Microbiology · USMLE Step 1

USMLE Microbiology: Bugs and Diseases II

Fungi, parasites, and remaining high-yield bugs matched to the disease they cause and one distinguishing feature.

48 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.

Study this set free Get FlashKeepers for iPhone
Candida albicans
Oral/vaginal thrush, esophageal infection; pseudohyphae with budding (gram-positive)
Aspergillus fumigatus
Aspergillosis (respiratory infections, invasive); septate hyphae with acute-angle branching
Cryptococcus neoformans
Cryptococcal meningitis, respiratory infection; polysaccharide capsule visible on India ink stain
Histoplasma capsulatum
Histoplasmosis (respiratory); endemic to Ohio and Mississippi river valleys
Blastomyces dermatitidis
Blastomycosis (respiratory, skin); endemic North America, broad-based budding yeast
Coccidioides immitis
Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever); endemic to southwestern US, spherule with endospores
Pneumocystis jirovecii
PCP (pneumonia in immunocompromised, especially AIDS CD4 < 200); visible on silver or GMS stain
Mucor and Rhizopus species
Mucormycosis (angioinvasive, rapid progression); non-septate hyphae with right-angle branching
Candida auris
Invasive candidiasis, multidrug resistance; emerging pathogen, poorly susceptible to azoles
Plasmodium falciparum
Malaria (falciparum type); highest mortality, risk of cerebral malaria and hemolysis
Plasmodium vivax
Malaria (vivax type); relapsing fever, hypnozoites in liver enable relapses
Trypanosoma brucei
African sleeping sickness; flagellated protozoan, crosses blood-brain barrier causing CNS disease
Trypanosoma cruzi
Chagas disease; C-shaped trypanosome, reduviid bug vector (kissing bug), cardiac involvement
Leishmania donovani
Visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar); intracellular amastigote, spleen/liver enlargement
Toxoplasma gondii
Toxoplasmosis; cat reservoir (definitive host), bradyzoites in tissue cysts, CNS/eye involvement

33 more cards in the app