Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science

School: Medical Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Medical Microbiology

• Unit Code

  MMS2102

• Year

  2015

• Enrolment Period

  2

• Version

  2

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  

Description

This unit provides students with a knowledge and understanding of the nature of pathogens and the mechanisms underlying infectious disease development in humans. Students will gain the theoretical and practical foundations for clinical assessment and analysis of disease-causing pathogens, the growth and control of microorganisms, and disease prevention.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must pass 1 units from SCH2235

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Determine the distinguishing features of the major groups of medically important microorganisms, including growth and metabolism.
2. Determine the major microorganisms involved in human disease.
3. Determine the medically important acellular microorganisms, the diseases caused and their control.
4. Explain methods used to control the growth of microorganisms, including the prevention of disease due to microorganisms.
5. Explain the immunological response of humans to microorganisms.
6. Select and utilise appropriate methods of isolating and observing microorganisms.

Unit Content

1. Acellular microorganisms (including viruses and prions) and their infectious processes.
2. Commonly used laboratory tests for the isolation and detection of microbial infection.
3. Health versus disease, investigation of microbial disease, epidemiological methods, methods in microbiology, and classification of infectious disease.
4. Measurement of microbial growth, physical and chemical control of microbial growth, antibiotics and other chemotherapeutic agents.
5. Mechanisms of immunity to microbial infection including non-specific, humoral and cell-mediated.
6. The role of eukaryotic microorganisms in disease.

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit will be taught using lectures, tutorials, student research seminars and hands-on laboratory sessions. Blackboard will also be utilised for content delivery.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Text References

• ^ Ford, M. (Ed.). (2010). Medical microbiology (Fundamentals of biomedical science). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
• Black, J. G. (2008). Microbiology: Principles and explorations (7th ed.). Victoria, Australia: John Wiley & Sons.
• Vos, P., Garrity, G., Jones, D., Krieg, N.R., Ludwig, W., Rainey, F.A., Schleifer, K.-H., & Whitman, W.B. (Eds.). (2009). Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology. Vol. 3, (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
• Strelkauskas, A., Strelkauskas, J., & Strelkauskas, D.M. (2010). Microbiology: A clinical approach. New York, NY: Garland Science.
• Tortora, G. J., Funke, B. R., & Case, C. L. (2010). Microbiology: An introduction (10th ed.). San Francisco, SF: Pearson/BenjaminCummings.
• Willey, J. M., & Sherwood, L., & Woolverton, C. (2013). Prescott's Microbiology (9th ed.). McGraw Hill.
• Hofkin, B. (2010). Living in a microbial world. New York, NY: Garland Publishing.

^ Mandatory reference