Medical microbiologyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchA microbiologist examining cultures under a dissecting microscope.Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medicalscience concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, thisfield of science studies various clinical applications of microbes for the improvement of health. There arefour kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease: bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, andone type of infectious protein called prion.A medical microbiologist studies the characteristics of pathogens, their modes of transmission,mechanisms of infection and growth. The academic qualification as a clinical/Medical Microbiologist in ahospital or medical research centre generally requires a Masters in Microbiology along with Ph.D. in anyof the life-sciences (Biochem, Micro, Biotech, Genetics, etc).[1] Medical microbiologists often serve asconsultants for physicians, providing identification of pathogens and suggesting treatment options. Usingthis information, a treatment can be devised. Other tasks may include the identification of potentialhealth risks to the community or monitoring the evolution of potentially virulent or resistant strains ofmicrobes, educating the community and assisting in the design of health practices. They may also assistin preventing or controlling epidemics and outbreaks of disease. Not all medical microbiologists studymicrobial pathology; some study common, non-pathogenic species to determine whether theirproperties can be used to develop antibiotics or other treatment methods.Epidemiology, the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions inpopulations, is an important part of medical microbiology, although the clinical aspect of the fieldprimarily focuses on the presence and growth of microbial infections in individuals, their effects on thehuman body, and the methods of treating those infections. In this respect the entire field, as an appliedscience, can be conceptually subdivided into academic and clinical sub-specialties, although in realitythere is a fluid continuum between public health microbiology and clinical microbiology, just as the stateof the art in clinical laboratories depends on continual improvements in academic medicine and researchlaboratories.Contents1History2Commonly treated infectious diseases
