Master Chlamydia Characteristics with Picmonic for Medicine

Chlamydia lacks the ability to make ATP and therefore cannot survive on its own. Therefore, it is an obligate intracellular bacterium.

Elementary bodies are bacterial life cycle components which can exist outside the body and are infective by attaching and entering into host cells.

Epithelial cells are the classic target of chlamydia infections, and they are able to form reticulate bodies within the cells.

Reticulate bodies replicate within the cell by binary fission which results in a large inclusion body. The reticulate body is the replicating component of the bacterial life cycle.

The cell wall lacks muramic acid. Therefore, these organisms do not stain with gram stain.

Giemsa stain can lead to a diagnosis of chlamydia infection with the visualization of cytoplasmic inclusions on giemsa stain.

Multiple reticulate bodies replicate in the cell by binary fission, which creates a cytoplasmic inclusion within the infected cell. These inclusions can be seen on giemsa stain.

Azithromycin is used to treat a chlamydia infection and is preferred due to the one time administration of 1g by mouth. Azithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic.

Doxycycline is used to treat a chlamydia infection. Doxycycline is a tetracycline antibiotic.