A.

Why study Microbiology

1. Assume that you are entering a health-related profession. Of what value will
knowledge of microbiology be to you?
- Having a knowledge about microbiology will help you understand how
microorganisms and pathogens affect the body and cause disease. It will help
you to take care of your patients more effectively because you will know that a
simple hand washing can avoid the spread of infection. Microbiology helps you
learn about the difference of virus and bacteria which is very essential in nursing.

2. Although they are very small, microbes play significant roles in our lives specifically
in the field of health science. In your textbook, a few of the many reasons to take a
microbiology course are listed, pick one, and relate it to the field of nursing.

- “Microbes are essential for life on this planet as we know it” when I was younger,
I thought that germs are all bad for you and for the environment, but having a
Microbiology course helped me to understand that not all of them are harmful,
some are beneficial to us. An example of this is some microbes produce oxygen
by the process known as photosynthesis.

B. Microbiology - Hollywood Style                                      

Students wishing to gain a better understanding of Louis Pasteur and the 19th-
century problems he faced should watch the thoroughly enjoyable video entitled: Louis
Pasteur: The Man Who Saved Billions of Lives

1. After you watched the video describe the contribution of Louis Pasteur in the field of
Microbiology
- First of all, Pasteur disapproved the Theory of Spontaneous Generation of
diseases and proposed “Germ Theory of diseases”. He also proposed the
theory of fermentation that is useful for the preservation of food. He
introduced sterilization technique and developed steam sterilizer,
autoclave, etc. He also developed several vaccines like for rabies.
2. Many people consider Louis Pasteur’s contributions to be the foundation of the
science of microbiology and a cornerstone of modern medicine. What contributions
did he make that would cause people to believe that?

- People believe in his works and practice it to this day because of his germ
theory. Pasteur have a big contribution in the discovery of the existence of
microorganisms. Without Pasteur’s germ theory, modern medicine would
not be like anything that it is today and the immune system would not be
fully understood.
C. Critical Thinking                                                                                   

1. Microorganisms are said to be ubiquitous. Can you think of any locations that would
be devoid of microorganisms?
- I think microorganisms cannot survive extremely heat locations, although
some of them adapted in living in volcanoes, I think they will not survive in
the Sun. Another thing I can think of is a sterile gloves, microorganisms
cannot harbor in it since sterile is the process of complete elimination of
microorganisms.

2. You have isolated a bacterium from the blood of a patient with a newly described
disease. What steps would you take to prove that the organism that you’ve isolated
is the cause of the patient’s disease? (Hint: Remember Koch’s Postulates.) - 4pts
- The steps I would take are
1. obtain the sample from the host having the newly described
disease from the actual host carrying it
2. the host must be isolated from the diseased organisms
3. the microorganisms should be grown in pure culture
4. the microorganisms must be identical to the original specific
causative agent