram staining

>http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/DeptWebs/microbio/med/gram/tech.htm

>http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/05288.html

>

>the last three are a bit technical

>about bacteria

>http://www.sciencenet.com.au/profiles.htm

>

>Gram positive

>http://www.sciencenet.com.au/grampositivebacteria.htm

>

>

>Gram negative

>http://www.sciencenet.com.au/frames/profiles/negative/f_negat.htm

>

>Pat

>father of Cameron 1 year wcf

> What is Gram Postive Cocci?

>

>

> > Hi Everyone

> >

> > A couple of days before New Years Eve (8 yrs) took sick.

> > It started with a cold then came the dreaded cough. My normal GP was

>away

>on holidays. Rather than fight with a locum for antibiotics I decided to

>start treatment (luckily I had Augmentin on hand).

> >

> > I was worried that he might have pseudomonas again (we only stopped nebs

>back in October) and that Augmentin wouldn't help. On top of that two days

>later he got a viral infection on top. For the first time ever we

>managed

>to get up some sputum (although it was more like he threw it up rather than

>huff it up). I decided to see a Doctor and get it tested. He confirmed a

>few things - 1st was he did have a chest infection starting so I got a pat

>on the back for commencing treatment and they would get the sputum tested.

>2ndly the viral infection would just run it's course.

> >

> > The sputum test results show " gram positive cocci " . I usually get told

>it is Staph A. or Pseudomonas etc. They said the Augmentin would kill it

>but I wonder what is this?

> >

> > If you can throw some light on it I would appreciate it. Our doc's not

>back to ask for a couple of weeks.

> >

> > Regards Margaret

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Gram Positive Cocci are usually Stah Aureous, Staph Epi, etc. A lot of

times Gram Positive Cocci is reported out on the Gram Stain but the

culture ends up coming back as " non-pathogenic organisms " in other words,

just normal flora that poses no problem. ( Usually these are organisms

that naturally live in the mouth, sinus etc. but do not cause illness or

damage). Our doc usually does not treat Staph Aureous unless the patient

becomes symptomatic and/or PFT's start to drop. ( just had his

first " tune-up " because his PFT's were dropping but Staph Aureous was the

only organism that grew out- he is now back to his baseline or above it!)

The best thing to do is keep doing what you are doing and ride it out

the 48 hours ( at least) for the culture to grow out. (CF pathogens

usually take longer than that to grow out, the lab we use holds the

cultures longer for this reason). It also takes longer if there is a bug

growing ( not normal flora) as the lab will automatically do a sensitivity

to determine what drugs it is susceptible to.

Laurie Mom of 12wCF-- Idaho

__________________________________________________