Bacterial infections

High-yield bacterial infections topics for USMLE Step 2 CK, within Infectious Disease. Below are the 34 topics this area covers, plus a worked example showing the trap-aware approach 280Bound uses.

Topics in Bacterial infections

  • Actinomyces
  • Bacterial infective endocarditis
  • Bacterial toxins
  • Bacterial tracheitis
  • Basic bacteriology: Structure, virulence factors, and genetics
  • Bordetella pertussis
  • Botulism
  • Cellulitis and skin abscess (skin and soft tissue infections)
  • Chlamydia trachomatis
  • Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection (Diphtheria)
  • Haemophilus influenzae
  • Legionella disease
  • Leprosy (Hansen disease): Mycobacterium leprae infection
  • Leptospirosis
  • Lyme disease
  • Maternal and neonatal group B Streptococcus infection
  • Mycoplasma genitalium infection
  • Necrotizing fasciitis
  • Nocardia
  • Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)
  • Osteomyelitis
  • Peritonsillar abscess
  • Preseptal cellulitis
  • Pseudomonas
  • Salmonella
  • Shigella infection (shigellosis)
  • Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome
  • Staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome
  • Staphylococcus-associated glomerulonephritis
  • Streptococcal pharyngitis
  • Syphilis: Treponema pallidum infection
  • Tetanus
  • Tuberculosis
  • Yersinia pestis

Practice Bacterial infections the right way

280Bound doesn't just tell you the right answer — it reverse-engineers why the wrong ones were tempting, so you build reasoning that transfers to exam day.