Friday, March 28, 2008

Lumpy Jaw

So when I think of "lumpy jaw" I think of Burkitt's lymphoma. But what if the "lumpy jaw" question came with this:

Challenge: What's the causative organism?

Related Questions:
1. This organism is always paired with another organism that looks just like it on gram stain but stains weakly acid fast. What is that organism?
2. What is the organism that causes Burkitt's lymphoma?
3. Sorry, I know this question sucks. What is the chromosomal mutation involved in Burkitt's lymphoma? What is the resulting protein?

Image is shown under fair use.

2 comments:

Alex said...

1. cat scratch disease? mumps? not sure

2. ebv
3. 8-14 c-myc.

i thought only the african type of burkitt's is located in the neck. here, we would commonly expect para-aortic nodes.

Craig said...

Lumpy Jaw

This is Actinomyces, filamentous branching gram positive anaerobic rods in an oral infection. The other filamentous branching gram positive rod is Nocardia which is aerobic and involved in pulmonary infections. EBV causes Burkitt’s lymphoma, associated with t(8;14) and c-myc activation.

Sources: First Aid, bact.wisc.edu.