BACTERIOLOGY
LECTURE 1
INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL BACTERIOLOGY
General Definition of Microbiology
• Microbiology
• ology: study of
• Micro: small
• bio: life or living
• microorganism, microbes
DIVISIONS OF MICROBIOLOGY
MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY
• A branch of medical science which deals with the
study of medically important microorganisms
specifically their role in human disease which
includes diagnosis, treatment and prevention of
infectious diseases.
DIAGNOSTIC BACTERIOLOGY
• A branch of medical microbiology that focuses on
the laboratory identification of medically important
bacteria by phenotypical (physical characteristic)
and genotypical (genes) characterization including
antibiotic susceptibility testing.
IMMUNOLOGY
• Is the study of host reaction to a foreign substance
in the body.
INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY
• Includes a large variety of microbial activities.
• Example: Alcoholic beverages, organic solvent and
antibiotics
• Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Parasitology
• Pharmaceutical microbiology is a specialist area of
microbiology and one concerned with the use of
microorganisms in pharmaceutical development
and with maintaining contamination control.
Pioneers in the Microbiology
(R. HOOKE, JOHANES JANSSEN and GALILEO GALILEE)
• They discovered the first simple light microscope
(that is still used today).
Robert Hooke
• He introduced the “Concept of Cell Theory”, a theory
stating that all living things are made up of cells.
• He was the first person to introduced the term cell in
1665 when he observed that plant material was
composed of little boxes.
• Hooke coined the term cell for describing biological
organisms, the term being suggested by the
resemblance of plant cells to cells of a cork or
honeycomb.
• He published Micrographia, a book describing
observations made with microscopes.
• Hooke’s discovery marked the beginning of the cell
theory.
ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK
• He is commonly known as “The Father of
Microbiology “, and considered to be the first
microbiologist.
• He ground tiny glass lenses, which he mounted in
small metal frames, thus creating what today are
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MLS – 110
known as single-lens microscopes or simple
microscopes
• He invented the first single lens microscope and
discovered the “invisible world of microorganisms”
• Using his intervention, he was also the first person to
observe organisms that are unseen by the naked eye
which he called as “animalcules”.
• He observed these animalcules using samples of rain
water, liquid in which peppercorns had been soaked
and teeth scrapings.
Theory of Spontaneous Generation
• It states that life arises from non-living matter.
• Living organisms can develop from nonliving or
decomposing matter.
• In the mid1880’s, many people believed in
Spontaneous Generation.
• A theory stating that a living organism could arise
from nonliving matter.
• It is also known as “Theory of Abiogenesis”
JOHN NEEDHAM
• John Needham (1749), an Irish priest.
• He observed the appearance of microorganisms in
putrefying meat & chicken broth and interpreted this
as spontaneous generation.
• He claimed the “vital force” necessary for
spontaneous generation.
• A believer of the Spontaneous Generation theory
who proved the theory by performing an experiment
using a rotten meat.
FRANCISCO REDI
• An Italian priest who disproved the theory of
Needham.
• He demonstrated that maggots appear on
decaying meat only when flies are able to lay eggs
on the meat.
• He performed an experiment where he placed the
meat in three different jars – one left open(+), one
sealed with a fine net(+) and one totally sealed(-).
• He was the first person to perform an experiment
with a control system.
Theory of Biogenesis
• Biogenesis vs. Spontaneous Generation
RUDOLF VIRCHOW
• He opposed Needham’s experiment and
challenged the theory of Spontaneous Generation
by introducing the Theory of Biogenesis.
• The Theory of Biogenesis states that life came from
living things or preexisting living things.
LAZZARO SPALLANZANI
• He is an Italian priest.
• He boiled beef broth for an hour, sealed the flasks
and observed no appearance of microorganisms
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LECTURE 1
and disproved the theory of spontaneous
generation or abiotic origin of life.
• He proposed the theory of biogenesis. re-existing
living things.
LOUIS PASTEUR
• He was a French chemist and microbiologist
renowned for his discoveries of the principles of
vaccination, microbial fermentation and
pasteurization
• Disproved theory of spontaneous
generation/Abiogenesis.
• He performed the swan-neck flask experiment and
invented Pasteur pipet.
• He changed the belief that diseases were caused
by black spirits but instead they are caused by
microorganisms. - Pasteurization
• Heating liquids to 63 – 65’C for 30 minutes or 73 –
75’C for 15 seconds
• Type of sterilization. Only kills pathogens
• He changed the belief that diseases were caused
by black spirits but instead they are caused by
microorganisms.
• Because of this he was recognized as the “Father of
Immunology”.
ROBERT KOCH
• He was a celebrated German physician and
pioneering microbiologist.
• The founder of modern bacteriology, he is known for
giving experimental support for the concept of
infectious disease.
• He introduced the principle of “Pure Culture
Technique”.
• He also proved that microorganisms caused disease.
• He used a sequence of procedures called “Koch’s
Postulates” to describe the epidemiology of disease
(the disease causation process).
• KOCH’S POSTULATES Also known as “Henle-Koch’s
Postulates
• These include the following:
1. Isolation - The pathogen must be found routinely
in hosts with the disease.
2. Cultivation - pathogen must be isolated and
grown in pure culture (development of pure
culture technique).
3. Injection - The pathogen when inoculated to a
healthy animal/individual must cause the same
disease.
4. Recovery - The same organism must be isolated
from the diseased animal or individual.
LIMITATIONS OF KOCH’S POSTULATES:
1. It is only limited or applicable for infectious diseases and not
on non- infectious diseases. Example:
• TB is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis
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• HTN is caused by familial/genetic cause, diet,
smoking or lifestyle but not by microorganisms
2. Not all healthy animals will manifest the disease once
infected with a certain pathogen. Example:
• Leptospirosis will be manifested in man but not in
animals.
3. Not all organisms can be isolated and grown in pure
cultures. Example:
• Treponema pallidum (syphilis) can only grow in pure
culture using chimpanzee scrotum.
• Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy) is only grown in the
palms or foot of armadillos.
ROBERT KOCH CONTRIBUTIONS:
Koch’s work led to discovery or development of:
✓ Agar
✓ Petri dish
✓ Nutrient broth and nutrient agar
✓ identifying the specific causative agents of:
tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax and for isolating
pure culture on solid media
✓ Tuberculin test
JULIUS PETRI
• A worker of Robert Koch who invented the Petri dish
in 1887.
RAU HESSE
• The wife of a worker of Robert Koch who discovered
agar.
• Before the solid culture media used for the
cultivation of microorganisms were mashed
potatoes and vegetables.
• At home, she used agar in making jelly for her
family, now it was being used as a solid culture
media.
The Discovery of Spores and Sterilization
JOHN TYNDALL
• Provided the initial evidence that some of the
microbes in dust and air have very high heat
resistance and that particularly vigorous treatment is
required to destroy them - Ferdinand Cohn
• Clarified the reason that heat would sometimes fail
to completely eliminate all microorganisms
• “Sterile” was established
• Sterile – completely free of all life forms (including
spores) and virus particles
• The Development of Aseptic Techniques
DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
• Observed that mothers who gave birth at home
experienced fewer infections than did mothers who
gave birth in the hospital.
DR. IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS (FATHER OF HAND HYGIENE)
• Showed quite clearly that women became infected
in the maternity ward after examinations by
physicians coming directly from the autopsy room
JOSEPH LISTER
• First to introduce aseptic techniques aimed at
reducing microbes in a medical setting and
preventing wound infections
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Definition of Terms related to Medical and Diagnostic
Microbiology
Pathogens – Disease causing microorganisms such as
bacteria, fungi, protozoans and viruses
Types of Pathogens:
➢ True Pathogen - refers to an organism that will
cause disease in a healthy host
➢ Opportunistic Pathogens - refers to organisms
that will cause disease in an
immunocompromised host
➢ Pathogenicity - refers to the ability of an
organism to cause disease in a host organism
➢ Virulence - refers to the degree of pathogenicity;
the power by which a pathogen can cause
severe disease
➢ Pathogenic Determinants/ Virulence Factors -
refers to any genetic, biochemical or structural
features that enable a pathogen to cause
disease in a host organism
Infection – Refers to the entry, invasion and multiplication of
pathogens in or on to the host body system which results to
subsequent tissue injury and progress to overt disease.
Types of Infection
*Based on Source of Pathogen
1. Endogenous Infection - Infection arising from
colonizing flora
2. Exogenous Infection - Infection arising from invading
pathogen from the external environment
*Based on Clinical Onset of Signs and Symptoms
1. Acute Infection - Rapid/ sudden onset of signs and
symptoms which are usually severe to fatal that may
lead to death
2. Chronic Infection - Gradual onset of signs and
symptoms that are usually mild to moderate that may
progress to long standing infection
*Based on Etiologic/ Causative Agent
1. Nosocomial Infection - Infection acquired during
hospitalization
2. Zoonotic Infection (Zoonosis) - Is an animal disease
which can spread to humans; animal acquired
infection
*Based on Clinical Manifestation
1. Subclinical/ Asymptomatic/ Nonapparent - No
obvious appearance of signs and symptoms and the
person is unaware of the infection.
2. Clinical/ Symptomatic/ Apparent - Associated with
presence of overt signs and symptoms of the disease
Disease – An altered health state in an infected host
Infectious Disease - Is an illness caused by a pathogen which
invades body tissues and causes damage
Communicable Disease - Is an infectious disease that is
capable of spreading from person to person
Symptoms - Refers to any subjective evidence of disease.
These are usually perception of the patient having the disease
such as headache, dizziness, etc.
Signs - Refers to readily observable evidence of disease. These
are usually physical manifestation of the disease such as
rashes, bleeding etc.
Normal Flora - Bacteria that are in or on different sites of the
body that usually do not harm the host unless the host defense
is compromised (Synonyms: Indigenous Flora, Resident Flora,
Normal Microbiota)
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Colonization - Refers to the establishment of substantial
number of microorganisms usually in the skin or mucosa but
there’s no penetration of tissues
Earliest Known Infectious Diseases
Pestilence and Plague
• Fatal epidemic disease caused by a bacterium
called Yersinia pestis – Black Death (Represent the
first recorded epidemic)
• Around 1900 BC, near the end of the Trojan war, the
Greek army was decimated by an epidemic of what
is thought to have been Bubonic Plague
• 1500 BC - Ebers papyrus
• 1122 BC - Smallpox occurred in China
• Epidemics of plague occurred in Rome in 790, 710,
and 640 BC and in Greece around 430 BC
• There are early accounts of rabies, anthrax,
dysentery, smallpox, ergotism, botulism, measles,
typhoid fever, typhus fever, diphtheria, and syphilis
• Syphilis (Treponema pallidum)
➢ First appearance in Europe in 1493
➢ Was carried to Europe by Native Americans who
were brought to Portugal by Christopher
Columbus
• Neapolitan Disease
• French or Spanish Disease
• French pox
• Spanish, German, Polish and Turkish pocks
Careers in Microbiology
Bacteriologist
• Scientist who specializes in bacteriology – the study
of the structure, functions, and activities of bacteria
Phycologists (or algologists)
• Scientists specializing in the field of phycology (or
algology) study the various types of algae
Protozoologist
• Explore the area of protozoology – the study of
protozoa and their activities
Mycologists
• Those who specialize in the study of fungi, or
mycology
Virologists and Cell Biologists
• Many become genetic engineers who transfer
genetic material (deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA)
from one cell type to another Virologists also study
prions and viroids, acellular infectious agents that are
even smaller than viruses
Q&A:
1. A branch of medical microbiology that focuses on the laboratory
identification of medically important bacteria by phenotypical (physical
characteristic) and genotypical (genes) characterization including
antibiotic susceptibility testing
2. He introduced the “Concept of Cell Theory”, a theory stating that all
living things are made up of cells.
3. Father of Microbiology
4. Father of Modern Bacteriology
5. A worker of Robert Koch who invented the Petri dish in 1887.
6. First to introduce aseptic techniques aimed at reducing microbes in a
medical setting and preventing wound infections
7. Refers to the ability of an organism to cause disease in a host organism
8. Infection arising from invading pathogen from the external environment
9. Refers to readily observable evidence of disease. These are usually
physical manifestation of the disease such as rashes, bleeding etc.
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