Microbiology in a Nutshell

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Microbiology in a Nutshell

• Yes, you will need to know this

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Microbes
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Ever wonder why Robin Williams is hirsute, while
Patrick Stewart is follecularly challenged? Well,
the answer is in their DNA-
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Viruses

• Microscopic (cant see with the naked eye)
• nonliving particle
• Invades and reproduces inside a host.
• Contains DNA or RNA

The red spots are the AIDS virus, they are
surrounding other body cells.
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Virus Multiplication

• Active
• Become sick within hours or days
• Hidden
• Illness can be delayed for weeks, months, or
  years
• Triggered by environment?

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Bacteria

• Microscopic
• Prokaryotes (means they dont have a nucleus)
• Living
• Contains DNA

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Shapes of bacteria

• Spherical
• Rodlike
• Spiralshaped
• They can also be in chains
• Spherical chain

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Bacteria Multiplication

• Sexual reproduction
• Two parents
• Conjugation (transfer of genetic material through
  bridge)
• Asexual reproduction
• Binary Fission-Simply splitting in two

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Growth in Action
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More on Growth

• Rapid, as fast as once every 20 minutes
• Continues until they run out of the basics
• Food
• Air
• Space

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Parasites

• Organisms that live on or in a host and cause
  harm.
• Examples Viruses, Bacteria, and tapeworms.
• Can a bacteria be a host?

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How many can there be?

• These bubble-headed creatures are called
  bacteriophages, viruses that target bacteria. The
  head holds DNA and the tail acts as a needle
  attaching to a specific site on the bacterial
  cell wall, the virus squirts DNA through the tail
  into the bacterium. Ouch! They are among the
  smallest of organisms. You could fit about
  680,000 of these creatures on the head of a pin.

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What can you do?

• Get Vaccines
• Personal Hygiene
• Use Disinfectants
• Lines of Defense
• Skin
• Mucus barriers
• Immune System

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Defenses cont. .
This is a human macrophage, found in your blood
that wards off infection. It is homing in on a
chain of nasty Streptococcus bacteria. Hitching a
ride aboard the macrophage is a sphere-shaped
lymphocyte. Both macrophage and lymphocyte can be
found near the site of an infection, and the two
act in concert to help eliminate it.
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The deadliest pandemic in history was the 1918
influenza epidemic, the Spanish Flu. By the time
the "Spanish lady" departed, 22 million people
had died of the mysterious killer.
Positively identifying the 1918 flu strain is
made more difficult by the fact that the flu
virus is capable of very rapid mutations
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Personal example

• A doctor stationed at Camp Devens, a military
  base just west of Boston, writes to a friend, and
  fellow physician, of the conditions to be found
  there as influenza was making its presence felt.
  

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Vaccines

• Existing flu shots are 70 percent to 90 percent
  effective at preventing flu in healthy young
  people
• 50 percent effective in the elderly, (And even if
  the vaccines don't prevent the flu, they do tend
  to reduce symptoms and serious complications).

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High Risk Groups

• aged 65 and older
• with chronic diseases affecting the heart, lung
  or kidneys
• with diabetes, immunosuppression, or severe
  anemia
• people in contact with doctors, nurses and
  nursing-home staff

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Prevention

• "The current U.S. plan in the event of a pandemic
  is to vaccinate virtually the entire population,"
  says epidemiologist Nancy Arden.
• Despite its advantages, less than 60 percent of
  the high-risk population gets the flu shot each
  year.