Microbiology and Infectious Disease for Dummies
Like most fields, microbiology is one filled with jargon. Many laymen don’t even realize the differences between a bacterium and a virus, much less the smaller differences between, for example, a pathogenic versus a commensal organism. So, while I will still have to define new terms as they come up in future articles, I thought I’d begin with a very general microbiology primer to get everyone up to speed on the basics of the microbial word.
To begin with, in the “well, duh” category, microbiology is the study of very tiny life. Initially, those studied were mainly disease-causing organisms; pioneers such as
Robert Koch and
Louis Pasteur studied bacteria including anthrax and tuberculosis, developing the germ theory of disease and laying down
postulates to decide whether a particular microbe is truly the cause of a specific illness along the way.
Generally today, the all-encompassing group of “microbes” are divided into viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoans. I will discuss each category briefly, and touch on prion diseases as well, finishing up with a brief introduction to our body’s disease-control mechanism, the immune system. Please do keep in mind that the statements below are gross generalizations; exceptions exist to many of the basic guidelines put forth below. So to begin this veritable stew of information: