Medical Microbiology

Miss Sanyia khan

BSN & Post RN Programme
What is Microbiology?

 They study of microbes or microorganisms

 Microbes, or microorganisms are minute living things that are

usually unable to be viewed with the naked eye.
What is Microbiology?

What are some of examples of

microbes?
 Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae, viruses, and some are
parasites (helminths)

 Some are pathogenic

What is Microbiology?

Microbres
 When you hear the word bacteria, what comes to your mind?

 Not all bacteria cause disease

 Most bacterial species cannot cause disease

Figure 1. Gram stain of a species of Micrococcus, commonly

isolated from the skin and nasal membranes of humans. Figures
from: http://textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora.html
What is Microbiology?

Microbes
 Can microorganisms be good for us, beneficial? Explain your
answer
 Many species play beneficial roles

 Production of antibiotics and foodstuffs

 Decompose organic waste

 Produce industrial chemicals such as ethyl alcohol and acetone

 Produce fermented foods such as vinegar, cheese, and bread

Ancient Microbiological History
 The Romans were a hygienic bunch and were concerned with
health and cleanliness (waste and sewage).

 The Romans invented the first underground sewage system

Ancient Microbiological History
 The Romans understood that sewage could cause disease therefore
decided to build an underground sewage system which is an idea we
still use today.

 A network of pipes brought clean water into the city of Rome and removed waste.

 Waste flushed from the latrines flowed through a central channel into the main
sewage system and thence into a nearby river or stream.

 The public bath houses was the place where people went to socialize
and do business as well as getting clean.
History of Microbiology?
 Discovering organisms
 First microbes were observed in 1673
 Robert Hooke- In 1665 reported that living things were composed of
little boxes or cells
 devised the compound microscope and illumination system

 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek- (1673-1723)

 He is considered the father of bacteriology

 Made simple microscopes and began observing with them (1674)
 Discovered bacteria (he called them animalcules)
 Leeuwenhoek's microscope consisted simply of:

 A) a screw for adjusting the height of the object being

examined
 B) a metal plate serving as the body
 C) a skewer to impale the object and rotate it
 D) the lens itself, which was spherical
History of Microbiology: The
Theories
 Spontaneous Generation

 Many believed in spontaneous generation:

 Aristotle synthesized the hypothesis which stated that some vital

force contained in given organic matter can create living
organisms from inanimate objects.

 In basic terms spontaneous generation stated that living

organisms arise from non living matter.
History of Microbiology: The Theories

Spontaneous Generation
 Spontaneous generation was disproved in 1668 by Italian Scientist, Francesco
Redi.

 What are the steps to the scientific method?

 If your were Francesco Redi, what experimental design would you create to
disprove spontaneous generation?

Redi’s Experiment:

 Redi’s question: Where do maggots come from?

 Hypothesized: Redi suspected that flies landing on the meat laid eggs that eventually
grew into maggots

 Experiment: Placed meat in three separate jars

History of Microbiology: The Theories

Disproving Spontaneous Generation:

Redi’s Experiment

Jar #1 Jar #2 Jar #3

• Left open • Covered with netting • Sealed
• Maggots developed • Maggots appeared on • No maggots
• Flies were observed the netting developed
laying eggs on the • Flies were observed
meat in the open jar laying eggs on the
netting
History of Microbiology: The Theories
 The Question: What causes tiny living things to appear in decaying broth?

Spontaneous Generation
 John Needham- revived the theory of spontaneous
generation in 1745

 Needham theorized that if he took chicken broth and heated

it, all living things in it would die.

 After heating some broth, he let a flask cool and sit at a

constant temperature. The development of a thick turbid
solution of microorganisms in the flask was strong proof to
Needham of the existence of spontaneous generation.
History of Microbiology: The Theories

Spontaneous Generation
The Question: What causes tiny living things to appear in
decaying broth?

 Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799)

 In 1776 he demonstrated that microorganisms were already in
the solution, the container, or the air

 He took solutions which he knew would "breed" organisms and

boiled them for up to an hour. The flasks were hermetically
sealed to keep out contaminated air.
History of Microbiology: The Theories

Biogenesis
 In 1858 German scientist, Rudolf Virchow challenged
spontaneous generation with his concept of biogenesis
 Living organisms arise from pre-existing life

 Virchow presented his idea to the scientific community, but could

not back it up with a convincing experiment
History of Microbiology: The Theories

Settlement of Spontaneous Generation

 In 1861, a French scientist by the name of Louis Pasteur
demonstrated where microorganisms came from

 Father of Medical Microbiology

 Demonstrated the microorganisms exist in the air and could

contaminate sterile solutions by passing air through cotton filters

 The filter trapped tiny particles floating in the air

http://www.microbiologytext.com/index.php?module=Book&func=displayarticle&art_id=27
History of Microbiology: The Theories French
chemist Louis
Pasteur’s
design of this

Louis Pasteur’s Swan neck flask

experiment settled the
argument.

experiment

http://www.microbiologytext.com/index.php?module=Book&func=displayarticle&art_id=27
History of Microbiology: The Theories

Louis Pasteur’s experiments

 Louis Pasteur performed numerous experiments to
discover why wine and dairy products became sour
 He found that bacteria were to blame (lactic acid fermentation)

 Pasteur called attention to the importance of microorganisms

in everyday life and stirred scientists to think that if bacteria
could make the wine “sick,” then perhaps they could cause
human illness.
 Golden Age of Microbiology
1857- 1914
 Beginning with Pasteur’s work, discoveries included the
relationship between microbes and disease, immunity and
antimicrobial medicine

 Germ Theory of Disease

 Germ theory states that specific microscopic organisms are the cause of
specific diseases.
Pasteur and The Germ Theory of
Disease
 Pasteur showed that microbes are responsible
for fermentation

 Microbial growth is also responsible for spoilage

of food

 Pasteur demonstrated that spoilage bacteria

could be killed with heat (pasteurization)

 Discovered that weak forms of disease could be

used as an immunization against stronger forms
and that rabies was transmitted by viruses too
small to be seen under the microscopes of the
Germ Theory of Disease

1835: Agostino Bassi- showed a

silkworm diseases was caused by a
fungus

1865: Pasteur- believed that another

silkworm disease was caused by a
protozoan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSLCkT2ttXQ
1840s: Ignaz Semmelwise- advocated
 https://www.jobz.pk/latest-
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Theory of Disease
 1860s: Joseph Lister- He is the father of antiseptic
surgery.

 He used a chemical disinfectant (carbolic acid) to prevent

surgical wound infections after reading Pasteur’s work showing
microbes are in the air, can spoil food, and cause animal
disease.
The Germ Theory of Disease:
Robert Koch

 1867: Robert Koch- provided proof that bacterium causes

anthrax and provided the experimental steps, Koch’s
postulates, used to prove that a specific microbe causes a
specific disease.
Germ Theory of Disease

Koch’s Postulates
 Pathogen must be
present in all cases of
disease
 Pathogen must be
isolated and grown in lab
in pure culture
 Pathogen from pure
cultures must cause
disease when inoculated
into healthy, susceptible
lab animal
 Same pathogen must be
isolated from the
diseased lab animal
Immunology: History of Vaccination
 A precursor of smallpox vaccination was variolation
(The Germ Theory of Disease was not known at this time)

 An early Asian method which introduced dried scabs of

smallpox patients and was later modified in Europe

 Modification consisted of injecting infectious material under the skin

 First tested among abandoned children and prisoners

 When it was declared safe, members of the English royal family were
inoculated
Smallpox vaccine
 1796: Edward Jenner is credited with the development
of the smallpox vaccine
 Folk wisdom suggested that dairy maids who had
contracted cowpox seemed to be immune to smallpox
 Infection with the cowpox virus produced a much less
severe form of disease than smallpox
Smallpox Vaccine:
 Jenner conducted an
experiment in which he used
scabs from the cowpox lesions
on the arm of a dairy maid,
Sarah Nelmes to create a
small pox vaccine
 He then used the material to
vaccinate an 8 year old boy,
James Phipps

 After being vaccinated Phipps

appeared to develop immunity to
the smallpox virus.
Smallpox vaccine continued
 Later Jenner vaccinated his own son and several other
children
 He obtained similar results

 Worldwide elimination of smallpox was achieved in 1978

 Called vaccination from vacca for cow

 The protection is called immunity

 Discovery of Penicillin
 1928: Alexander Fleming
discovered the first antibiotic.

 He observed that Penicillium

fungus made an antibiotic,
penicillin, that killed S. aureus.

 1940s: Penicillin was tested

clinically and mass produced and
was available towards the end of
World War II
Thankyou 
How pencilline was
discovered?,🤗😺
An uncovered petri dish
became contaminated with
mold.FlEMING observed that
becteria near the mold were
dying.He identifiedthe mold ,