MICROBIOLOGY

• Facultative anaerobe or aerobic spore-forming is usually seen as a Gram-positive rod.
  
  • See separate modules for anthrax (B. anthracis)
    • Inhalational and other forms of anthrax
    • Cutaneous anthrax
    • Anthrax preventions
• Ubiquitous in decayed organic matter and soil. Some species are part of normal human flora.
  • B. cereus produces toxins that have been linked to causing illness: the two below are among the better described that appear to bind to cell surface receptors LITAF and CDIP1 and cause potassium efflux, activating the NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to necrotic cell death.
    • Hemolysin BL (HBL)
    • Nonhemolytic enterotoxin (NHE)
• Potential human pathogens include B. cereus (most common), B. subtilis, B. megaterium, B. circulans, and B. sphaericus.
• B. cereus is typically susceptible to vancomycin, fluoroquinolones, carbapenems and gentamicin.