Mr. Jones comes to your clinic complaining of genital discharge. He admits that he recently had unprotected sex with an old friend with whom he reconnected after a school reunion. You suspect that he may have gonorrhea. You take a sample of the discharge and send it to the hospital lab for analysis.
-The causative organism of gonorrhea is Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a fastidious, Gram-negative diplococcus. What does fastidious mean in this context?
A) An organism with complex nutritional requirements.
B) An organism that requires oxygen for growth.
C) An organism that survives in the presence of specific antibiotics.
D) An organism that only grows in pure culture.
E) An organism that requires a living host.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Fastidious means that the organism has complex nutritional requirements and requires specific nutrients to grow. In the case of N. gonorrhoeae, it requires specific growth factors such as hemin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) for optimal growth.

Mr Jones Comes to Your Clinic Complaining of Genital Discharge