MICROBIO:2

• Discoveries of the existence of cells (Hooke) and little animalcules (Van Leeuwenhoek) initiated a series of investigations that eventually led to the birth of Microbiology.
• The theory of biogenesis claims that living cells can arise only from preexisting living cells.
• Living things too small to be seen with the unaided eye are called microorganisms.
• Bacteria do not have the same shape.
• Bacteria do not grow by binary fission.
• Bacteria do not have peptidoglycan cell walls.
• Bacteria are not prokaryotic.
• Microorganisms are important in maintaining the Earth’s ecological balance.
• Bacteria do not have the ability to move.
• Human hormones such as insulin are produced by the pancreas.
• Some microorganisms live in humans & animals and are needed to maintain good health, some used to produce foods and chemicals.
• Some microorganisms cause disease.
• Germ Theory of Disease considers the possibility that microorganisms might have similar relationships with plants and animals – that microorganisms or “germs” caused disease.
• Treatment of disease through the use of chemical substances is called chemotherapy.
• Chemotherapy is commonly used to describe medications used to treat cancer.
• Chemotherapy includes the use of Antibiotics, which are chemicals produced naturally by bacteria/fungi to act against other microorganisms.
• Synthetic Drugs are chemotherapeutic agents prepared from chemicals in the laboratory.
• Vaccination is a preventive procedure involving the administration of a small amount of live or inactivated microorganism to stimulate immunity.
• The term “vaccination” originated from the Latin term “ Vacca ” which means “cow” – The first vaccine used cowpox virus to prevent smallpox infection.
• Vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796.
• Edward Jenner observed a milkmaid who previously contracted cowpox (mild form) was not afflicted by smallpox (severe form) and collected scrapings from cowpox blisters and prepared pox-contaminated needles.
• Edward Jenner then inoculated a healthy 8-year old volunteer by scratching the arm with a pox-contaminated needle.
• The volunteer became mildly sick in a few days but recovered and never again contracted cowpox or smallpox.
• Before, the only known chemical used to treat malaria in Europe was an extract from the bark of South American cinchona tree ( quinine ).
• In 1910, Paul Ehrlich discovered salvarsan , an arsenic derivative found effective against syphilis.
• By late 1930s, scientists developed drugs derived from dyes used for fabrics, and eventually discovered the sulfur-derived sulfa drugs ( sulfonamides ).
• Alexander Flemming observed that culture media containing bacterial colonies but contaminated with the mold Penicillium showed inhibition of growth around the mold.
• The mold identified as Penicillium notatum produced an active bacterial inhibitor substance which was later named as penicillin.
• Antibiotics/chemotherapeutic drugs are not without problems as some can kill the good microbial flora.
• Some microbes are too toxic for humans and human cells.
• An infectious disease is a disease in which pathogens invade a susceptible host, carrying out at least a part of its life cycle inside the host, resulting in disease.
• Biogenesis is the concept that nonliving matter gives rise to living organisms.
• Algae have a cell wall made of chitin.
• Bacteria are essential for the existence of life on Earth.
• Bioremediation utilizes microbes to clean up pollutants.
• Recent outbreaks point to the fact that infectious diseases are not disappearing, with new diseases appearing or resurging such as H1N1 Influenza, Avian H1N1 Influenza (Bird flu), MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), E. coli, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and SARS Corona Viruses (COVID-19).
• Emergence and spread of new strains that are resistant to the current antibiotics is a major concern in modern developments in microbiology.
• Branches of microbiology include Bacteriology, Mycology, Parasitology, Virology, Immunology, Recombinant DNA Technology, and Microbial Ecology.
• Viruses are prokaryotes without a peptidoglycan cell wall.
• Helminths are unicellular, complex but lack a cell wall.