BACTERIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS AND ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: DAFNE SAMANTHA IRENE BONGIORNOExpected Learning Outcomes
Introduce students to the main classes of human pathogenic microorganisms, the concept of bacteriological diagnostics in clinical practice, and lay the foundations for the study of antibiotic susceptibility.
Course Structure
Required Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of microbiology, biochemistry, and genetics is required.
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
Isolation and identification of major microorganisms: general principles.
Bacteriological diagnosis: direct diagnosis, collection of biological material, sample submission, direct microscopic examination, staining techniques.
Culture-based examination:
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Blood culture
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Cerebrospinal fluid culture
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Sputum culture
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Urine culture
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Stool culture
Techniques for microorganism identification: macroscopic observation, assessment of physiological and metabolic characteristics in microbial cultures, identification using API galleries.
Immunological diagnostics.
Genotype-based microorganism identification: nucleic acid extraction and purification.
Gene amplification techniques: principles of PCR, identification using 16S rRNA.
Electrophoretic techniques: separation of nucleic acids, protein separation, analysis of genomic macrorestriction fragments, separation of PCR amplicons.
Antibiotic susceptibility testing: overview of antibiotics, MIC, MBC, E-test, and antibiograms; execution methods and interpretative criteria (EUCAST and CLSI).
Detection of resistance genes using PCR.
Main microbial pathogens.
Case study examples: urine culture; throat swab / sputum culture; blood culture.
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Oral presentation
Information for students with disabilities and / or SLD: To guarantee equal opportunities and in compliance with the laws in force, interested students can ask for a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and / or dispensatory measures, based on the teaching objectives and specifications needs. It is also possible to contact the CInAP contact person (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and / or SLD) of the Department of Biomedical and Biotechonological Sciences.