Principles of Public Health Microbiology

UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness
Syllabus for PH 295 (14) CC# 77088
Spring 2004, Modified 05/12/2004

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Instructor

Jane Wong, MS
UCB Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness
Tel: 510-643-4930 Fax: 510-643-4926
Email: jwong@ucbcidp.org, URL: http://www.ucbcidp.org/index.html

Graduate student instructor

Peggie Sue Wright, DrPH student, Email: PSWak@aol.com

Schedule: Tuesdays, 10:30am-12pm, 1918 University Ave., 4th Floor.

Date	Wk	Topics	Reading
03/16/04	1	Study of Pure Cultures of Microorganisms	Textbook, pp. 53-58, 1205-206
03/23/04	2	SPRING BREAK -- NO CLASSES
03/30/04	3	Review of DNA, RNA, protein synthesis; structure and growth of bacteria and viruses, control of growth	Handouts, Textbook, pp. 1-15, 84-86, 171-187
04/06/04	4	Structure and growth of viruses, control of growth, bacterial metabolism	Link to Univerversity of Wisconsin bacterial metabolism page
04/13/04	5	Pathogenesis	Textbook, pp. 23-52, 195-200
04/20/04	6	Selected Pathogens of Public Health Importance	Bacteria of Medical Importance
04/27/04	7	More Selected Pathogens, Antibiotics	Textbook, pp. 59-83, 207-217
05/04/04	8	Environmental and Water Microbiology	Link for more information on nitrogen fixation
05/11/04	9	Molecular and Serological Techniques	Textbook, pp 404-413 PCR diagram gel electrophoresis diagram

Description

The microbiology laboratory provides support to health care professionals by providing timely data on infectious diseases that can be used for patient management and disease control. This course is intended for epidemiologists, health officers, public health nurses, communicable disease investigators, physicians and others who want to review basic microbiology, learn the principles behind the tests done in a microbiology laboratory, and gain an appreciation of the microbial world. Public health applications will be emphasized. In addition to basic microbiology, we will discuss the variety of ecological niches that microorganisms can inhabit, how microorganisms cause disease and methods used to control them, and selected infectious disease agents.

Textbook

Levinson, Warren and Ernest Jawetz.
Medical Microbiology and Immunology, 7th edition.
McGraw-Hill/Appleton & Lange, 2002.

Requirements/Assignments

Attend class
Complete reading assignments
Write a report (2-5 pages, double-spaced) on one infectious agent (bacterial or viral). Hand in this report on May 4th.
Discuss:
1. Methods used to isolate the agent
2. Classical and rapid methods used to identify (discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each method)
3. Subtyping or strain testing methods that can be done on this particular agent, and how helpful these methods would be in an epidemiologic investigation of an outbreak.