Affie’s Notes in Microbiology: Essentials to Medical Technology

 Microbiology can be defined as the study of microbes
 The non-living entities and living organisms that are
microscopic (seen via microscope) are called microbes
or microorganisms
 Different species of microbes live on and in us, they
are called indigenous microbiota or ‘normal flora’
 Microorganisms that “cause infectious disease” are
defined as pathogens.
 Some of the microbes that colonize (inhabit) our
bodies are known as opportunistic pathogens (or
opportunists)
 Taxonomy is the area of biologic science comprising
three distinct but highly interrelated disciplines:
 Classification - is a method for organizing
microorganisms into groups or taxa based on similar
morphologic, physiologic, and genetic traits.
o Species (specific epithet; lower case Latin
adjective or noun)
o Genus (contains similar species)
o Family (contains similar genera)
o Order (contains similar families)
o Class (contains similar orders)
o Phylum (contains similar classes; equivalent to
the Division taxa in botany)
o Kingdom (contains similar divisions or phyla)
 Mycology is the study of fungi
 Phycology is the study of algae
 Protozoology is the study of protozoa
 Parasitology is the study of parasites
Pioneers in Microbiology
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) - was the first
person to see live bacteria and protozoa.
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) - Pasteurization can be used
to kill pathogens in many types of liquids. It is
accomplished by heating liquids to:
63°C to 65°C for 30 minutes
73°C to 75°C for 15 seconds
Robert Koch (1843–1910) - significant contributions to
the germ theory of disease. He is also known for Koch’s
Postulates which states that:
1. A particular microbe must be found in all cases of the disease and
must not be present in healthy animals or humans.
2. The microbe must be isolated from the diseased animal or human
and grown in pure culture in the laboratory.
3. The same disease must be produced when microbes from the pure
culture are inoculated into healthy susceptible laboratory animals.
4. The same microbe must be recovered from the experimentally
infected animals and grown again in pure culture.

 Nomenclature (naming) – must be according to the

--Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or the
Bacteriological Code (BC).
--Changes are documented at International Journal of
Systemic and Evolutionary Microbiology
E.g:
Stenotrophomonas (Xanthomonas) maltophilia
Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia.
-- Carl Linnaeus developed binominal nomenclature in
1735. The first name is called the genus and second
name is called the specific epithet, which is the name
of the species.

 Identification of organisms
Genotypic characteristics- relate to an organism’s
genetic makeup, including the nature of the
organism’s genes and constituent nucleic acids
 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) base composition ratio
 Nucleic acid (DNA and ribonucleic acid [RNA]) base
sequence analysis, including hybridization assays
Phenotypic characteristics - based on features beyond
the genetic level and include both readily observable
characteristics and characteristics that may require
extensive analytic procedures to be detected
 Macroscopic morphology
 Microscopic morphology
 Staining characteristics
 Environmental requirements
 Nutritional requirements
 Resistance profiles
 Antigenic properties
 Subcellular properties
 In diagnostic microbiology, the following (above)
plays a central role in providing accurate and timely
diagnosis of infectious diseases.
 Bacteriology is the study of bacteria.
 Virology is the study of viruses