Introduction to Microbiology

Prasil Pradhan
Objectives :

• Differentiate between prokaryotes and

eukaryotes.
• Describe the categories of microorganism.
 What do you mean by Microbiology?

• Study of living organisms that are not directly

visible to naked eye but only under the
microscope
– Bacteria
– Virus
– Fungi
– Protozoa
Prokaryotes
• Unicellular
• No membrane bound
nucleus
• No cell organelles
• Divided into :
– Bacteria
– Archaea
• Reproduce by binary
fission
Eukaryotes
• Nucleus present
• Membrane bound
organelles
• Includes :
– Plant
– Animal
– Protists : algae,
protozoa, fungi and
slime molds
 What is Medical Microbiology ?

• Study that deals with causative agents of

infectious diseases, their pathogenesis,
diagnosis and treatment
– Bacteriology
– Virology
– Parasitology
– Mycology
– Immunology
Bacteria
• Single celled organism
• Ubiquitous in every habitat
• 10 times more bacteria in human body than
human cells
• Few species are pathogenic and cause
infectious diseases
Virus

• Obligate intracellular
parasite
• Infects all cells including
microbial cells
• Contains nucleic acid
enclosed in a protein
coat-capsid
Fungi
• Non-photosynthetic
• Grows as mass of branching
intercalating filaments
known as a mycelium
• Exists in two morphological
forms:
– Yeast
– Mold
Protozoa

• Unicellular nonphotosynthetic
– Flagellelates
– Amoeboid
– Sporozoans
– Ciliates
• Causes-malaria, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis,
giardiasis, amoebiasis etc.
Prions

• Proteinaceous infectious particles

• PrPc  PrPsc
Diseases:
• Kuru
• Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease
Historical perspective
• Antony Van Leeuwenhoek
• Ducthmerchant (1683)
• 1stperson to observe and
describe bacteria.
• “Animalcules”
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
• French chemist
• Father of modern microbiology
• Disproved theory of spontaneous
generation
• Developed methods and techniques
of cultivation of microorganisms
• Studies on anthrax, chicken cholera
and Rabies
• Attenuated Live vaccines
Joseph Lister (1867)

• Professor of surgery
• Introduced antiseptic
technique in surgery
• Used Carbolic acid to kill
bacteria in wounds
• Father of antiseptic surgery
Robert Koch (1843-1910)
• German General practitioner
• Introduced methods for isolation
of pure strains of bacteria.
• Used agar as a setting agent in
culture media.
• Isolated anthrax bacilli in pure
culture.
• “Father of Medical
microbiology”
• Koch’s postulates
Koch’s Postulates
Koch’s Postulates
• The organism must be regularly associated with
the disease and its characteristic lesions.
• The organism must be isolated from the diseased
host and grown in culture.
• The disease must be reproduced when a pure
culture of the organism is introduced into a
healthy, susceptible host.
• The same organism must be reisolated from the
experimentally infected host.
THANK YOU!!