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Medical microbiology is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various clinical applications of microbes for the improvement of health. There are four kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease: bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses and one type of infectious protein called a prion. A medical microbiologist studies the characteristics of pathogens, their modes of transmission, mechanisms of infection and growth.〔http://jcm.asm.org/content/48/10/3465.full.pdf〕 Using this information a treatment can be devised. Medical microbiologists often serve as consultants for physicians, providing identification of pathogens and suggesting treatment options. Other tasks may include the identification of potential health risks to the community or monitoring the evolution of potentially virulent or resistant strains of microbes, educating the community and assisting in the design of health practices. They may also assist in preventing or controlling epidemics and outbreaks of disease. Not all medical microbiologists study microbial pathology; some study common, non-pathogenic species to determine whether their properties can be used to develop antibiotics or other treatment methods. Whilst epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in populations, medical microbiology primarily focuses on the presence and growth of microbial infections in individuals, their effects on the human body and the methods of treating those infections. ==History == In 1676, Anton van Leeuwenhoek observed bacteria and other microorganisms, using a single-lens microscope of his own design. In 1796, using an ancient Chinese technique for smallpox vaccination, Edward Jenner developed a method using cowpox to successfully immunize a child against smallpox. The same principles are used for developing vaccines today. Following on from this, in 1857 Louis Pasteur also designed vaccines against several diseases such as anthrax, fowl cholera and rabies as well as pasteurization for food preservation. In 1867 Joseph Lister is considered to be the father of antiseptic surgery. By sterilizing the instruments with diluted carbolic acid and using it to clean wounds, post-operative infections were reduced making surgery safer for patients. In the years between 1876-1884 Robert Koch provided much insight into infectious disease. He was one of the first scientists to focus on the isolation of bacteria in pure culture. This gave rise to germ theory, a certain microorganism being responsible for a certain disease. He developed a series of criteria around this that have become known as the Koch's postulates. A major milestone in medical microbiology is the Gram stain. In 1884 Hans Christian Gram developed the method of staining bacteria, to make them more visible and differentiable under a microscope. This technique is widely used today. In 1929 Alexander Fleming developed the most commonly used antibiotic substance both at the time and now: penicillin. DNA sequencing, a method developed by Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger in 1977,〔Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors" ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 74:5463-5467.〕 caused a rapid change the development of vaccines, medical treatments and diagnostic methods. Some of these include synthetic insulin which was produced in 1979 using recombinant DNA and the first genetically engineered vaccine was created in 1986 for Hepatitis B. In 1995 a team at The Institute for Genomic Research sequenced the first bacterial genome; Haemophilus influenzae.〔Fleischmann R, Adams M, White O, Clayton R, Kirkness E, Kerlavage A, Bult C, Tomb J, Dougherty B, Merrick J, al. e (1995) Whole-genome random sequencing and assembly of Haemophilus influenzae Rd" ''Science'' 269:496-512.〕 A few months later, the first eukaryotic genome was completed. This would prove invaluable for diagnostic techniques.〔Prescott LM, Harley JP, Klein DA (2005) Microbiology: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「medical microbiology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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