BSc Microbiology with a Modern Language

Principles of Infectious Disease will provide you with a broad understanding of the biology of microbial infections, focussing on bacterial and fungal human infections. You will study the mechanisms of microbial pathogenicity, starting with pathogen transmission and entry into the host, progressing through adhesion and invasion, to cell and tissue damage and host responses to injury. The diseases studied will include tuberculosis, cholera, listeriosis, salmonellosis, gonorrhoea,  pseudomembranous colitis and key fungal infections. 
 

To explore the fundamentals of how microorganisms cause disease and the interactions that occur between a pathogen and host during infection. To study the mechanisms of microbial pathogenicity (focussing mainly on bacteria as well as important fungal infections), starting with pathogen transmission and entry into the host, progressing through adhesion, invasion and pathogen survival strategies within a host, to cell and tissue damage and host responses to infection. To gain a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis and disease for exemplary human pathogens. 
 

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Define the key host defences in preventing microbial infections and explain how they protect against bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Describe the strategies used by bacteria to penetrate host external defences and explain, using examples, the mechanisms used in host colonisation and/or invasion.

Describe, including examples, bacterial strategies for avoiding killing by phagocytes and explain how they function.

Describe bacterial strategies for evading complement and antibodies and explain the mechanisms involved.

Outline key factors that contribute to opportunistic infections.

Describe the burden of fungal infections in humans and the virulence mechanisms of key fungal pathogens

Define the structural features of bacterial products that contribute to the pathology of infectious disease (including endotoxin, exotoxins, lipoarabinommannan, pili, polysaccharide capsules, urease, invasins and secreted effector proteins. Use this information to explain how they function.

Illustrate the mechanisms of action of bacterial exotoxins. Compare and contrast their structures and mechanisms of action.

Explain the mechanisms of pathogenesis of selected human pathogens in detail (these representing paradigms of pathogen-host interactions) and analyse how these mechanisms promote survival within a host.

Interpret and analyse primary research papers.

Basic concepts of microbial pathogenicity and virulence

Colonisation & invasion of the host.

Host surface defences & bacterial mechanisms of colonisation & invasion

Diseases associated with colonisation via pili: uropathogenic Escherichia coli & Neisseria gonorrhoea

Encounter with innate & adaptive immunity: Phagocytes, complement, T & B lymphocytes & antibodies. Microbial strategies for overcoming innate & adaptive defences.

Fungal infections, including key human fungal pathogens & their virulence mechanisms

Introduction to bacterial toxin types & toxins in specific diseases (diphtheria, botulism, tetanus, cholera & whooping cough)

Selected human infectious diseases/emerging diseases in detail:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis & the disease TB

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli

Salmonellosis: Salmonella enterica serovars Typhimurium & Typhi

Colonisation of the stomach mucosa by Helicobacter pylori

Intracellular survival & spread: Listeria monocytogenes & listeriosis

Clostridium difficile & pseudomembranous colitis

Borrelia burgdorferi & Lyme disease

Camylobacter jejuni & gastrointestinal disease 

eLearning Activity

An eLearning (ePBL) assessment based on a published research article will be delivered online through blackboard. This should be undertaken during week 5 of the course (deadline week 6) and will form 20% of the overall assessment of the unit.  

Three MCQ based ‘in course’ optional formative tests will be delivered online via blackboard to provide feedback on understanding prior to the summative assessment

Lecture slides and other materials/activities that support the lecture material and assessments will be posted on Blackboard.

Optional practice exam essay questions will be posted online for formative feedback 
 

• On campus, closed book, written examination at the end of the unit (contributing 80% of the unit mark): Section A – MCQs, section B - 1 essay from a choice 
• Set exercise 1: Online e-learning assignment based upon reading a research paper. Single online test regarding comprehension of the paper comprising 10 multiple answer and true/false questions) (contributing 15% of the unit mark).

Feedback will be given on the eLearning ePBL and formative MCQ assessments as well as by end of semester exam marks. This will include: (i) formative individual feedback to all students regarding performance in the ePBL and MCQ activities, and (ii) general feedback on exam performance by releasing a document addressing general strengths and weaknesses of answers and how questions were answered, and (iii) feedback on exam performance will be given by a drop-in session run by the unit coordinator in semester 5 or by individual correspondence (written or verbal) upon request.

In addition, oral feedback on a practice ePBL based on a research paper will be given in an interactive Q&A session. Students will also be provided with the opportunity (non-assessed) to write a practice exam essay prior to the exam and will be given individual formative feedback.  

Wilson, BA, Winkler, ME and Ho, BT, Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular approach (4th edition), ASM Press, 2010, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18 & 19 (Recommended) 

 Details of up-to-date relevant reviews will also be provided during the course as optional reading