STANDARD QUALITY CONTROL STRAINS FOR ANTIBIOGRAM

Quality control strains (or reference strains)are typed cultures of microorganisms with known antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and which are used to ensure consistency, accuracy and reproducibility of a particular susceptibility test. They are important in any disk diffusion test because susceptibility tests are affected by plethora of factors such as incubation temperature, size of the test […]

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Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) & Antibiogram, ,

PREPARATION OF 0.5 McFARLAND TURBIDITY STANDARDS

McFarland Turbidity Standard is an important technique performed in the microbiology laboratory especially when carrying out antimicrobial susceptibility studies. It is a turbid solution that contains a mixture of barium salt, distilled water and tetraoxosulphate (VI) acid (H2SO4). McFarland turbidity standard is used to compare and balance the turbidity of both the test and control

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Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) & Antibiogram,

ISONIAZID – anti-tuberculosis (TB) drug

Isoniazid or isonicotinyl hydrazine (INH) is a first-line antibiotic used for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB), a droplet bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB is a highly infectious diseases that is mainly spread via the respiratory tract of infected persons to susceptible human hosts through sneezes, cough and saliva or aerosols that contain the

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Antimicrobial Agents & Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, , ,

CHLORAMPHENICOL

Chloramphenicol is a protein synthesis inhibitor but the antibiotic unlike other drugs that interfere with bacterial protein biosynthesis (e.g. tetracycline and aminoglycosides) binds to the 50S ribosomal subunit of the target bacterial ribosome the same manner that macrolides (e.g. erythromycin) exhibit their antibacterial activity. Chloramphenicol and erythromycin exhibit similar modes of antibacterial action or activity

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Antimicrobial Agents & Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, ,

MECHANISMS OF TRANSFER OF RESISTANCE GENES IN BACTERIA

  Below are some of the major ways through which bacteria pass on their antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to other susceptible non–resistant bacteria in their environment: TRANSDUCTION Transduction is simply defined as the transfer of genetic material (i.e. exogenous or foreign DNA molecule) between bacteria by bacteriophages (bacterial viruses). It is the transfer of DNA

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Antibiotic Resistance / Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Antimicrobial Agents & Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, , , , , ,

GENETIC BASIS OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

Genetic resistance of microbes to antibiotics is due to a chromosomal mutation in the bacterial DNA or acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes on plasmids or transposons from other bacteria. Bacteria are extremely ingenious in becoming resistant to antibiotics directed towards them because they are able to regulate their drug resistance genes over time. This is

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Antibiotic Resistance / Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Antimicrobial Agents & Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology,

STEPS INVOLVED IN TRANSFORMING BACTERIAL CELLS

There are different types of steps involved in the transformation of a bacterial cell in gene cloning techniques. Bacterial cells are transformed when they are infused with exogenous DNA from another organism, and this makes them competent enough to express the gene product (or protein) of the gene they are carrying. Usually, the exogenous DNA

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Biotechnology, Molecular Microbiology, ,

LEISHMANIASIS

Leishmaniasis is the parasitic disease caused by the protozoal organism, Leishmania. The disease affects the skin, spleen and the liver, and it is usually characterized by extensive lesions on the skin (in the mouth, throat and nose region) that sometimes leads to deformity of the affected body part. Leishmaniasis can be old world or new

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Public Health & Parasitic Diseases (Parasitology), , , , , , ,