Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Microbes are a very important component of life on earth. Not all microbes are pathogenic. Many microbes are very useful to human beings. We use microbes and microbially derived products almost every day. Antibiotics have played a major role in controlling infectious diseases like diphtheria, whooping cough and pneumonia.. Microbes brings lot of welfare for human beings in Vaccination and Antibiotics, Household Products like Lactobacillus is a bacterium that is found in curd, Sewage Treatment -Bacteria such as Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter, are involved in fermenting sewage. Pseudomonas is also one of the bacteria involved in breakdown of organic matter. Gobar Gas Formation- Gobar gas is formed anaerobically by Methanobacterium. Viruses are used as a vector for transmission of required gene during recombinant DNA Technology.

Infection prevention and control is required to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases in all health care settings. Infection prevention and control demands a basic understanding of the epidemiology of diseases; risk factors that increase patient susceptibility to infection; and the practices, procedures and treatments that may result in infections. The risk of acquiring a health care-associated infection is related to the mode of transmission of the infectious agent, the type of patient-care activity or procedure being performed and the underlying patient’s host defenses. Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and others from various infectious diseases.

Immunology is the branch of science concerned with the various aspects related to immune system, innate and acquired immunity and immunology also deals with laboratory techniques involving the interaction of antigens with specific antibodies. Microbiology is the branch of science dealing with the study of various microorganisms. Microbiology involves the study of their structure and various physical, chemical and biological characteristics pertaining to their capability to cause a disease. Medical diagnosis is the process of determining which disease or condition explains a person's symptoms and signs. Laboratory tests may identify organisms directly (e.g., visually, using a microscope, growing the organism in culture) or indirectly (e.g., identifying antibodies to the organism). General types of tests include Microscopy, Culture, Immunologic tests (agglutination tests such as latex agglutination, enzyme immunoassays, Western blot, precipitation tests, and complement fixation tests) and Nucleic acid/ Non-nucleic acid –based identification methods. Sub-types of diagnoses include: Clinical, Laboratory, Radiology, Principal and admitting diagnosis. Advanced methods have been implemented to diagnose the infection in any part of the body. Examples include Biomarkers/ ELISA test/ Chest X ray/ Skin biopsy/ Tympanometry and Tympanocentesis.

Pathogenicity refers to the ability of an organism to cause disease (ie, harm the host). This ability represents a genetic component of the pathogen and the overt damage done to the host is a property of the host-pathogen interactions. Commensals and opportunistic pathogens lack this inherent ability to cause disease. However, disease is not an inevitable outcome of the host-pathogen interaction and, furthermore, pathogens can express a wide range of virulence. Virulence, a term often used interchangeably with pathogenicity, refers to the degree of pathology caused by the organism. The extent of the virulence is usually correlated with the ability of the pathogen to multiply within the host and may be affected by other factors. The development of a disease state is a dynamic process that is dependent on the virulence of the pathogen and the resistance of the host. It covers biology, host-pathogen interaction and medicine associated with infectious agents, as well as microorganism, fungi, viruses and protozoa. Microbic pathological process is committed to the study of the genomic, molecular and cellular bases of clinical infectious diseases.

Agricultural microbiology is a field of study concerned with plant-associated microbes. It aims to address problems in agricultural practices usually caused by a lack of biodiversity in microbial communities. An understanding of microbial strains relevant to agricultural applications is useful in the enhancement of factors such as soil nutrients, plant-pathogen resistance, crop robustness, fertilization uptake efficiency and more. The many symbiotic relationships between plants and microbes can ultimately be exploited for greater food production necessary to feed the expanding human populace, in addition to safer farming techniques for the sake of minimizing ecological disruption.

Antimicrobials are agents killing or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and are grouped as antibacterial, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics. Antibacterial used to treat bacterial infections are termed as antibacterial, treating virus are termed as antivirals and hence antifungals and antiparasitics are respectively for fungi and parasites. The toxicity of antibacterial to humans and other animals is generally low. Antimicrobial pesticides control growth of microbes by the use of disinfection, sanitation, or reduction of development and to protect industrial processes or systems, surfaces, water, or other chemical substances from contamination, spoiling caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae.

Pharmaceutical Microbiology deals with the study of microorganisms that is concerned within the manufacture of prescribed drugs. Alternative aspects of pharmaceutical biological science embrace the analysis and development of anti-infective agents, the employment of microorganisms to sight agent and malignant neoplastic disease activity in prospective medication, and therefore the use of microorganisms within the manufacture of pharmaceutical product like endocrine and human human growth hormone.

The Public Health and Microbiology concentration includes studies in microbial pathogenesis, principles of public health, epidemiology, molecular genetics, virology, and environmental and industrial microbial processes. This concentration prepares students for technical work or graduate school in microbial disease systems using polymerase chain reaction, other molecular diagnostic tools as well as environmental and industrial applications of microbial systems.

Medical microbiology is a branch of medicine dealing with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious as well as non-infectious diseases. Medical microbiologists deal with clinical consultations on the investigation, principles of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases; the scientific development, administrative and medical direction of a clinical microbiology laboratory; the establishment and direction of infection control programs across the continuum of care; communicable disease prevention and epidemiology and related public health issues.

 Enzymes are considered as a potential biocatalyst for a large number of reactions. Particularly, the microbial enzymes have widespread uses in industries and medicine. The microbial enzymes are also more active and stable than plant and animal enzymes. In addition, the microorganisms represent an alternative source of enzymes because they can be cultured in large quantities in a short time by fermentation and owing to their biochemical diversity and susceptibility to gene manipulation. Industries are looking for new microbial strains in order to produce different enzymes to fulfill the current enzyme requirements.

Aggregate of microorganisms in which cells that are frequently embedded within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) adhere to each other and/or to a surface. A biofilm is a system that can be adapted internally to environmental conditions by its inhabitants. The self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance, which is also referred to as slime, is a polymeric conglomeration generally composed of extracellular biopolymers in various structural forms.

 Marine microbiology is the study of the microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, viruses and microbial eukaryotes) in the marine environment, including their biodiversity, ecology and biogeochemistry. The use of metagenomics has been fundamental in revealing the abundance and composition of marine microbial ecosystems.

Biofuel is energy source made of living things, or the waste that living things turn out. Supporters of biofuels argue that their use might considerably cut back greenhouse emissions;whereas burning the fuels produces CO2, growing the plants or biomass removes carbon diozide from the atmosphere. A biofuel could be a fuel that's created through up to date biological processes, like agriculture and anaerobic digestion, instead of a fuel created by geologic processes like those concerned within the formation of fossil fuels, like coal and crude oil, from prehistoric biological matter.