Microbiology as a field in the biological sciences saw the light of the day because of several innovative research and experiments by pioneers in this field. The study of microbiology will be incomplete without a touch on the founding fathers of this important field of biological sciences. Several scientists in time past contributed tremendously to […]
Historical Perspectives of Microbiology Read More »
General Microbiology
Microorganisms are ubiquitous and they play several roles in the degradation of recalcitrant organic and inorganic materials in the environment. The degradation of these materials that constitute environmental hazards in the environment can be carried out under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; and these processes leads to the production of several environmentally-friendly substances and compounds that
SIGNIFICANCE OF BIODETERIORATION/BIODEGRADATION Read More »
Environmental & Soil Microbiology
Microorganisms are ubiquitous and are thus found everywhere including the soil. The soil no doubt is inundated with a wide variety of microorganisms including those that are pathogenic to humans, plants and animals and even microbes that are of immense industrial and economic importance to mankind and his environment. For example, the first commercial antibiotic
MICROBIAL DISEASES TRANSMISSIBLE THROUGH THE SOIL Read More »
Environmental & Soil Microbiology
A host-parasite relationship is an association that exists between two organisms known as the host and the parasite, in which both organisms either derive benefit from the relationship or is harmed in the process. Microorganisms are ubiquitous, and they often exist in association with other forms of life in their ecological niches including man, plants
HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS (MICROBIAL ASSOCIATIONS) Read More »
Environmental & Soil Microbiology
Environmental microbiology is the study of microbial processes in the environment, microbial communities and microbial interactions with other living organisms in the environment. Environmental microbiology is the branch of microbiology that studies the role of microorganisms in the maintenance of a healthy, quality, and sustainable environment. It is the study of the composition and physiology
Environmental Microbiology Read More »
Environmental & Soil Microbiology
The output of an antimicrobial drug susceptibility test is often expressed as raw data which are either expressed in the form of a zone size/diameter or minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) formerly known as National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standard (NCCLS) has published interpretation criteria for different antimicrobial agents. This
OUTPUT OF ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING Read More »
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) & Antibiogram, Microbe Lab
When a pathogenic microorganism is isolated from the specimen of a patient, the clinical microbiology laboratory will often carry out in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing (antibiogram) on the isolated pathogen in order to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the microbe to a range of antibiotics/drugs using antibiotic susceptibility disks, so that treatment can be
Overview of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) / Antibiogram Read More »
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) & Antibiogram, Microbe Lab
Cephalosporins are beta-lactam antibiotics that are penicillinase-resistant, and with related mode of action to the penicillins. Drugs in this category are clinical substitutes for penicillins due to the development of resistance to the later by pathogenic bacteria. Cephalosporins are classified into four (4) generations based on their spectrum of activity, side chain modifications and clinical
Penicillins are beta-lactam drugs that inhibit the cross-linking of N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG) and N-acetyl muramic acid (NAM) required for the formation of peptidoglycan in bacterial cells. They are generally bacterial cell wall synthesis inhibitors. Penicillin, the first member of the penicillins is a general purpose antibiotic used in clinical medicine even till date. They specifically
Antibiotics can also be classified into different categories depending on their mode of action and/or spectrum of activity. BETA-LACTAM ANTIBIOTICS Beta-lactam antibiotics are group of naturally-synthesized antibiotics that inhibit the synthesis of cell wall in bacteria. Some later beta-lactam drugs such as methicillin, ampicillin and amoxicillin amongst others are synthesized by chemical processes. Beta-lactam drugs
CLASSIFICATION OF ANTIBIOTICS BASED ON SPECTRUM AND MECHANISM OF ACTION Read More »
Antimicrobial Agents & Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology