Study Guide for first exam
The history and scope of microbiology 1) What are the organisms/entities of study in the field of microbiology? * Bacteria * Archaea * Eukarya * Viruses and Prions (Acellular entities) 2) Who was the first human to publish extensive descriptions of microorganisms? * Antony van Leeuwenhoek 3) How did Louis Pasteur dismantle the theory of spontaneous generation in bacteria? * Swan neck flask experiment: Flask with open top contained bacterial growth, while the swan neck flask caught the bacteria and the broth had no growth. 4) Who established microorganisms as the causative agent of infectious disease? How did he do this? What was the result of this body of work? * Robert Koch * Studied Bacillus anthracis * Took diseased mouse with anthrax and infected healthy mouse. This healthy mouse got sick. He then removed the spleens from the sick mice and isolated the anthrax spore. He injected that into healthy mice and they got sick. * Koch’s Postulates: * Microorganism must be present in every case of disease * The organism must be grown in pure culture from the organism * The same disease must be reproduced when the pure culture affects another host * The microorganism must be recovered from experimentally infected hosts 5) What are some of the advancements that were made possible once microorganisms were identified as the causative agents of infectious disease. * Vaccinations: Weakened strains used to prevent original disease * Better public hygiene * Sewages disposal practices * Pasteurization * Antiseptics 6) What are some of the future challenges in battling microorganism? Why are some of these challenges emerging? * Mutations and unique strains * Jumping of species of diseases * Antibiotic Resistances * Emerging because of poor agricultural practices, animal migration, species