MEDICAL

MICROBIOLOGY I

DR. KELI, MBChB.

 SCOPE
• Basic principles of medical microbiology
• Pathogenicity of microorganisms
• Host defense mechanisms
• Immunology and disease processes
• Bacterial anatomy, physiology, genetics and their pathogenic disease
processes
 INTRODUCTION
• What is microbiology? - Micro (very small) -anything so small that it
must be viewed with a microscope (an optical instrument used to
observe small objects).
• Bios refers to living organisms, Logy means the study of.
• Therefore, microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms.
• There are four kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease:
bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, and one type of infectious
protein called prion.
• Medical microbiology is a branch of medical science concerned with
the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
Medically important organisms.
Prokaryocytes vs eukaryotic organisms
• The eukaryotic cell has a true
nucleus with multiple
chromosomes surrounded by a
nuclear membrane and uses a
mitotic apparatus to ensure equal
allocation of the chromosomes to
progeny cells.
• The nucleoid of a prokaryotic cell
consists of a single circular
molecule of loosely organized DNA,
lacking a nuclear membrane and
mitotic apparatus.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Pathogens - disease causing microorganisms.
• Pathogenesis - This is the mode of infection by a pathogen.
• Pathogenicity - The ability of any bacterial species to cause disease in a susceptible
human host.
• Virulence - is a quantitative measure of pathogenicity and is measured by the number
of organisms required to cause disease.
• Infection - the process of microbial invasion of body tissues.
• Normal Flora - organisms that make home in some parts of the body and they rarely
cause diseases.
• Parasites – organisms, plants or animals living on or in another organism for its
nourishment, shelter, transport and reproduction purposes. They can be harmful or not.
• Commensals - organisms living on another living organism and do not cause a disease at
a particular site but should it change that site, it may be harmful and cause a disease
(opportunistic infections).
DEFINITION OF TERMS cont’d
• Epidemiology - This is the study of the spread, distribution, prevalence and control of a
disease in the community.
• Communicable infections - are spread from host to host, e.g. TB.
• Nosocomial infections - infection(s) acquired during the process of receiving health care
• Sporadic Disease - These are diseases that break out only occasionally.
• Endemic - This is a constant presence of a disease or agent of a disease in a community
or in a region. E.g. malaria in Nyanza
• Epidemic - the acute outbreak of a disease in a community or region. E.g. Ebola in west
Africa. Many endemic diseases can rapidly become epidemic if environmental or host
influences change in a way which favors transmission.
• Pandemic - disease with a worldwide distribution and affects a large number of people
e.g. Covid 19
Why study microbiology?
• Microorganisms play very important roles in our lives.
1. The indigenous microflora inhibit/reduce the growth of
pathogens in those areas of the body where they live by
occupying space, depleting the food supply, and secreting
materials (waste products, toxins, antibiotics) etc.
2. Opportunistic pathogens have the potential to cause
infections if they gain access to a part of our anatomy
where they do not belong or when a person is
immunosuppressed.
 Why study microbiology cont’d?
3. Photosynthetic bacteria (Such organisms include algae and cyanobacteria)
contribute oxygen to our atmosphere thr’ photosynthesis and are thus
essential for life on this planet.

4. Many microorganisms are involved in the decomposition of dead organisms

and waste products of living organisms. Collectively they are called
decomposers or saprophytes. A saprophyte is an organism that lives on dead
and or decaying organic matter.

5. Microorganisms are involved in breaking down dead organic materials into

inorganic nutrients (e.g. nitrates and phosphates). This is important to
farmers.
Why study microbiology cont’d?
6. Microorganisms serve as important links in food chains. e.g Algae and
Bacteria serve as food for tiny animals, larger animals eat small creatures and
so on.

7. Some microorganisms which live in the intestinal tracts of animals’ aid in

the digestion of food and, in some cases, produce substances that are of value
to the host animal. E.g E.coli produces vitamins K and B1 which are used and
absorbed by human body.

8. Certain bacteria and fungi produce antibiotics that are used to treat
patients with infectious diseases.
 Why study microbiology cont’d?
9. Microbes are essential in the field of genetic engineering. Bacteria
and yeast have been engineered to produce a variety of substances,
such as insulin, various types of growth hormone, interferons, and
materials for use as vaccines.

10. Microorganisms cause diseases. The diseases are of two categories,

infectious diseases i.e. when a pathogen colonizes the body and
subsequently causes disease and microbial intoxications which result
when a person ingests a toxin (poisonous substance) that has been
produced by a microorganism.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• The science of medical microbiology dates back to the pioneering
studies of Pasteur and Koch, who isolated specific agents and proved
that they could cause disease by introducing the experimental
method.
• The methods they developed lead to the first golden age of
microbiology (1875-1910), when many bacterial diseases and the
organisms responsible for them were defined.
Pioneers in the science of
microbiology
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723).
• Dutch businessman and self taught scientist.
• He was the first person to observe bacteria and protozoa thus he is
referred to as the father of microbiology.
• Led pioneering work in microscopy.
• As a hobby, he ground tiny glass lenses, which he mounted in small
metal frames, thus creating what today is known as Single lens
microscopes or simple microscope.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek cont’d
• Using his self made single lensed microscopes, and out of
curiosity, he’d examine different specimen, observing a
variety of tiny living creatures which he called animalcules.
• He recorded his observations in letters sent out to scientific
institutions, convincing scientists of the late 17th century of
the existence of microorganisms.
• Contributed to cell theory in 1670 by maximizing the
magnification of the microscope lens to observed single-
celled organisms.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895).

• Louis Pasteur is a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his

discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation
and pasteurization.
• One of the Founders of modern of bacteriology
• While attempting to discover why wine becomes contaminated with
undesirable substances, Pasteur discovered that different types of
microorganisms produce different fermentation products;
• e.g. yeast convert glucose in grapes into ethyl alcohol( ethanol),
acetobacter convert glucose to acetic acid (vinegar) by fermentation.
 Louis Pasteur cont’d
• Pasteur discovered forms of life that could exist in the absence of oxygen. He
introduced the term aerobes (organisms that require oxygen to live) and
anaerobes (organisms that do not require oxygen for life).
• He developed the process of pasteurization (heat treatment process to kill
microorganisms).
• Pasteur made significant contribution to the germ theory of disease, the
theory that specific microorganisms cause specific infectious disease.
• Pasteur championed changes in hospital practices to minimize spread of
disease by pathogens. e.g. aseptic technique and sterilization.
• Pasteur developed vaccines to prevent chicken pox, anthrax*, and swine
erysipelas (a skin disease).
Robert Koch (1843-1910).

• Robert Koch a German physician and microbiologist.

• He developed method of fixing, staining, and photographing bacteria
as well as methods of cultivating bacteria on a solid media (agar).
• Koch discovered the bacteria that cause cholera (vibrio cholerae) and
tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).
• 1890, he came up with Tuberculin skin test
Robert Koch cont’d

• His methods in bacteriology led to establishment of a medical

concept referred to as ‘Koch’s postulates’ - medical principles to
ascertain the relationship of pathogens with specific diseases.
• He made significant contributions to the germ theory of disease. e.g
he proved that anthrax bacillus (bacillus anthracis) was truly the cause
of anthrax.
Koch’s postulates
4 criteria:
• Microorganism must be present in all cases of disease and must not be present in
a healthy animal.
• Microorganisms must be isolated from the diseased animals and grown in pure
culture.
• Microorganism in this pure culture must cause the same disease when inoculated
in healthy animal.
• The experimentally infected animals must contain microorganism which must be
recovered again in pure culture.
EDWARD JENNER (1749-1823)
• A rural doctor who, in 1796, used cowpox virus to vaccinate people suffering from
small pox and thus discovered the smallpox vaccine.

EMIL Von BEHRING (1854 - 1917)

• Discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin. He was widely known as a "savior of
children,".
• Tetanus antitoxin in 1891
IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS
• Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of
antiseptic procedures.
• Showed that puerperal sepsis was caused by infected agents in the
mother or hands of midwives and doctors thus emphasized on washing
hands before delivery: founder of disinfection.

JOSEPH LISTER
• Pioneer of antiseptic surgery. Showed that there were fewer infections
if instruments were boiled and disinfected.
JOHN TYNDAL-1820-1893
• He continued with the work of Pasteur
• He discovered that bacteria endospores are extremely heat resistant.
• When spores are exposed to heat briefly, they germinate into
vegetative forms of bacteria, but subsequent boiling killed the newly
formed vegetative form of bacteria.
• He devised Tyndallization, also called fractional sterilization and
discontinuous heating - a form of sterilization that involves boiling the
foods/solutions to be sterilized in their cans or jars at 100 °C for about 15 to
20 minutes a day, for three days in a row with intermittent with incubation at
37 °C.
Applications of medical microbiology
• Helps in the identification, isolation, diagnosis and treatment of
pathogenic microorganisms.
• Production of antibiotics e.g. penicillin from penicillum by Alexander
Fleming.
• Production of vaccines, pharmaceutical products etc.
• Sterilization of instruments.
• Research e.g. effectiveness of certain antimicrobial drugs.
• Public Health - combating infectious disease and promoting health.
• What are the recent discoveries in microbiology?
• Questions?

• Clarification?
 REFERENCES
• Sherri’s Medical Microbiology 7th edition
• Jawetz, Melnick & Adelberg's Medical Microbiology. New York;
London: McGraw-Hill 24th edition
THANK YOU!