CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
TO
MICROBIOLOGY
 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MICROBIOLOGY

Microbiology is the study of the microscopic living organisms, i.e., the

organisms that cannot be seen with human naked eye. The medical
microbiology is the study of those microorganisms which cause disease
in humans and animals. The different divisions of microbiology can be
listed as follows:

Applied Microbiology &Infection Control Including Safety (Pooja Gupta)

• Bacteriology: It is the study of bacteria (single cell microscopic living organisms, e.g.,
Salmonella typhi, E. coli, Clostridium tetani, etc.)

• Virology: It is the study of viruses (inanimate, obligate-intracellular particles, e.g., Rabies

virus, HIV, Poliovirus, etc.)

• Mycology: It is the study of fungi (single/multicellular microscopic living organisms, e.g.,

Candida albicans, Mucor species, etc.).

• Parasitology: It is the study of parasites (multicellular, includes protozoans and helminths,

e.g., malaria parasite and roundworms, etc.).

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 DISCOVERY ERA
• Robert Hooke in 1665 discovered ‘cells’ using a crude microscope that
led to the ‘cell theory’ which stated that all living things are made up of
cells but he missed to see the microbes as his microscopes lacked
resolution.
• Antony van Leeuwenhoek (a Dutch cloth merchant and a scientist;
1632–1723) was the first person to observe the microorganisms for the
first time using his magnifying glasses with the help of the self-
constructed microscopes in certain samples like the fabrics (Fig. 1), self-
tooth scrapings and self-fecal samples and rain water, etc.
• He named them as the ‘dierkens’ in Deutsch language that was translated
into the English language by the ‘Royal Society of London’ and were
called as the ‘animalcules’.
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 TRANSITION ERA
❑The majority of the transition era scientists purported the most
debatable theory of spontaneous generation because of the ongoing
inquisition about the origin of the microorganisms (the invisible living
organisms).
❑John Needham (1731–1781) was one of the biggest supporters of the
theory of spontaneous generation and tried to prove the same through
some demonstrations also.
❑He also suppressed the opposition by Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian
scientist (1729–1799) for this theory for long. But later with the
beginning of the golden era, the theory of spontaneous generation was
finally proved wrong.
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 GOLDEN ERA OF MICROBIOLOGY (1857–1914)

Louis Pasteur (1822–1895)

• The golden era of microbiology began with the rejection of the theory of
spontaneous generation with direct evidence given by Louis Pasteur, a scientist
and French chemist, in 1861.

• He rejected the spontaneous generation theory by conducting the Swan Neck

experiment.

• The major works and contributions during this period are mentioned as follows:
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 CONTRIBUTIONS OF LOUIS PASTEUR IN MICROBIOLOGY
❑He proposed that any disease is caused by the microbes existing in air
(germ theory of disease) and not by bad air.
❑He introduced the fermentation principles for food preservation.
❑He introduced the steam sterilizer, autoclave and the hot air oven along
with certain sterilization techniques.
❑The milk and wine pasteurization methods were given by him.
❑The anthrax, rabies and fowl cholera vaccines were also formulated by
him.
❑The nutrient broth was used by him first time for the microbial growth.

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 John Tyndall (1820–1893)
• He introduced the process of ‘Tyndallization’.
• It states that if on three successive days, any broth culture is subjected to
100°C temperature for 30 minutes then the spore also can be killed completely
within the broth cultures. In other words, the sterilization can be achieved at
this temperature.

Heinrich Herman Robert Koch (1843–1910)

• Robert Koch discovered the pathogens of the infectious diseases like
tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax.
• He introduced the role of hygiene in the prevention of infectious diseases.
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• The phenomenon of acquired immunity was first observed by him.
• He was first to formulate solid agar media using agar.
• He introduced the pour plate method.
• He introduced nutrient agar and nutrient broth for culturing bacteria.
• He devised the pure culture techniques for bacterial isolation.
• The hanging drop technique was devised by Robert Koch for testing the
bacterial motility.
• The aniline dyes were introduced by him in the staining techniques.
• He gave the Koch’s postulates that became the basic principles of
microbiology specifying that the real cause of diseases is actually microbes.
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• Koch’s Postulates
The Koch’s postulates are a series of sequential steps formulated experimentally
in order to relate a specific disease to a specific pathogenic microbe.
• Edward Jenner
He introduced the concept of vaccination by injecting the specimen taken from a
cow suffering from the cowpox disease into a healthy person that prevented the
person from acquiring the smallpox infection during the smallpox disease spread.
• Sir Alexander Fleming
He introduced the first antibiotic that was named as penicillin because it was
obtained from the fungal mould Penicillium notatum.

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 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF MICROBIOLOGY
The study of micro organisms, whether unicellular (single cell),
multicellular (cell colony), or acellular, is known as microbiology
(lacking cells). Medical microbiology, as an application of
microbiology, is frequently introduced with medical immunology
principles as microbiology and immunology.

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Domain System of Classification

The evolutionary links between organisms are referred to as phylogeny.

Organisms are grouped into one of three domains based on differences in
nucleotide sequences in ribosomal RNAs (rRNA), membrane lipid structure, and
antibiotic sensitivity, i.e.,

• Archaea

• Bacteria

• Eukarya
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Cellular Structure Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells

In nature, there are two sorts of cells: prokaryotic and eukaryotic. Prokaryotic
cells have a simpler structure than eukaryotic cells. The larger the surface-to-
volume ratio of a cell, the smaller it is.

Why Some Microbes have More Potential to be Harmful

The majority of microbes are harmless to humans and, in fact, many are
beneficial. Microbes may possess a variety of factors that play a role in
increasing their ability to cause disease. Microbes may adapt through
mutation, genetic recombination, and natural selection.
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 The Human Microbiome and Its Impact on Human Health

Human health is dependent on the intricate mutually beneficial

symbiotic interaction between humans and their natural bacteria. It is
now understood that the millions of genes linked with the human body's
normal flora or microbiota, particularly in the digestive tract, aid in the
digestion of numerous meals, the regulation of multiple host metabolic
pathways, and the regulation of the body's immune defences.

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 PRINCIPLES OF MICROBIOLOGY

❑A single microbe always is responsible for every specific infectious disease and
it must exist in the host in any particular microbiologically identifiable form.
❑The isolation of that particular microbe from the particular host must be
possible by using the aseptic techniques in the form of a pure culture.
❑The microbe isolated from the specific pure culture must cause the same
disease in a new healthy host if inoculated in the latter, aseptically.

❑The isolation of the secondary microbe from the particular host must also be
possible by using the aseptic techniques in the form of another pure culture and
it must resemble the already identified and isolated primary microbe exactly in
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 IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE OF
MICROBIOLOGY IN NURSING

❑The knowledge of the concepts of microbiology like the modes of

transmission of infection helps a nurse to prevent infection spread.
❑The knowledge of the various concepts under asepsis helps to
maintain a sterile field in a healthcare facility.
❑The appropriate collection of specimens is must for a nurse and the
requisite knowledge is provided by the microbiology study.
❑The right knowledge of the immunization schedule and its
implementation is a must for a nurse and is well explained in a
microbiology study.
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 IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGIES

❑Acid-fast: A term refers to bacteria which retain acid fast stain even after
the decolorization by acid or alcohol.
❑Acquired immunity: This type of immunity is received after getting any
kind of infection throughout life.
❑Biopsy: A sample of tissue collected from an organ in order to study in
detail about any type of serious diseases condition.
❑Broth: A liquid culture media without agar.
❑Candle jar: A lighted candle is placed in enclosed jar for the production of
carbon dioxide that is useful for the growth of microorganisms.
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❑Chancre: A chancre is a painless genital ulcer commonly formed in
primary stage of syphilis.
❑Chemotherapy: Treatment given with the help of chemicals.
❑Coinfection: Simultaneous infection of a single cell by two or more
virus particles.
❑Colony: A visible appearance of microorganisms on a solid medium.
❑Etiology: Study of the cause of diseases.
❑Eukaryotes: ‘eu’ mean true ‘karyote’ means nucleus so the organism
with the fully developed nucleus are eukaryotes.
❑Exogenous diseases: Disease arising from the external factors.

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❑Helminth: A worm that commonly acts as intestinal parasite in
humans.
❑Hemagglutinin: Hemagglutinin are glycoproteins which cause red
blood cells to agglutinate or form clump together.
❑Optimum growth temperature: The temperature at which a
microorganism’s growth rate is highest.
❑yyOptimum oxygen concentration: The ideal concentration of
oxygen for a particular microorganism for its growth.
❑Phototroph: Organism that gets its energy from light.
❑yyPili: Long hair like protein extensions on the surface of some
bacterial cells important for attachment.
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❑Reservoir: Reservoir is the habitat in which any pathogenic microorganism
lives, grows, multiplies. It includes humans, animals, environment.
❑Reverse transcription: Synthesis of DNA molecule from RNA.
❑Reflection: When light bounces back from a surface.
❑Ulcer: Open sore, i.e., Poorly healed lesion on mucous membrane.
❑Ultramicrotome: A device that cuts thin sections for electron microscopy.
❑X-linked agammaglobulinemia: Genetic disorder resulting in an inability to
produce antibodies.
❑Xerophile: An organism that can grow in dry conditions.

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