bacteriology

The largest bacterium ever discovered was discovered in 1999. This is Namibia's sulfur pearl, a type of bacteria that can even be seen with the naked eye. Their diameter is about three quarters of a millimeter.

Bacteria are independent, microscopic living things that have a cell structure and their own metabolism. The word "bacteria" originally stood for all small, unicellular organisms that were visible through a microscope. Along with Archeae and Eukarya, bacteria are one of the three most important components of a living being. They belong to the prokaryotes, so organisms that do not have a real nucleus are a similar area called a nucleoid. The DNA is not contained in the cell nucleus, but lies freely in the cytoplasm as a nucleoid. They also have such. B. mitochondria, no skin-enclosed cell organs. Bacteria, in turn, can be divided into actual and real bacteria.

According to their shape, bacteria can be called spherical, bread roll, club-shaped, rods or spirals. There are also bacteria that form mycelia, i.e. they have a branched structure made of threads, or fusiform bacteria as rods with pointed ends. As a separate research area, the bacteriology Bacteria at the center of their investigations.

What is the bacteriology?

The bacteriology is translated from the Greek the doctrine of the chopsticks. It deals primarily with bacteria that cause disease. Bacteria were first discovered by the Dutch merchant and scientist Anthony von Leeuwenhoek in 1676. He used a microscope he had designed himself and examined his own saliva and water from various bodies of water. He was one of the first people to observe cells and smaller living things under a microscope and developed the forerunner of the light microscope.

Bacteriology thus represents a sub-area of ​​microbiology. This in turn is the science of research into microorganisms, their effects on other organisms and their metabolism. Other sub-areas are virology, mycology or parasitology.

Treatments & therapies

In the past, diseases such as leprosy were seen as God's punishment. The sick were not treated, but expelled from the community. The plague also claimed many victims, as did tuberculosis and anthrax. In the second half of the 19th century, bacteriology became an important field of research. Natural scientists like Louis Pasteur or the German doctor Robert Koch discovered the microbes and found out that they were causative agents for dangerous diseases, including z. B. such as the anthrax.

Gradually it could be proven that bacteria are not, as was previously assumed, creatures of spontaneous generation from an inanimate nature, but are spread through the air. Pasteur also found out that bacteria can be killed by various methods, including: a. by heating. The procedure was named after him.

The results of bacteriology soon contributed to the enormous improvement in hygienic conditions, the development of highly effective vaccines against infections and serious diseases such as the plague completely out of the world. Today's bacteriology focuses on fighting complicated viral diseases, including AIDS and flu infections.

Diagnosis & examination methods

Important areas of bacteriology are studies of bacterial infections, respiratory infections, the molecular genetics of bacterial pathogenicity, and cellular microbiology. Furthermore, the discovery, identification and characterization of different bacterial strains and species is an important research area. The bacteria are systematically incorporated in this way. This is done using various sequencing methods. In addition, bacteriology gains decisive knowledge in the field of medicine, which in turn enables various diseases to be treated, therapeutic approaches designed and preventive measures taken.

Methods of bacteriology are e.g. B. Culture evidence, that is, smears of bacterial material on carrier materials and the associated evaluation of the shape and growth of a colony. This involves cultivating pathogens on a liquid or solid nutrient medium and creating an infection diagnosis in order to identify germs, determine their resistance and examine the whole thing epidemiologically.

Just as important is microscopy, which makes suspensions and stains visible. Methods are the Gram staining to differentiate bacteria and to divide them into two groups, namely into Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, which are stained blue and red. The Gram stain was invented by the Danish doctor Hans Christian Gram at the end of the 19th century. It is one of the most valuable diagnostic methods in microbiology. Bacteria can be differentiated according to the structure of the cell wall, whereby the different colors are based on the physical and chemical properties of the bacteria. This can again be used to make diagnoses in order to develop antibiotics for various infectious diseases.

Another method is the antibiogram, a smear of bacteria that are tested for growth and reaction with various antibiotic substances, antigen or nucleic acid detection and serology, which in turn detects specific antibodies in the serum.

Bacterial diseases are always contagious. They are diseases caused by a pathogen and often affect people with a weaker immune system. Usually they are preceded by a period of symptoms. In people who are not immunocompromised, such diseases can even come and go unnoticed. In contrast, there are septic and serious infectious diseases to which the body reacts with an accelerated pulse, fever and rapid breathing. The immune system tries to eliminate the pathogen. Medicinal antidotes are antibiotics against bacteria or antivirals against viruses.

Such diseases are often caused by a parasitic microorganism, especially unicellular and seedless bacteria, which bacteriology is extensively concerned with. Typical manifestations are meninges or pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera or Lyme borreliosis. The latter is a disease caused by e.g. B. ticks can be transmitted.