MICROBIOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY (LEC)

WEEK 1
Reviewer

Ancient Idea of Microorganisms:

 One of the oldest explanations to the question where does living organisms come from was the
theory of SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, which can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and
was widely accepted through the Middle Ages.
 The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the earliest recorded scholars to
articulate the theory of spontaneous generation, the notion that life can arise from nonliving
matter. Aristotle proposed that life arose from nonliving material if the material contained
pneuma (“vital heat”).

Debunking of Spontaneous Generation

Even before the invention of the microscope, some doctors, philosophers, and scientists made great
strides in understanding the invisible forces—what we now know as microbes—that can cause infection,
disease, and death.
 The Greek physician Hippocrates (460–370 BC) is considered the “father of Western medicine”.
Unlike many of his ancestors and contemporaries, he dismissed the idea that disease was caused
by supernatural forces. Instead, he posited that diseases had natural causes from within patients or
their environments. Hippocrates and his heirs are believed to have written the Hippocratic
Corpus, a collection of texts that make up some of the oldest surviving medical books.
Hippocrates is also often credited as the author of the Hippocratic Oath, taken by new physicians
to pledge their dedication to diagnosing and treating patients without causing harm.
 The Greek philosopher and historian Thucydides (460–395 BC) is considered the father of
scientific history because he advocated for evidence-based analysis of cause-and-effect reasoning.
Among his most important contributions are his observations regarding the Athenian plague that
killed one-third of the population of Athens between 430 and 410 BC. Having survived the
epidemic himself, Thucydides made the important observation that survivors did not get re-
infected with the disease, even when taking care of actively sick people. This observation shows
an early understanding of the concept of immunity.
 Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a prolific Roman writer who was one of the first
people to propose the concept that things we cannot see (what we now call microorganisms) can
cause disease. In Res Rusticae (On Farming), published in 36 BC, he said that “precautions must
also be taken in neighborhood swamps because certain minute creatures [animalia minuta] grow
there which cannot be seen by the eye, which float in the air and enter the body through the
mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases.”

 Experimentation by Francesco Redi

(1626–1697) in the seventeenth
century presented the first significant
evidence refuting spontaneous
generation by showing that flies must
have access to meat for maggots to
develop on the meat.
Definition of Microbiology
 Microorganisms (AKA: Microbes,
germs) are living things that are too small to be seen by the unaided eye. It wasn’t until the
invention of the microscope that their existence was definitively confirmed.
 Biology is the study of living things. Viruses are included because they are alive when inside the
host cell.
  Microbiology: The study of microorganisms. The development of microbiology as a science
allowed man to control harmful microbes and use others for his benefit.

Microorganisms are the Foundation for All Life on Earth

 Life on Earth started with early microorganisms
 The activities of microorganisms are responsible for the survival of all other organisms: a.)
Nitrogen, b.) Oxygen, and c.)Molecular breakdown (putrefaction)

Brief History

Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek discovered microorganisms. A merchant who had optics for a
hobby. He was able to view small objects with the lens he developed. He reported what he
1674
observed as “animacules” to the Royal Academy of Science. Unfortunately, he did not
share his secret technique of lens making.

John Jenner created a vaccine for smallpox. On May 14, 1796, Jenner took fluid from a
cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. A
1796 single blister rose up on the spot, but James soon recovered. On July 1, Jenner inoculated the
boy again, this time with smallpox matter, and no disease developed. The vaccine was a
success.

Ignatz Semmelweiss (Father of Infection Control) pioneered hand washing. He discovered

1847 the wonders of the now-basic hygienic practice as a way to stop the spread of infection in
1847, during an experiment in a Vienna hospital’s maternity ward.

Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, disproved spontaneous generation of microorganisms

(Germ Theory). He showed that individual microbial strains had unique properties and
1859 demonstrated that fermentation is caused by microorganisms. He also invented
pasteurization, a process used to kill microorganisms responsible for spoilage, and
developed vaccines for the treatment of diseases, including rabies, in animals and humans

Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic techniques. He promoted the idea of sterile surgery while
1865 working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He successfully introduced carbolic acid (now
known as phenol) to sterilize surgical instruments and to clean wounds.

Robert Koch, a German physician, proved that specific microbes cause specific disease
(Koch’s Postulate). He was the first to demonstrate the connection between a single, isolated
1876 microbe and a known human disease. For example, he discovered the bacteria that cause
anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), cholera (Vibrio cholera), and tuberculosis (Mycobacterium
tuberculosis).

Dmitri Iwanoski discovered Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Ivanoski reported in 1892 that extracts
from infected leaves were still infectious after filtration through a Chamberland filter-
1892
candle. Bacteria are retained by such filters, a new world was discovered: filterable
pathogens.
 Paul Ehrlich articulated the principle of selective toxicity. Ehrlich noted that certain dyes
would color human, animal, or bacterial cells, while others did not. He then proposed the
1894
idea that it might be possible to create chemicals that would act as a selective drug that
would bind to and kill bacteria without harming the human host.

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. While studying influenza, Fleming noticed that
mould had developed accidentally on a set of culture dishes being used to grow the
1929
staphylococci germ. The mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. Fleming
experimented further and named the active substance penicillin.

Griffith discovers genetic transformation in bacteria. It was one of the first experiments
showing that bacteria can get DNA through a process called transformation. In this
1928
experiment, bacteria from the III-S strain were killed by heat, and their remains were added
to II-R strain bacteria.

Avery, McLeod, and McCarty demonstrated DNA. Avery and McCarty observed that
proteases - enzymes that degrade proteins - did not destroy the transforming principle. They
1944
also found that the transforming principle had a high molecular weight. They had isolated
DNA. This was the agent that could produce an enduring, heritable change in an organism.

Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins determined DNA structure. Created by Rosalind
Franklin using a technique called X-ray crystallography, it revealed the helical shape of the
1953
DNA molecule. Watson and Crick realized that DNA was made up of two chains of
nucleotide pairs that encode the genetic information for all living things.

Diener demonstrated the fundamental difference between viroids and viruses. Viroids are
free RNA molecules of low molecular weight without any protein coat while viruses can
1971
have either RNA or DNA molecules encapsulated in a protein coat. Viroids are smaller in
size than the viruses. Viroids infect only plants whereas virus infects all types of organisms.

Boyer and Cohen cloned DNA. They demonstrated that the gene for frog ribosomal RNA
1973 could be transferred into bacterial cells and expressed by them. The restriction enzyme
EcoRI was used to cut the frog DNA into small segments.

Woese, et al. classified all organisms into three domains. This classification system divides
1977 the life based on the differences in the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) structure and as well as
the cell's membrane lipid structure and its sensitivity to antibiotics.

WHO declared eradication of smallpox in the world – the only infectious disease to achieve
1980
this distinction.

 Prusiner discovered the prion, a class of infectious self-reproducing pathogens primarily

or solely composed of protein.
1982
 Marshall discovered H. pylori. H. pylori or Helicobacter pylori is the cause of Peptic
Ulcer.
 1983 Montagnier and Gallo isolated and described HIV.

2001 Bioterrorism was waged in US.

Brief History of Pandemics

541–549: Plague of Justinian
 The Plague of Justinian or Justinianic Plague (541–549 AD) was the beginning of the first plague
pandemic, the first Old World pandemic of plague, the contagious disease caused by the
bacterium Yersinia pestis.
 The disease afflicted the entire Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Near East, severely
affecting the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire and especially its capital,
Constantinople.
 The plague is named for the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople, Justinian I

1346–1353: Black Death

 (Also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic
occurring in Afro-Eurasia
 It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million
people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.

1918 influenza pandemic – also known as The Spanish flu

 Influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus.
 Lasting from February 1918 to April 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the
world's population at the time – in four successive waves.
 The death toll is typically estimated to have been somewhere between 20 million and 50 million,
although estimates range from a conservative 17 million to a possible high of 100 million,
making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history

1981–present: HIV/AIDS pandemic

 HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has become one of the world’s most serious health and
development challenges since the first cases were reported in 1981.
 Approximately 76 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.
 Today, there are approximately 38 million people currently living with HIV, and tens of millions
of people have died of AIDS-related causes since the beginning of the epidemic.

2019–present: COVID-19 pandemic

 Coronavirus Pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
 It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization
declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020,
and later a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

MICROBIOLOGY IN 21ST CENTURY

Fields of Microbiology
 Medical /
 Clinical  Sanitation
 Parasitological  Industrial
  Environmental  Paleomicrobiology
 Genetics  Agricultural
 Physiological  Veterinary

Significance in Nursing
 All surfaces of the human body are populated with microorganisms. 10X the number of body
cells.
 Knowledge of microbiology helps a nurse in every field of health care.
 Nurses should have known about the mode of spread of infection. This knowledge would help a
nurse to look for specific control of the spread of infection.
 Knowledge of medical microbiology would help them to understand the difference between the
causative organism of disease and patient’s normal flora.
 A nurse must know procedures used to create and maintain a sterile field in the hospitals based on
the knowledge of microbiology.
 The principles of asepsis are also based on microbiology.
 The proper disposal of biomedical waste is equally important, and knowledge of microbiology
helps in this field also.
 The nurse must recognize the importance of the proper collection of specimens to be sent for
bacteriological examination to obtain accurate results.
 One of the most important things is hand washing which helps in reducing surgical infections and
transmission of diseases in hospitals.
 Nurses also play an important role in immunization to control threats of various diseases.
 She/he follows not only aseptic techniques but also uses sterile equipment while looking after
such patients.
 It is the duty of a nurse to ensure that the atmosphere of the operation theatre is free of
microorganisms.
 The nurse can play a role while the female needs antenatal care, help during delivery or after
giving birth for six weeks called as puerperium.
 A nurse must have sound knowledge of the sterilization methods and controls of sterilization so
that good quality could be maintained while providing nursing care.

Clinic Focus:
 A patient has recently been experiencing severe headaches, a high fever, and a stiff neck. Patient
also seems confused at times and unusually drowsy. Based on these symptoms, the doctor
suspects that the patient may have meningitis, a potentially life-threatening infection of the tissue
that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
 Meningitis has several potential causes. It can be brought on by bacteria, fungi, viruses, or even a
reaction to medication or exposure to heavy metals.
 The doctor orders a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to take three samples of cerebrospinal fluid
(CSF) from around the spinal cord. The samples will be sent to laboratories in three different
departments for testing: clinical chemistry, microbiology, and hematology. The samples will first
be visually examined to determine whether the CSF is abnormally colored or cloudy; then the
CSF will be examined under a microscope to see if it contains a normal number of red and white
blood cells and to check for any abnormal cell types.
 In the microbiology lab, the specimen will be centrifuged to concentrate any cells in sediment;
this sediment will be smeared on a slide and stained with a Gram stain. Gram staining is a
procedure used to differentiate between two different types of bacteria (gram-positive and gram-
negative).
 The Gram stain did not show any bacteria, but the doctor decides to prescribe her antibiotics just
in case. Part of the CSF sample will be cultured—put in special dishes to see if bacteria or fungi
will grow. It takes some time for most microorganisms to reproduce in sufficient quantities to be
detected and analyzed.