Medical University of Lodz
Division of Studies in English (6MD programs)
Microbiology – course content (classes), 2015/2016
Class 1. General microbiology – bacteriological media, methods of the microbiological inoculation
and cultivation, preparation of pure cultures, the structure of the bacterial cell, staining methods of the
bacterial slides
Knowledge: the student knows the bacterial physiology, the optimal conditions for their growth in
vitro: nutritional requirements (chemical components of the bacterial cell, various requirements of
nutrients); temperature (psychrophilic bacteria, mesophiles, and thermophiles); gaseous requirements
(strictly aerobic bacteria, facultatively anaerobic bacteria, strictly anaerobic bacteria, microaerophilic
bacteria, capnophiles), pH and the osmotic pressure; the student knows the microbiological media
(liquid, semi-solid and solid, simple and enriched, selective, diagnostic and selective-diagnostic), the
techniques of the microbiological inoculation, the phases of the bacterial growth, and the methods
used to get pure cultures; the students is able to describe the bacterial growth in the liquid medium
(surface growth, turbidity, and sediment) and in the solid medium (bacterial colony characteristics),
the growth of bacteria producing pigments, the shape and the structure of the bacterial cell (the basic
and additional components), the staining methods of the bacterial preparations (simple and complex,
positive and negative, positive-negative), the types of microscopes used in bacteriology and their
application; the student knows the role of the microscopic slides in the microbiological diagnostics,
methods of the bacterial identification on the basis of the biochemical features and antigenic structure
of the bacterium.
Class 2: General microbiology – bacteria present in the environment and in the human body. The
influence of the physical and chemical factors on bacteria.
Knowledge: the student is able to talk over the presence of bacteria in the human environment (the
reservoir of the pathogen, the modes of its transmission, the source of infection), the presence of
bacteria in the human body (resident and transient bacterial flora, the carriage of pathogenic bacteria),
the influence of physical and chemical factors on bacteria; the student knows the methods of the
bacteriological control (sanitization, antisepsis, asepsis, disinfection, sterilization); the tests used to
control the process of autoclaving.
Class 3: General microbiology – Antibiotics and chemotherapeutics.
Knowledge: the student knows the antibacterial drugs: beta-lactam antibiotics, amonoglycosides,
quinolones, tetracyclines, macrolides, lincosamides, glycopeptides, etc.; bacteriostatic versus
bactericidal agents, antibacterial spectrum (broad-spectrum and narrow-spectrum agents), the
mechanisms of antibacterial action. The side-effects of the antibiotic therapy. Bacterial resistance to
antimicrobial agents - its origin and the ways of transmission (natural and acquired resistance, vertical
and horizontal transmission of drug resistance). Standardized techniques determining bacterial
susceptibility to antimicrobial agents (antibiogram): qualitative tests (disc-diffusion method),
quantitative tests (E-test). The clinical meaning of MIC and MBC.
Class 4: General microbiology – I. Vaccines. II. The sampling, and the storage of the biological
material; the transport to the microbiological laboratory.
Knowledge: the student knows types of vaccines, schedules of vaccination, advantages and
disadvantages of vaccination. The student knows the principles of sampling (blood, urine, swabs,
CSF) and of transport of samples.
Class 5: Virology – principles of diagnostics.
Colloquium no. 1 (classes 1-4)
Knowledge: the student knows the basic features of the viruses including their structure,
characteristics, and replication phases. The student is able to explain the influence of the viral
replication type on the course of the viral infection. Diagnostic process of the viral infection (clinical
material, the time of sampling, storage, transport to the laboratory, principles of specimen processing
for viral investigation, cell cultures, embryonated eggs, laboratory animals, microscopic identification,
serologic tests, molecular analysis).
Class 6: Skin infections.
Knowledge: the student knows: etiological factors of skin infections (staphylococci, streptococci,
Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp., , the diagnostics and treatment of skin infections.
Class 7: Infections of the respiratory system.
Knowledge: the student knows: the physiological flora of the respiratory system; the clinical forms of
the respiratory system infections. The etiological factors: viruses, bacteria, and atypical bacteria. The
diagnostics of the infections mentioned above.
Class 8: Infections of the digestive tract. Food poisoning.
Knowledge: the student knows: the physiological flora of the digestive tract; the clinical forms of the
gastrointestinal infections. The etiological factors: viruses and bacteria. Epidemiology, treatment, and
the diagnostics of the infections mentioned above.
Class 9: Urogenital infections.
Knowledge: the student knows: the physiological flora of the urogenital system; the risk factors of the
urogenital infections. Clinical forms of the urinary tract infections and genital infections and their
etiological factors. The treatment, and the diagnostics of the infections mentioned above.
Bacteriological analysis of urine – the methods of sampling. The purity degree of the vagina.
Vaginitis. Intrauterine infections. Perinatal infections.
Class 10: Sexually transmitted diseases. Colloquium no. 2 (classes 5-8)
Knowledge: the student knows: the etiological factors of sexually transmitted diseases:
I. viral: Human Papilloma Virus, Human Herpesvirus type 1 and 2, HHV-8, Moluscum Contagiosum
Virus, HIV, HBV, HDV, HCV, HGV, HTLV;
II. bacterial: Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Haemophilus
ducreyi, Klebsiella granulomatis;Mycoplasma spp., Ureaplasma spp.
Class 11: Infections of the nervous system,
Knowledge: the student knows: the factors predisposing to the central nervous system infections, the
modes of transmission. Etiological factors of meningitis and brain infections. Microbiological
diagnostics of meningitis (sampling and microbiological analysis of cerebrospinal fluid).
Class 12: Bloodstream infections.
Knowledge: the student knows: the etiological factors of bloodstream infections, microbiological
diagnostics of bloodstream infections (sampling and microbiological analysis of the blood;
bacteraemia and sepsis). Zoonoses.
Class 13: Hospital-acquired infections. Colloquium no. 3 (classes 9-12)
Knowledge: The definition of the hospital-acquired infection; the etiological factors of the hospitalacquired infections, the methods used to control and prevent from hospital-acquired infections.