Streptococcus detected in the smear - what does it mean?

Streptococcus is a genus of gram-positive, chemotrophic bacteria. All streptococci belong to facultative anaerobes, that is, they can live, both without oxygen, and in its presence, but prefer an anaerobic environment. Streptococcus can parasitize both in humans and in most animal species, which is mostly found in the digestive system, the nasal cavity and the oral cavity.

The history of the study of streptococci begins in the 19th century, when streptococcus was detected in a smear of purulent separated infected patients. After that, bacteria began to be actively studied by many researchers from all over the world, and in the early 20th century it was proved that this bacterium is the cause of scarlet fever. After this, many more studies have been carried out, which continue to this day.

Diseases that can cause streptococcus.

This bacterium has a large number of its younger relatives, which can cause quite a large number of diseases. All diseases are united by only one - in each case, streptococcus is detected in the patient's smear.

• Bronchitis
• Angina
• Erysipelas
• Pneumonia
• Periodontitis
• Abscess
• Rheumatism
• Glomerulonephritis
• Pharyngitis
• Scarlet fever
• Streptodermia

Diagnosis and identification of bacteria

There are many ways to identify this pathogen, most of which are quite complex in technical terms. But, to say simply, it is possible to describe the most basic way of revealing all pathological microorganisms of a person.

Wound or any other detachable patient associated with the disease is sown on a nutrient medium on a petri dish. After that, a clean colony is discovered, that is, a multiple intersection of the growing colonies of microorganisms into new selective nutrient media and the application to them of all methods of influence that bacteria of one kind can not bear, while other bacteria easily endure. After long weeks, and sometimes months of work on a Petri dish, a pure culture of the pathological microorganism must be isolated, which is colored with various dyes and identified by various means.

If time does not allow for this long microbiological ritual, then there are methods for express diagnosis of microbes, one of which consists in microscopic separation. If, as a result of rapid examination, coca is found in the smear of the patient, and the symptoms coincide with the alleged disease, the microbiologist can proceed to more detailed treatment, and the doctor to treat the patient.

Treatment and prevention

After the diagnosis of the disease, you can begin treatment. Cocci in the smear are not proof of the presence of streptococcal infection in the body, but can serve as one of the facts, along with other tests that can speed up the process of identifying the microbe, if a streptococcus is detected in the smear.

Treatment of streptococcal infections is successfully carried out with the help of antibiotic therapy. It is important not to show independence in this matter and to entrust the choice of antibiotic to the doctor, otherwise there may be negative consequences for the patient's body in the future - from untreated disease, due to improperly selected drug, to the development of resistance of microorganisms to drugs.

A stable vaccine against the development of streptococcal infections does not exist today, which is associated with the great variability of this microbe, so after the streptococcus was detected in the smear, antibiotics are treated until the patient's recovery is complete. When relapses of the disease in most cases, it is necessary to change the treatment technique, because relapse can be associated with the resistance of microbes to the selected drugs.