The largest bacterium discovered to date was discovered in 1999. This is the sulfur pearl of Namibia, a species of bacteria that can even be seen with the naked eye. Its diameter is about three quarters of a millimeter. Bacteria are independent, microscopic living organisms that have a cellular structure and their own metabolism. The word “bacteria” originally stood for all small, single-celled organisms that could be seen through a microscope. Bacteria, along with archeae and eukarya, are one of the three most important components of a living organism. They belong to the prokaryotes, which are organisms that do not have a true nucleus, but have a similar area called a nucleoid. The DNA is not contained in the cell nucleus, but lies freely in the cytoplasm as a nucleoid. Also, like mitochondria, they do not possess skin-enclosed cell organs. Bacteria can again be divided into actual and true bacteria. According to the shape, bacteria can be called spherical, semmel-shaped, club-shaped, rod-shaped or spiral-shaped. In addition, there are bacteria that exhibit mycelial formation, i.e. have a branched structure of filaments, or fusiform bacteria as rods with pointed ends. As a separate field of research, bacteriology focuses on bacteria.
What is bacteriology ?
Translated from the Greek, bacteriology is the study of rods. It deals primarily with bacteria that cause disease. Translated from the Greek, bacteriology is the study of rods. It deals primarily with bacteria that are pathogenic. Bacteria were first discovered by the Dutch merchant and scientist Anthony von Leeuwenhoek in 1676. He used a microscope of his own design, examined his own saliva and water from various bodies of water. He was one of the first people to observe cells and smaller organisms under a microscope and developed the precursor of the light microscope. Thus, bacteriology represents a branch of microbiology. This in turn is the science of studying microorganisms, their effect on other organisms and their metabolism. Other subfields include virology, mycology, or parasitology.
Treatments and therapies
In the past, diseases such as leprosy were seen as punishment from God. The sick were not treated, but expelled from the community. The plague also claimed quite a few victims, as did tuberculosis or anthrax. In the second half of the 19th century, bacteriology then became an important field of research. Scientists such as Louis Pasteur or the German physician Robert Koch discovered microbes and found out that they were pathogens for dangerous diseases, including those such as anthrax. Gradually it was proved that bacteria are not living beings of a primordial generation from an inanimate nature, as was previously thought, but are spread through the air. Pasteur also discovered that bacteria could be killed by various methods, including heating. The process was named after him. The results of bacteriology soon helped to improve hygienic conditions enormously, to develop highly effective vaccines against infections and to eliminate serious diseases such as the plague altogether. In modern times, bacteriology focuses on fighting complicated viral diseases, including AIDS or influenza infections.
Diagnosis and examination methods
Important areas of bacteriology include studies of bacterial infections, respiratory tract infections, molecular genetics of bacterial pathogenicity, and cellular microbiology. Furthermore, the discovery, identification and characterization of different bacterial strains and species is an important area of research. Bacteria are systematically classified in this way. This is done using various sequencing methods. In addition, bacteriology gains authoritative knowledge in the field of medicine, which in turn allows various diseases to be treated, therapeutic approaches to be designed and preventive measures to be taken. Bacteriological methods include culture detection, i.e. smears of bacterial material on carrier materials and the associated evaluation of the shape and growth of a colony.In this process, pathogen cultures are set up on liquid or solid culture media and infection diagnostics are prepared, so that germs can be identified, their resistance determined and the whole thing studied epidemiologically. Equally important is microscopy, which visualizes suspensions and stains. Methods include Gram staining to differentiate bacteria and divide them into two groups, Gram-positive and -negative bacteria, which are stained blue and red. Gram stain was invented by Danish physician Hans Christian Gram at the end of the 19th century. It is one of the most valuable diagnostic methods in microbiology. Bacteria can be distinguished according to the structure of the cell wall, and the different staining is based on the physical and chemical properties of the bacteria. This again can be used to make diagnoses in order to develop antibiotics for various infectious diseases. Another method is the antibiogram, a smear of bacteria tested for growth and reaction with various antibiotic substances, antigen or nucleic acid detection, and serology, which again detects specific antibodies in serum. Bacterial diseases are always contagious. They are diseases caused by a pathogen and often affect people with a weaker immune system. They are usually preceded by a period of symptoms. In people who are not immunocompromised, such diseases can even come and go unnoticed. In contrast, there are septic and severe infectious diseases to which the body reacts with an accelerated pulse, fever and rapid breathing. The immune system thus tries to eliminate the pathogen. Medical antidotes are antibiotics against bacteria or antivirals against viruses. Such diseases are often caused by a parasitic microorganism, especially unicellular and nucleus-less bacteria, with which bacteriology deals extensively. Typical manifestations are meningitis or pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera or Lyme disease. The latter is a disease that can be transmitted by ticks, for example.
