VETERINARY MICROBIOLOGY, IMMUNOLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
cod. 14523

Academic year 2007/08
2° year of course - First semester
Professor responsible for the course unit
BOTTARELLI Ezio
integrated course unit
8 credits
hub:
course unit
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Course unit structured in the following modules:

Learning objectives

<br />The student is expected to acquire basic knowledge of bacterial cells, viruses and immune phenomena.

Prerequisites

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Course unit content

<br />BACTERIOLOGY<br />Shape, size, spatial arrangement.<br />Structure of the prokaryotic cell: nucleus, cytoplasm, cytoplasmatic inclusions, ribosomes, plasmids, cytoplasmatic membrane, <br />mesosomes, gram-positive and gram-negative walls, flagellum, adhesion organs, capsules, antigens.<br />Wall-defective bacteria: protoplasts, spheroplasts, L-forms.<br />Nutrition and metabolism: energy production, aerobiosis and anaerobiosis, respiration and fermentation, biosynthesis of the main<br />cell elements.<br />Culture: chemical-physical factors affecting bacterial replication, simple and complex, liquid and solid, <br />enriching and selective isolating culture media.<br />Reproduction: splitting, growth curve and chemical-physical factors affecting it.<br />Bacterial identification.<br />General taxonomic characteristics: staphylococci, streptococci, corynebacteria, bacilli, clostridia, listeriae, <br />actinomycetes, campylobacters, enterobacteria, moraxellae, bordetellae, neisseriae, pseudomonas, alcaligenes, aeromonas, vibrios,<br />yersiniae, pasteurellae, brucellae, hemophyli, spirochete, mycobacteria, rickettsias, chlamydias, mycoplasmas.<br />Genetics: mutations, recombinations, (transformation, conjugation, transduction), phagic conversion, R plasmids and <br />pathogenicity plasmids (pilus-like structures, Col, Ent, Hly).<br />Pathogenic action: pathogenicity, virulence, infectivity, receptivity, infection, disease, healthy carrier; pathogenicity factors<br />(adhesion structures, invasive factors, anti-phagocytic defence, endo- and exotoxin elaboration).<br />Genesis and evolution of an infectious disease: primary lesion, dissemination, tropisms.<br />Basic knowledge of disinfection: aims, limits, main classes of disinfectants.<br />Antibiotics: classes and mechanisms of action.<br />VIROLOGY<br />Chemical composition, size and structure of complex, cubic-helical symmetry viruses, capsid, capsomers, peplos, <br />peplomers<br />Bacteriophages: morphology and structure, lytic cycle and lysogenic cycle.<br />Interaction between viruses and eukaryotic cells attachment, penetration, replication, maturation, release<br />Culture: tissue cultures, cell cultures, animals, embryonated eggs. Viral replication culture and detection methods.<br />Virus titration: physical, biological, hemagglutination methods.<br />General taxonomic characteristics of DNA and RNA viruses .<br />Non-conventional infectious diseases<br />IMMUNOLOGY<br />Non-specific protection mechanisms of the skin and mucosa: structure, integrity, dynamic phenomena, normal bacterial flora.<br />Phagocytosis: professional and occasional phagocytes, opsonins, phagocytosis mechanisms, fate of phagocyted microorganisms,<br />survival consequences.<br />Antigens: chemical-physical characters, determinants or epitopes, haptenes and carriers, immunogenicity, thymus-dependent and thymus-independent antigens.<br />Humoral immunity: primary and secondary lymphoid organs, lymphocyte classes, antibody production, structure and classes of <br />immunoglobulins, distribution.<br />Local and cell-mediated immunity.<br />Primary and secondary response, memory, lymphocyte recirculation.<br />Active immunity: infection, vaccination, types of vaccine, methods of administration.<br />Passive immunity: transplacental, colostral, by immune sera.<br />Complement: components, classical and alternative activation route, functions.<br />Interferons: classes, production, biological meaning in antiviral defence and in the immune and delayed responses.<br />Immediate and delayed immune hypersensitivity.<br />Serological reactions: precipitation, agglutination, hemagglutination and its inhibition, neutralization, complement fixation<br />immunofluorescence, radioimmune and immunenzymatic techniques

Full programme

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Bibliography

<br />ABBAS A.K., LICHTMAN A.H., POBER S.J.: Immunologia cellulare e molecolare, Piccin, Padova, 1993.<br />DAVIS B.D., DULBECCO R., EISEN H.N., GINSBERG H.S: Microbiology, Harper and Row, Hagerstown, IV ed.<br />POLI G., COCILOVO A.: Microbiologia e Immunologia Veterinaria, Utet, Torino, 2005.

Teaching methods

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Assessment methods and criteria

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Other information

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