MIC 2052

MICROBIOLOGY & PARASITOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO THE
MICROBIOLOGY

SHUGANTI MAYILVAHANAM
 Learning Outcomes
• Define microbiology.

• Describe how microorganisms cause disease.

• Describe the contributions of scientists in the field of

microbiology.

• Describe the terminologies in microbiology.

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

 Introduction
• Microorganisms • Medical assistant
cause disease or – Identification of
infection microorganisms
– Pathogenic in nature – Proper collection
– Displaced from their techniques
natural environment – Testing procedures
– Quality control

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

 Microbiology and the Role of the Medical
Assistant

• Microbiology – study of microorganisms

(simple forms of life visible only with a
microscope)

• Microorganisms
– Normal flora
– Pathogenic

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

 How Microorganisms Cause Disease
• Cause disease in variety of ways
– Use nutrients needed by cells and tissues
– Damage cells directly
– Produce toxins
• May remain localized or become systemic
• Transmission
– Direct contact
– Indirect contact

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 How Microorganisms Cause Disease

• Localized symptoms • Generalized symptoms

– Swelling – Fever
– Pain – Tiredness
– Warmth – Aches
– Redness – Weakness

• Normal flora
– Provides a barrier
– Can cause an infection

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

 Themes in Microbiology Field
Bacteriology
Phycology
Mycology
By organism
Virology
Parasitology
Protozoology

Basic Microbial metabolism

By process
Microbial genetics

Immunology
Disease related Epidemiology
Etiology
Microbiology

Disease related Infection

Environmentally Environmental
Applied related microbiology

Food & beverage tech

Industrial Pharmaceutical
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 The Importance of Microbiology
Human Health Balance of Nature
• Study of immune • Food source, play a role
system in decomposition, help
• Monitor and control the other animals digest
spread of the disease in grass (cattle, sheep,
society. termites).
• Production of health
products such as amino
acids, medicines,
vitamins and enzymes.

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 The Importance of Microbiology
Environmental Agricultural
• Provide safe drinking • Research has led to
water; development of healthier livestock and
biodegradable disease-free crops.
products; use bacteria
to clean up oil spills,
etc. –
called bioremediation.

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 The Importance of Microbiology
Industrial
• Useful chemicals such
as ethanol and acetone.
• Foodstuffs (beer, wine,
cheese, bread).
• Destroy wastes such as
sewage, oil spill and
toxic from the ground.
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Medical and
Pharmaceutical
• Microbial causes and
prevents microbes.
• Microbes produce
antibiotics used to treat
diseases
 Medical Microbiology
• A study on microorganisms that can infect and
cause disease in human beings.
Sub field The importance of the study results
Morphology Identify the microbial part of the disease
Transmission Control and prevention of disease
Life cycle Prevents microbial reproduction
Chemical reaction Plan and create treatment methods

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 1. History of Microbiology- Hooke
• Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703)
• Developed first microscope.
• He discovered plant cells, more precisely they
were cell walls of cork tissue.
• In fact it was Hooke who coined the term
“Cell”.
• Proposed cell theory: all living things are
composed of cells.
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 2. History of Microbiology-
Leeuwenhoek
Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)

Enhanced microscope magnification in the 19th century

Identified the 3 main shapes of bacteria (sphere, cylinder

and spiral)

Discovered bacteria, free-living and parasitic microscopic

protists, sperm cells, blood cells, microscopic nematodes
and rotifers, and much more.

Known as “Father of Microbiology”.

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 History of Microbiology
• The Transition Period: Debate over
Spontaneous Generation Theory vs Biogenesis
Theory.
• Aristotles’s doctrine of spontaneous
generation: Hypothesis that living organisms
arise from nonliving matter; a “vital force”
forms life.
• Biogenesis: Hypothesis that the living
organisms arise from pre-existing life.

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 3. History of Microbiology- Redi
• Francesco Redi (1626 – 1678)
• An Italian physician who refuted the idea of spontaneous
generation.
 Showed that rotting meat carefully kept from flies will not
spontaneously produce maggots.

Condition Results
Three jars covered with fine No maggots
net
Three open jars Maggots appeared
From where did the maggots come?
What was the purpose of the sealed jars?
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?
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 4. History of Microbiology-Needham
• John Needham
• He argued that Redi did not fully disprove the theory of
spontaneous generation.
Put boiled nutrient broth into covered flasks.
Condition Results
Nutrient broth Microbial growth
heated, then
placed in sealed
flask
From where did the microbes come?
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?

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 5. History of Microbiology-Spallanzani
• Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729 – 1799)
• Study about the origins of microbes.
• Repeated the experiment carried out by Needham with
some important changes.
 Boiled nutrient solutions in flasks
Conditions Results
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, No microbial growth
then sealed immediately
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated There are microbial growth
and left in open air
Scientists argued that air was a requirement for spontaneous generation, and by
sealing the flask, Spallanzani deprived the environment of the necessary air.
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?

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6. History of Microbiology- Pasteur
• Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
• He performed a crucial experiment using a swan necked flask
that proved that new life did not just spontaneously arise
from substances like rotting meat.
 Demonstrated that microorganisms are present in the air
Conditions Results
Nutrient broth placed in flask, Microbial growth
heated, not sealed
Nutrient broth placed in flask, No microbial growth
heated, then sealed
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?

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 History of Microbiology- Pasteur
• Introduced sterilization techniques.
• Sterilization methods include:
Boiling the fluid material up to 120°C
Autoclaves (using high steam pressure for sterilization)
Sterilizing glassware by dry heat at 170°C
• Demonstrated microbes in air can contaminate
sterile solutions but air cannot give rise to
microbes: no spontaneous generation.
• Developed vaccines against anthrax, chicken
cholera and rabies.

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 Confirmation of Biogenesis
Pasteur’s S-shaped (swan-neck ) flask kept microbes out but let
air in

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 7. History of Microbiology- Koch
• Robert Koch (1843-1910)
• Koch initiated the use of the seaweed
polysaccharide gel called agar as a stable material
for the formation of a gel on which separated and
pure (single species) colonies of bacteria and
fungi.
• Producing isolating techniques and identifying
pathogens.
• Proved Germ Theory of Disease
• Developed postulates to determine the cause of
a disease.
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 7. History of Microbiology- Koch
• His studies, in combination of those of Pasteur’s,
established the GERM THEORY of disease.
• His procedure for defining the agent of any disease,
called KOCH’S POSTULATES, consists of the following 4
steps.
 FIRST, isolate the suspected agent from a disease victim.
 SECOND, grow the agent in pure culture.
 THIRD, infect a healthy host and show that the organism
produces the CLASSICAL CLINICAL DISEASE.
 FOURTH, ISOLATE the “same” organism from the new
victim.

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 Koch: Microbial Etiology Of 3
Important Diseases
1. Cholera (fecal-oral disease)
 Bacterium vibrio cholera
 Infect humans through contaminated food and drinks
2. Tuberculosis (pulmonary infection)
 Mycobacterium tuberculosis
 Transmission to humans through water droplets
3. Anthrax (disease of domesticated and wild animals)
 Anthrax-kills livestock
 Isolated Bacillus anthracis
 Transmitted to human via close contact with animals or
animal products.
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 1857-1914 Golden Age of
Microbiology

Establishment of Microbiology as a science

Discovery of disease agents

Discovery of role of immunity

Development of vaccines

Development of Chemotherapy

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 8. History of Microbiology- Jenner
• Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823)
• Birth of vaccination
• Observed milkmaids who got cowpox never got
smallpox.
• Injected cowpox into child, child mildly ill.
• Child never contracted cowpox or smallpox.
• ~ 100 years later: Pasteur shows how vaccinations
work.
 Creation of avirulent strains of bacteria during
extended laboratory cultivation
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 9. History of Microbiology- Holmes &
Semmelweis
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 – 1894)
• Ignaz Philipp Semmelwis (1818 – 1865)
• Publish articles on puerperal sepsis (bacterial
infection occurs in women during childbirth).
• It states that infectious diseases can be spread
by the hands of doctors and nurses who are
contaminated.
• Emphasizing hand washing.
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 History of Microbiology- Lister &
Fleming
10. Lord Joseph Lister
(1827 – 1912)
• Knew physicians
transmitted infections.
• Knew phenol (carbonic
acid) killed bacteria.
• Treated surgical wounds
and implements,
reduced incidence of
infection.
11. Alexander Fleming &
Chain (1929)
• Found Penicillin from
Penicillium, acting as
anti-bacterial agent and
has an impact on Gram-
positive
microorganisms.

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 History of Microbiology- Tyndall &
Beijerinick
12. John Tyndall(1820 – 13. Martinus Willem
1893) Beijerinick (1851 – 1931)
• Discovery on heat- • Discovered virus in
sensitive and heat 1898.
resistant bacteria. • First person to study
• Developed technique to about virus.
kill heat resistant
bacteria called
sterilization.

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 Terminology
Microbial Explanation
Terminology
Abiotic Factors Non-living factors that can affect life, like soil, nutrients, climate, wind
etc
Active Site The location on the surface of the enzyme where the substrate binds.

Aerobic This includes organisms that require molecular oxygen to survive

(aerobic organisms), an environment that has molecular oxygen, and
processes that happen only in the presence of oxygen (aerobic
respiration).
Agar A dried hydrophilic, colloidal substance extracted from red algae species,
used as a solid culture media for bacteria and other micro-organisms.

Alga Phototrophic eukaryotic micro-organisms, that maybe unicellular or

multicellular. These include phaeophyta: brown algae, spirogyra and red
algae.
Anaerobic Refers to organisms that survive in the absence of oxygen (anearobic
organisms), the absence of molecular oxygen, processes occurring in the
absence of oxygen like anearobic respiration.
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 Terminology
Microbial Terminology Explanation
Antibiotic A chemical substance produced by a microorganism, which has
the capacity to inhibit the growth of, or kill other micro-
organisms
Antigen Any substance capable of instigating the immune system into
action, inciting a specific immune response and of reacting with
the products of that response.
Antiseptic A substance that inhibits the growth and development of micro-
organisms, but does not necessarily kill them.
Bacteria A domain that contains prokaryotic cells that are not
multicellular. Read more on bacteria.
Carbon cycle The cycle where carbon-dioxide is taken in and converted to
organic compounds by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, after
which it is partially incorporated into sediments, and then
returned to the atmosphere by respiration or combustion
Disinfectant An agent that kills micro-organisms.

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

 Terminology
Microbial Explanation
Terminology
Domain The highest level of biological classification which goes beyond
kingdoms. The three domains of biological organisms are Bacteria,
Eukarya and Archaea.
Facultative organism An organism which is able to adjust to a particular circumstance or has
the ability to take up different roles in a process.
Host An organism that can harbor or nourish another organism.
Immunity The protection mechanism against infections caused by micro-
organisms or toxins, that is inherent in the body.
Infection Invasion and multiplication of micro-organisms in body tissues, leading
to various diseases and disorders.
Microbiology The study of micro-organisms, often with the aid of a microscope.
Parasitism Feeding by one organism on the cells of a second, normally larger
organism, thus, harming the host.
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 Terminology
Microbial Explanation
Terminology
Pathogen An organism that is capable of causing an infection, or harming a
host cell.
Pasteurization Process of using heat to kill or reduce the activity of micro-organisms
in heat: sensitive materials.
Sterilization The process whereby an object or surface is rendered free of any
living micro-organisms.
Strain Population of cells, all of which arise from a single pure isolate.
Virulence The degree of pathogenicity of a parasite.

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Epidemiology
• Epidemiology is the study of the
determinants, distribution, and frequency of
disease (who gets the disease and why).

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Epidemiology

Epidemiologists study sick people.

Epidemiologists study healthy people.

• To determine the crucial difference between
those who get the disease and those who are
spared.

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

Epidemiology

Epidemiologists study sick people.

Epidemiologists study healthy people.

• To determine the crucial difference between
those who get the disease and those who are
spared.

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]

Epidemiology
Purpose of Epidemiology
• To provide a basis for
developing disease control
and prevention measures
for groups at risk.
• This translates into
developing measures to
prevent or control disease.
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Two Broad Types of
Epidemiology:
• Descriptive Epidemiology:
examining the distribution
of disease in a population,
and observing the basic
features of its distribution.
• Analytic Epidemiology:
investigating a hypothesis
about the cause of disease
by studying how exposures
relate to disease.
The End!

Each organism's
environment, for the
most part, consists of
other organisms.
~ Kevin Kelly

MIC 2052 (INTRO TO MICROBIO) [SM]