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Chapter 1: The Microbial World and You: Microbiology
Chapter 1: The Microbial World and You: Microbiology
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I mportant and beneficial biological Microbes and Disease: Most microbes are
functions of Microbes: either beneficial or harmless to humans.
u Less than 1% of microbes cause disease.
u Medical Research: Microbes are well suited
u In 1962, the surgeon general of the United
for biological and medical research for several States stated: “The war against infectious
reasons: diseases has been won”.
u Relatively simple and small structures, easy to study. uToday it is clear that this was overly optimistic:
u Genetic material is easily manipulated. u Emerging diseases: New diseases like AIDS,
hantavirus, Ebola fever, Lyme disease, Hepatitis C,
u Can grow a large number of cells very quickly and at and others that did not exist a few years ago.
low cost. u Antibiotic and Drug Resistance: Many old diseases
uShort generation times make them very useful to are becoming resistant to traditional therapies:
study genetic changes. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, etc.
u Today infectious diseases cause 50% of the
52 million worldwide deaths per year.
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Worldwide Distribution of Plague 4 Smallpox: One of deadliest human
infectious diseases throughout history.
• Caused by smallpox virus.
• First known case in 1175 B.C.: Egyptian
pharaoh Ramses V died from smallpox.
• Several hundred million deaths through history.
• Up to 90% of Native American population was
killed by smallpox and other diseases (measles
and plague) introduced during European
conquests.
• Native population of Central and South America dropped
from 130 million to about 1.6 million over several decades.
++: Frequent transmission • Smallpox was used as a biological weapon by British
+/-: Infrequent transmission. colonists in North America.
Source: Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 1997. • 600,000 deaths/year in Europe from 1500-1700.
4 Smallpox (Continued)
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4 Childbirth Fever: Common nosocomial 4 AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency
(hospital acquired) infection. Syndrome.
• Bacterial infection of the uterus as a result of • First cases reported in 1981 at UCLA.
childbirth or abortion. • Cause: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Transmitted by hands and instruments of • Transmitted by sexual contact, blood transfusions,
physicians and midwives.
mother-to-child, and infected needles.
• Extremely common before the 1900s.
• About 1 in 17 women who gave birth would become • Destroys an individual’s immune system, making
infected (fever, chills, delirium, and death). them susceptible to many infectious diseases and
• Cause was unknown. cancer.
• Austrian doctor Semmelweiss showed that washing • Number of cases has grown rapidly during the last
hands and instruments with a disinfectant solution
greatly reduced cases. two decades. As of 2001:
• Today common in women who have illegal • Over 900,000 infected individuals in the U.S.
abortions, especially in third world countries. • Over 40 million deaths worldwide.
African AIDS patient with slim disease Endemic Kaposi’s Sarcoma, nodular form in an AIDS patient.
Source: Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 1997 Source: AIDS, 1997.
Extensive symmetric tumor lesions of Kaposis’s sarcoma in an Oral candidiasis (yeast infection) in an AIDS patient
AIDS patient. Source: Atlas of Clinical Oral Pathology, 1999
Source: AIDS, 1997
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History of Microbiology History of Microbiology
Early Studies Spontaneous Generation vs Biogenesis
Before 17th century, study of microbiology was u Before 1860s many scientists believed in
hampered by the lack of appropriate tools to Spontaneous generation, i.e.: That living
observe microbes.
organisms could arise spontaneously from
u Robert Hooke: In 1665 built a compound light
microscope and used it to observe thin slices of nonliving matter:
cork. Coined the word cell. u Mice come from rags in a basket.
u Anton van Leeuwenhoeck : In 1673 was the first u Maggots come from rotting meat.
person to observe live microorganisms which he u Ants come from honey.
called “ animalcules” (bacteria, protozoa), using u Microbes come from spoiled broth.
single-lens microscopes that he designed.
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History of Microbiology History of Microbiology
Golden Age: 1857-1914 Golden Age: 1857-1914
Germ Theory of Disease: Belief that microbes Germ Theory of Disease:
cause diseases. Before, most people believed u Joseph Lister (1860): Used disinfectant to treat
diseases were caused by divine punishment, surgical wounds, greatly reducing infection rates.
poisonous vapors, curses, witchcraft, etc. Considered the father of antiseptic surgery.
u Agostino Bassi (1835): Found that a fungus was u Robert Koch (1876): First person to conclusively
responsible for a silkworm disease. prove that a specific bacterium caused a disease.
u Ignaz Semmelweis (1840s): Demonstrated that u Germ Theory: One microbe causes one specific
childbirth fever was transmitted from one patient disease.
to another, by physicians who didn’t disinfect their u Proved that Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax in cattle.
hands. He was ostracized by colleagues. u Later identified bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
u Quinine: First known chemical to treat a disease u Alexander Fleming (1928): Discovered that
(malaria). Used by Spanish conquistadors. penicillin produced by the mold Penicillium
u Synthetic Drugs: Made in the laboratory. notatum was able to prevent microbial growth.
u Penicillin was not mass produced until the 1940s.
u Antibiotics: Produced naturally by fungi and
u Rene Dubos (1939): Discovered two antibiotics
bacteria.
(gramidin and tyrocidine) produced by bacterium
(Bacillus brevis).
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Kingdom Prokaryotae: Bacteria lack
nucleus and membrane bound organelles Diversity of Microorganisms
I. Bacteria (Sing. Bacterium)
u Include two groups:
u Eubacteria: Peptidoglycan cell walls.
u Archaebacteria: Lack peptidoglycan cell walls.
u Shapes: Several forms:
u Bacilli : Rod like. (Sing. Bacillus)
u Cocci: Spherical. (Sing. Coccus)
u Spiral: Corkscrew or curved
u Square
u Star shaped
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Protozoa Belong to Kingdom Protista:
Eucaryotic Unicellular or Simple Diversity of Microorganisms
Multicellular Organisms III. Protozoa (Sing. Protozoan)
u Classified based on locomotion:
u Flagella: Long whip like appendages.
uExample: Trichomonas vaginalis, causes trichominiasis, a
sexually transmitted disease.
u Cilia: Small hair like appendages
u Nonmotile: Do not move in their mature forms.
uExample: Plasmodium spp., causative agent of malaria.