 Cilia – are numerous protrusions of a cell

Microbiology that beat rhythmically to propel the

Microbiology is derived form the Greek words protozoan through its environment.
“mikros” (small), “bios” (life), and “logia” (study  Flagella – extension of cells but are fewer,
of). longer, and more whip like than cilia.
Therefore, it is the study of organisms that are so  Algae – Are unicellular or multicellular
small they cannot be seen with the naked eye. photosynthetic eukaryotes. They make
These organisms are called microorganisms or their own food from CO2 and water using
microbes and are categorized into two: energy from sunlight.
Cellular EXAMPLE OF PROTOZOA LOCOMOTIVE
 Prokaryotes – bacteria, cyanobacteria, and STRUCTURE:
archeans
 Eukaryotes – fungi, protozoa, and algae
 Acellular – which includes viruses.

CLASSIFICATION OF MICROBES
 Carolus Linnaeus (1707 – 1778) Developed CLASSIFICATIONS OF MICROBIOLOGY
a taxonomic system for naming plants and  Bacteriology – study of bacteria
animals and grouping similar organisms  Virology – study of viruses
together.  Mycology – study of fungi
 Bacteria and Archea – are both  Parasitology – study of protozoa and
prokaryotic, which means that they lack parasitic worms
nuclei; that is their genes are not  Phycology – study of algae
surrounded by a membrane.  Immunology – study of immune system
 Fungi – cells are eukaryotic. Each of their and the immune response
cells contains a nucleus composed of  HISTORY OF MICRO
genetic material surrounded by a distinct  3180 BC – the “plague” epidemic broke out
membrane. in Egypt.
 Molds – are typically multicellular  1122 BC – smallpox-like disease from China
organisms that grow long filaments that spread worldwide.
intertwine to make up the body. (ex.  Robert Hooke (mid 1600s) – discovered
Penicillium chrysogenum) the microscope and was able to discover
 Yeasts – are unicellular and typically oval to cells.
round. They reproduce asexually by  This discovery pioneered the Cell Theory
budding.
 Anton von Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723) –
Example of molds and yeasts:
Father of Microbiology. A Dutch merchant
which created a single lens microscope and
discovered microorganisms he called
animacules.
 Louis Pasteur (1800s) – Germ Theory of
Disease
 He also developed the process
pasteurization, which kills microorganisms
in different types of liquids, which became
 Protozoa – are single-celled eukaryotes
the basis for aseptic techniques.
that are similar to animals in their
 Edward Jenner – discovered the vaccine for
nutritional needs and cellular structure.
smallpox.
Most protozoa are capable of locomotion and are
 Joseph Lister – developed aseptic surgery.
characterized according to their locomotive
 Paul Ehrlich – discovered Salvarsan for the
structure:
treatment of syphilis. Called the magic
 Pseudopods – are extension of a cell that
bullet of chemotherapy.
flow in the direction of travel.
  Alexander Fleming – discovered the special condenser that has an opaque disc
antibiotic penicillin from the mold Penicillin that blocks the light.
notatum.  Phase contrast microscope – It permits
 Robert Koch – Koch’s Postulates. Koch was detailed examination of internal structure
instrumental in in modifying the scientific in living organism. Introduced by Frits
method to prove that a given pathogen Zernike, a Dutch physicist in 1934.
caused a specific disease.  Fluorescence microscope – makes use of
Koch Postulates: ultraviolet light and fluorescent dyes called
 The bacteria must be present in every case fluorochromes. Is based on the principle
of the disease. that certain materials emit energy that is
 The bacteria must be isolated from the detectable as visible light when they are
host and grown in pure culture. irradiated with the light of a given
 The specific disease must be reproduced wavelength.
when a pure culture of the bacteria is  Electron microscope – utilizes a beam of
inoculated into a healthy susceptible host. electrons to create an image of the
 The bacteria must be recoverable from the specimen. Was built by the German
experimental infected host. Engineer Ernst Ruska in 1933, that has a
 PREVENTING INFECTION AND resolution power of up to 50nm.
 Scanning Probe microscope – was
DISEASE developed in 1980s by the Swiss scientists
 Semmelweis and Handwashing (1818 – Dr. Gerd Binning and Dr. Heinrich Rohrer. Is
1865) – Ignaz Semmelweis used to study the molecular and atomic
 Lister’s Antiseptic Technique (1827 – 1912) shapes of organisms on a nanoscale.
– Joseph Lister
 Nightingale and Nursing (1820 – 1910) –
Florence Nightingale introduced cleanliness
 STAINING
and other antiseptic techniques into To facilitate visualization, staining procedures have
nursing practice. been developed by various scientists. These
staining procedures are meant to give color to the
organisms, making them easier to see under the
microscope.

  Simple stains – makes use of a

single dye which can either be aqueous
(water based) or alcohol-based. It uses
basic dyes such as safranin, methylene
blue, or crystal violet. These stains give up
MICROSCOPY or accept hydrogen ion, leaving the stain
A Microscope is an instrument that magnifies the
positively charged.
size of image of an object to be seen with the
 Differential stains – used to differentiate
naked eyes.
one group of bacteria from another.
MICROSCOPY
 Gram stain – distinguishes gram positive
TYPES OF MICROSCOPE:
bacteria from gram negative bacteria.
 Compound microscope – contains more
 Gm (+) will stain blue or purple.
than one magnifying lens. Visible light is its
 Gm (-) will stain red or pink.
main source of illumination.
 Note: All cocci are gram-positive except
 Brightfield microscope – this is used to
Neisseria, Veilonella, and Branhamella;
visualize bacteria and fungi. Can magnify
while all bacilli are gram negative except
objects 1,000x to 1,500x.
Corynebacterium, Clostridium, Bacillus,
 Darkfield microscope – utilizes reflected
Mycobacterium.
light instead of transmitted light with a
Staining  Synthetic media – contain chemically
defined substances which are pure organic
and/or inorganic compounds.
 Non-synthetic media – complex media that
contain at least one ingredient that is not
chemically defined.

According to Functional type:

 General purpose media – primary isolation
 Acid-fast stain – used for bacteria with high of a broad spectrum of microbes and
lipid content in their cell wall. contain a mixture of nutrients that support
 Ziehl-Neelsen stain – known as the “hot the growth of both pathogenic and non-
method” because it requires steam bathing pathogenic organisms.
the prepared smear after the addition of
the primary dye. Acid fast organisms will
appear red on a blue background.
 Kinyoun stain – known as the “cold
method” as it does not utilize heat after  ENRICHMENT MEDIA
addition of the primary stain. Acid fast  contain complex organic substances such
organisms will appear red on a green as blood, serum, or special growth factors,
background. and are designed to increase the number of
desired microorganisms without
stimulating the rest of the bacterial
population.
TYPES OF ENRICHMENT MEDIA:
 Blood agar – contains general nutrients
with 5% - 10% blood added to a blood agar
base. Certain gm-positive bacteria produce
exotoxins that cause hemolysis of rbc.
 Beta hemolysis – shows complete lysis of
 CULTURE MEDIA rbc resulting in complete clearing around
A culture medium is basically an aqueous solution the colonies.
to which all the necessary nutrients essential for  Alpha hemolysis – shows incomplete lysis
the growth of organisms are added. of rbc, producing a greenish discoloration
According to Physical State: of the bap around the colonies.
 Liquid media – commonly called broths,  Gamma hemolysis – shows no hemolysis.
milk, or infusions. These are water-based
solutions that do not solidify at
temperatures above the freezing point.
 Semi solid media – exhibit a clot-like
consistency at ordinary room temp and
contain agar at concentrations of 0.5% or
less that allows thickening or the media
without producing a firm substance.
 Chocolate agar – a type of nutrient
 Solid media – contain solidifying agents
medium used for culture of fastidious
such as 1.5% - 2% agar, giving them firm
organisms. (i.e. Haemophilus sp.) Heat is
surface on which cells can form discrete
applied to rbc, causing the medium to turn
colonies.
brown.

According to Chemical Composition:

 Example of Lowenstein-Jensen medium

 Differential media – allow the growth of

several types of microorganism that
 Selective media – contains one or more demonstrate morphologic variations in
substances that encourage the growth of colony morphology.
only a specific target microorganism.  Ex. MacConkey’s agar, Triple Sugar Iron
 Thayer-Martin agar – contain the agar.
antibiotics trimethoprim, nystatin,  Transport media – used for clinical
vancomycin, and colistin. Used for the specimens that need to be transported to
isolation of Neisseria the lab immediately after collection.
 Mannitol Salt agar – contain 10% NaCl  Ex. Cary Blair medium (to transport feces of
used for isolation of Staphylococcus suspected cholera patients) or Pike’s
aureus. medium (used to transport throat
Example of Mannitol Salt agar specimens of patients with streptococcal
infection)

Example of Thayer Martin agar

 Anaerobic media – specifically for
organisms that cannot survive in the
presence of oxygen and require oxidation-
reduction potential and other nutrients.
They are supplemented with vitamin K and
hemin.

 MacConkey’s agar – promotes the growth

of gm-negative bacteria, primarily those
from Enterobacteriaceae, and inhibits the
growth of gm-positive bacteria through the
addition of bile salts. It is both selective and
differential.
 Lowenstein-Jensen medium – used to
recover Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is
made selective by the addition of Malachite
green
 Saboraud’s dextrose agar – used for
isolation of fungi.