Microbiology Notes Flashcards
List four of the six classes of microbes?
Bacteria, Algae, Archae, Fungi
What is a pathogen?
microbe that causes diseases.
Why are microorganisms good?
They limit pathogens by using up the food supply, taking up space and secreting toxins and even antibodies.
Who is known as the father of microbiology?
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
What were Louis Pasteur’s achievements to microbiology?
- Devlopment of vaccines (from anthrax & rabies viruses)
- biogenesis
- sterilization and pasteurization
- fermentation
What is the significance of the ‘Germ Theory’? Who discovered it?
Robert Koch discovered the Germ theory
What are the main differences between Eu and Prokaryotes?
Eukaryotes have a true nucleus and Prokaryotes have no nucleus.
What are the five structural charisteristics of bacteria?
- Diversity of shapes
- External cell wall
- Motility
- Adhering structures
- Spore production
What is the difference between Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria?
Gram negative are pink to red and Gram positive are blue to purple
What is the main function of Pili?
It allows bacteria to anchor to surfaces
How do virus differ from bacteria?
Viruses are smaller and less complex than bacteria
What is a prion?
They are small infectious proteins
What are the factors that affect bacterial growth?
- Temperature
- pH
- Moisture
- Available nutrients and characteristics of surrounding microorganisms
How do bacteria aquire new genetic information?
- Mutations
- Lysogenic conversions
- Transduction
- Transformation
- Conjugation
What is the difference between acute and chronic disease?
Acute disease- rapid onset followed by rapid recovery
Chronic disease- low onset, lasts a long time
What is the difference between endemic, epidemic, and pandemic?
Endemic- disease that is always present
Epidemic- disease occuring at a higher than usual rate in a population
Pandemic- disease in epidemic proportions worldwide
What are the stages in the development od an infectious disease?
- entry of organism into host
- attachment to tissue
- multiplication
- invasion deeper into tissues
- damage to tissues
What are the six stages in the chain of infection?
- Pathogen
- Resevoir
- Portal of exit
- Mode of transmission
- Portal of entry
- Susceptible host
What are the ports of exit and entry of infectious diseases?
- skin
- respiratory
- GI
- salivary
- genital secretions
- blood
- zoonotic
Define the following terms: contamination, disinfection, microbicidal agent, bacteriostatic agent.
Contamination- contamination of something with either a pathogen or non-pathogen.
Disinfection- destruction or removal of pathogens from non-living objects by physical or chemical methods.
Microbicidal agent- disinfectants that kill microbes.
Bacteriostatic agent- drug or chemical that inhabits growth and reproduction of microbes.
Name the four Physical Antimicrobial Methods?
- heat
- pressure
- desiccation
- radiation, sonic disruption, and filtration
Name the characteristics of good chemical antimicriobial agent?
- must kill pathogens within reasonable time & concentrations
- nontoxic to human tissues & noncorrosive & nondestructive
- must be soluble & easy to apply
- must be cheap & easy to prepare
- must be stable & dissolved in solid form
- should be stable to pH & temperature changes
