MICROBIOLOGY NOTES 2026, Lecture notes of Nursing

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MICROBIOLOGY

Module Competence

This module is designed to enable the learner

promote health, prevent illness, diagnose,

manage and rehabilitate patients / clients

suffering from infectious diseases

MICROBIOLOGY:

Is the study of small living organism.

 Micro means very small and can be

viewed by use of microscope.

 Bio means living organism.

 Ology mean study of.

HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY

 Long ago it was known that some disease could be transmitted from one person to another e.g. leprosy, plague, small pox which was eradicated in 1979.  Microbiology developed into science.  Inquisitive question were raised, thus answers were sought about every day event e.g. why does milk ferment? How people who are recovering from cow pox do not get small pox? What were the causes of anthrax? where does microorganisms that contaminate food come from? etc.

ANTONY VAN LECUWENHOCK  Was known as microbic hunter or father of microbiology  He lived in Holland as a business manager of a shop  He invented lenses and started looking at things as glass magnified them.  In 1667 he described bacteria using a simple primitive microscope. This lens could magnify 300 times normal size, the size of a pin head.  he observed materials placed on the pin head, he discovered the microscope hence father of microbiology.

Antony ct…

 He wrote letters to the society of Lagga which convinced scientist of the 18 th century about the existence of microorganism.  Described small animals as animalcules. He did not speculate or associate their origin as causing disease.  The causes of disease in relation with animalcules was started in the 19 th century.

LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895):

 He was educated in chemistry.  In 19 th Century, he studied microbiology in relation to animalcules.  Many other sciencetist experimented about spontaneous creatures in infected wounds, fermenting grain, decaying meat they wondered how decaying occurred. They believed that life could develop spontaneously from decomposing non living materials.  This was the concept of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation.

Louis Pasteur ct…

 Louis disapproved this and came up with the theory of biogenesis which explain that there must be some air for life to exist.  He investigated spoiling of beer and wine which is referred to as germ theory of fermentation.  He concluded that sugar served as the food of micro-organism in fermentation.  He said that each ferment is caused by specific organism that develop and grows only when the specific requirement of its well being are met.

Louis Pasteur ct….  For milk he heated at a temperature of 68c for 30mins or at a temperature of 72c for a period of 15mins  He extended this theory from animal to human and stated that a specific disease is caused by a specific type of micro-organism.  He invented a method to culture organism where they don’t seem to be.  He invented methods on how to weaken or attenuate micro-organism by vaccination hence became the father of immunology.  He discovered rabies vaccine in 1885.

JOHN TYNDAL- 1820 - 1893

 He continued with the work of Pasteur  He discovered that bacteria endospores are extremely heat resistance.  When spores are exposed to heat briefly, they germinate into vegetative form of bacteria.  Subsequently, boiling killed the newly formed vegetative form of bacteria. He advised an alternative sequent of heat that killed all bacteria present.  He said that solutions to be treated are heated at 80c- 100c for several minutes then incubated at 30c-37c for 24 hours or 3 days - tyndallisation.  This allows the endospores to germinate when boiled for the first time then killed by next boiling.

Robert Koch ct….

 Microorganism must be present in all cases of disease and must not be present in a healthy animal.  Microorganisms must be isolated from the diseased animals and grown in pure culture.  Microorganism in this pure culture must cause the same disease when inoculated in healthy animal.  The experimentally infected animals must contain microorganism which must be recovered again in pure culture.  The pastulate become the scientific approach in demonstrating the infectious from a disease.

EXCEPTION OF KOCH’S

 Some people are healthy carriers of diseases but don't show symptoms.  Some microorganism are difficult to be grown such as most viruses, leprosy and syphilis.  Most of this microorganism may be grown in tissue culture such as egg embryo, scrotum of rabbits.  In HIV human lymphocytes are required to act as culture for it to grow.  Koch discovered vibrio cholerae, tubacal bacilli (cocci bacilli) that causes TB and anthrax bacilli.

EMIL VEN BEHRIN

 Made toxoids of diphtheria and tetanus toxins thus started the use of anti-toxin.

SEMEMELIREIS:

 Showed that puerperal sepsis was caused by infected agencies in the mother or hands of midwives and doctors thus emphasized on washing hands before delivery thus become the founder of disinfection.

JOSEPH LISTER

 Showed that there were fewer infection if instruments were boiled and disinfected. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT:  The metric measurement are used to describe the size of microorganism.  A metre is the basic units - Metre is divided to 10dm, 100cm, 1000mm, one million micrometer and one thousand million nanometer.