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• Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms (microorganisms) and their activities.
• Microorganisms are organisms that are too small to be seen by the unaided or naked eye and requires a magnification tool called the microscope.
• Zacharias Janssen is the inventor of the first compound microscope.
• The term 'small' is relative and can vary depending on the context.
• In microbiology, 1 micrometer is equal to 0.000001 or 10 - 6 m, 1 nanometer is equal to 10 - 9 m, and 1 Angstrom is equal to 10 - 20 m.
• Redi’s experiment involved sealed and unsealed jars with decaying meat left for 3 days.
• Amateur scientist (not trained) created single-lens microscopes and described microorganisms which we know today as protozoa, calling them “beasties” or “animalcules”.
• John Needham, an English biologist, believed in spontaneous generation and argued that “microorganisms develop spontaneously from fluids”.
• Needham’s experiment involved briefly boiling a broth mixture and then cooling the mixture in an open container to room temperature.
• After 3 days, unsealed or open jars contained maggots while sealed jars did not contain maggots.
• Francesco Redi, an Italian, opposed the Theory of Spontaneous Generation.
• Later, the flasks would be sealed, and microbes would grow a few days later.
• The microbial population consists of 87% nonpathogens, 10% opportunistic, and 3% pathogens.
• Branches of microbiology can be classified as pure and applied microbiology.
• Medical microbiology is the study of pathogenic microbes and the role of microbes in human illness.
• Medical microbiology is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases.
• Medical microbiology includes the study of microbial pathogenesis and epidemiology and is related to the study of disease pathology and immunology.
• Microorganisms that cause infectious diseases are bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, parasitic animals (helminths), and prions.
• Erlich's laboratory discovered arsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective medicinal treatment for syphilis, thereby initiating and also naming the concept of chemotherapy.
• Martinus Beijerinck (1851 - 1931) was a Dutch microbiologist and biologist who is considered one of the founders of virology.
• The substance produced by the fungus, later identified as penicillin, killed a number of disease-causing bacteria.
• Alexander Fleming (1881 - 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist associated with two major discoveries – lysozyme (1923) and Penicillin G (1928).
• Erlich also made a significant contribution to the development of an antiserum to combat diphtheria.
• Fleming discovered lysozyme after testing the nasal secretions from a patient with a heavy cold, noting that nasal mucus had an inhibitory effect on bacterial growth.
• In 1908, Erlich received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology.
• In 1898, Beijerinck independently replicated Ivanovsky's experiments and became convinced that the filtered solution contained a new form of infectious agent, which he named virus.
• Beijerinck subsequently acknowledged Ivanovsky's priority of discovery.
• Fleming discovered Penicillin G after noticing that a fungus had contaminated a culture of staphylococci in his laboratory.
• Paul Erlich (1854 - 1915) was a German physician who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy.
• Erlich popularized the concept of a magic bullet.
• Medical microbiology also refers to clinical microbiology or diagnostic microbiology.
• Serovarieties (serovar) are based on serologic differences.
• Genus is always capitalized in the binomial (two-name) system of nomenclature.
• Escherichia coli is an example of a bacterial species.
• Naming of microorganisms according to established rules and guidelines provides the accepted labels by which organisms are universally recognized.
• Bacteria are given names according to an official set of rules, the International code for the Nomenclature of Bacteria.
• Genus name followed by the word species may be used to refer to the genus as a whole.
• To eliminate confusion, the first two letters or the first syllable are used when two or more genera names begin with the same first letter.
• The binomial (two-name) system of nomenclature assigns every organism a genus and species name of Latin or Greek derivation.
• Species epithet is never capitalized in the binomial (two-name) system of nomenclature.