GAMBIA COLLEGE
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduction to medical
microbiology
LECTURE 1
INTRODUCTION
Sambou L.S. Kinteh
HND, BSc, FETP
TA: Modou Badjan
HND
Microbiology - An Introduction 10th edition by Tortora, Funke and Case
The Microbial World and You
Objectives
– List some ways in which microbes affect your live
– Use scientific nomenclature : Genus and a specific epithet.
– List the three domains.
– Explain the importance of observations made by van Leeuwenhoek.
– Compare spontaneous generation and biogenesis. Describe experiments that
helped to prove biogenesis.
– Highlight the major achievements of Pasteur and Koch.
– Identify the important work of Semmelweis and Lister.
– Identify the contributions to microbiology made by Jenner, Ehrlich and Fleming.
– Define bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, immunology, and virology.
– Explain the importance of recombinant DNA technology.
– List two examples of biotechnology that use recombinant DNA .
– Define normal microbiota and resistance.
– Define and describe several infectious diseases.
Introduction
• Microbiology
• Micro = too small to be seen with the naked eye
• Bio = life
• Logy = study of
Micro biota & Man
3 Types of Relationship
1. Symbiotic Relationship – beneficial to one, the
other is not affected.
2. Mutualism – beneficial to both. E.g. Normal
flora and man.
3. Parasitic – beneficial to parasite, harmful to
host.
Classification of Microorganisms
• Phenotype: Physical appearance
• Genotype: Genes
Development of molecular techniques has made
this possible
Microbes help us by
• decomposing organic waste
• performing photosynthesis
• producing ethanol, acetone, vinegar, cheese,
bread, . . .
• producing insulin and many other drugs
• ...
Microbes harm us by
•
•
Naming and Classifying
Microorganisms
• Carolus Linnaeus established
the system of scientific
nomenclature in 1739.
• Each organism has two names Binomial
nomenclature: Genus + specific epithet (species)
• Italicized (or underlined), genus capitalized,
“latinized”, used worldwide.
• May be descriptive or honor a scientist.
Examples
• Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)
• Escherichia coli (E. coli) 1857 –1911
• Streptococcus pneumoniae
(S. pneumoniae)
Types of Microorganisms
• Bacteria
• Archaea
• Fungi
• Protozoa
• Algae
• Viruses
• Multicellular animal parasites
• Prions
Bacterium / Bacteria
• Prokaryotic
• Peptidoglycan cell wall
• Reproduction by binary fission
Gain energy from
use of
• organic chemicals
• inorganic chemicals or
• photosynthesis
Archaea
• Prokaryotic
• No peptidoglycan
• Live in extreme
environments
• Include
– Methanogens
– Extreme halophiles
– Extreme thermophiles
Fungus/Fungi
• Eukaryotic
• Chitin cell walls
• Use organic chemicals for energy.
• Molds and mushrooms are multicellular
consisting of masses of mycelia, which are
composed of filaments called hyphae.
• Yeasts are unicellular.
Protozoan
/ Protozoa
• Eukaryotes
• Absorb or ingest organic chemicals
• May be motile via pseudopods, cilia,
or flagella
Viruses
• Are acellular
• Have either DNA or
RNA in core
• Core is surrounded
by a protein coat.
• Coat may be enclosed in a lipid envelope.
• Viruses only replicate within a living host
cell.
Multicellular
Animal Parasites
• Eukaryotes
• Multicellular animals
• Helminths are
parasitic flatworms
and round worms
• Microscopic
stages in life cycles
Three Domain Classification
• Bacteria
• Archaea
• Eukarya
– Protista
– Fungi
– Plants
– Animals
Microbiology History
The Beginnings
• Ancestors of bacteria
were the first life on
Earth
• 1665: Cell theory –
Robert Hooke
1673: First
microbes observed – Anton van
Leeuwenhoek
The Transition Period: Debate over
Spontaneous Generation
• 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 preexisting life
1668:Francesco Redi
• the beginnings of experimental
science
• filled 6 jars with decaying meat
Conditions 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?
1745: John Needham
• Objections
• Put boiled nutrient broth into covered
flasks
Conditions Results
Nutrient broth heated, then Microbial growth
placed in sealed flask
From where did the microbes come?
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?
1765: Lazzaro Spallanzani
• boiled nutrient solutions in flasks
Conditions Results
Nutrient broth placed in No microbial growth
flask, heated, then sealed
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?
1861: Louis Pasteur
• demonstrated that microorganisms are
present in the air
Conditions Results
Nutrient broth placed in Microbial growth
flask, heated, not sealed
Nutrient broth placed in No microbial growth
flask, heated, then sealed
Spontaneous generation or biogenesis?
Confirmation of Biogenesis
Pasteur’s S-shaped (swan-neck ) flask kept
microbes out but let air in
The Golden Age of
Microbiology(1857-1914)
Microbiology established
as a science
Louis Pasteur
Spontaneous generation disproved
Wine fermentation (yeasts and bacteria)
Pasteurization
Pre-Pasteur:
• Ignaz Semmelweis (1840s) –
hand disinfection and
puerperal fever
Based on Pateur’s
and Semmelweis’
findings: Joseph
Lister (1860s) –
antiseptic
surgery (phenol)
Robert Koch
• Work on anthrax proves the
germ theory of disease
• Procedures become Koch's
postulates
• Development of pure culture
technique
Nobel Prize in 1905 Nobelprize.org
Before the Golden Age Period: The Birth of
Vaccination
• Jenner and smallpox
vaccination (1796)
~ 100 years later: Pasteur shows how
vaccinations work. (Creation of
avirulent strains of bacteria during
extended laboratory cultivation)
The Birth of Modern Chemotherapy
• 1910: Paul Ehrlich developed a synthetic
arsenic drug, salvarsan, to treat syphilis
• 1930s: Synthesis of
sulfonamides
• 1928: Alexander Fleming
and the discovery of the
first antibiotic
Penicillin purification and clinical trials not until 1940s
Modern Developments in
Microbiology
• Bacteriology – Mycology – Parasitology
– Virology – Immunology
• Microbial genetics and molecular
biology lead to Recombinant DNA
Technology (genetic engineering).
Prokaryotic model system: E. coli
Selected Nobel Prizes for Microbiology
Research
• 1901 von Behring Diphtheria antitoxin
• 1902 Ross Malaria
transmission
• 1905 Koch TB bacterium
• 1908 Metchnikoff Phagocytes
• 1945 Fleming, Chain, Florey Penicillin
• 1952 Waksman Streptomycin
• 1969 Delbrück, Hershey, Luria Viral replication
• 1987 Tonegawa Antibody
genetics
• 1997 Prusiner Prions
• 2005 Marshall & Warren H. pylori &
Microbes and Human Disease –
Again many Challenges –
• Normal microbiota (flora) in and on the human
body
• Pathogens overcome the host’s resistance
infectious disease
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Bioterrorism
• (Re-)emerging infectious diseases (EID): WNE,
avian influenza, SARS, HIV/AIDS . . .
West Nile Encephalitis
Caused by West Nile virus
First diagnosed in the West Nile region of Uganda
in 1937
Appeared in New York City in 1999
Avian influenza A
• Influenza A virus (H5N1)
• Primarily in waterfowl and poultry
• Sustained human-to-human transmission has not
occurred yet
MRSA
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
• 1950s: Penicillin resistance developed
• 1980s: Methicillin resistance
• 1990s: MRSA resistance to vancomycin reported
– VISA: Vancomycin-intermediate-resistant S. aureus
– VRSA: Vancomycin-resistant S. aureus
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Caused by a prion
Also causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). New
variant CJD in humans is related to beef consumption
Escherichia coli O157:H7
• Toxin-producing
strain of E. coli
• First seen in 1982
• Leading cause of
diarrhea
worldwide
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
• Caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• First identified in 1981
• Worldwide epidemic infecting 30 million people;
14,000 new infections every day
• Sexually transmitted infection affecting males
and females
• HIV/AIDS in the U.S.: 30% are female, and 75%
are African American
