Microbiology Flashcards
What is microbiology?
The study of living organisms that are too small to see with the eye
What is medical microbiology?
Study of causative agents of infections disease
What is a prokaryotes?
Earliest forms of life
Have no nucleus or other organelles
Can be unicellular but usually form large groups
What are eukaryotes?
Have a membrane bound nucleus and other organelles
Usually multicellular but can exist alone
Are bacteria prokaryotes or eukaryotes?
Prokaryocytes
What kills bacteria?
Antibiotics
Are all bacteria harmful?
No - some are required for us to live e.g., in the gut they digest and metabolise food and synthesise proteiens
Can healthy bacteria cause infections?
Yes
Are fungi prokaryotes or eukaryotes?
Eukaryotes
What is the structure of fungi?
Have a cell wall
Absorb digestive product externally
Filamentous growths
What are the 2 types of fungi?
Yeasts
Molds
What is a parastite?
Organism that lives on or in a host and feeds at the expense of the host
What are the 3 types of parasite?
Protozoa
Helminths
Ectoparasites
What is a protozoa?
Microscopic, one-celled organisms that are able to multiply in humans
Free living or parasitic
Intestine - transmitted through feacal-oral
Blood - transmitted via arthropod
What is a helminth?
Large, multicellular organisms that are generally visible to the naked eye in their adult stages.
Free-living or parasitic.
Examples are tapeworms.
What do viruses need to reproduce?
Other cells
What are viruses made of?
Caspid, genetic material and some an outer envelope
How do viruses reproduce?
Hack other cells and force them to create copies
What are prions?
Misfolded nerve cell proteins that can force similar proteins to fold in the same way
How are prions transmitted?
Infected blood
How are viruses transmitted?
Droplets or in food or water
What is pathogenesis?
What turns a microorganism into a pathogen
What are the 3 reasons for pathogenesis?
Right place
Right host
Right effects
