VETERINARY MICROBIOLOGY, IMMUNOLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY (4 credits) | Veterinary Epidemiology (4 credits) |
Learning outcomes of the course unit
The student is expected to acquire basic knowledge of bacterial cells, viruses and immune phenomena.
Course contents summary
BACTERIOLOGY
Shape, size, spatial arrangement.
Structure of the prokaryotic cell: nucleus, cytoplasm, cytoplasmatic inclusions, ribosomes, plasmids, cytoplasmatic membrane,
mesosomes, gram-positive and gram-negative walls, flagellum, adhesion organs, capsules, antigens.
Wall-defective bacteria: protoplasts, spheroplasts, L-forms.
Nutrition and metabolism: energy production, aerobiosis and anaerobiosis, respiration and fermentation, biosynthesis of the main
cell elements.
Culture: chemical-physical factors affecting bacterial replication, simple and complex, liquid and solid,
enriching and selective isolating culture media.
Reproduction: splitting, growth curve and chemical-physical factors affecting it.
Bacterial identification.
General taxonomic characteristics: staphylococci, streptococci, corynebacteria, bacilli, clostridia, listeriae,
actinomycetes, campylobacters, enterobacteria, moraxellae, bordetellae, neisseriae, pseudomonas, alcaligenes, aeromonas, vibrios,
yersiniae, pasteurellae, brucellae, hemophyli, spirochete, mycobacteria, rickettsias, chlamydias, mycoplasmas.
Genetics: mutations, recombinations, (transformation, conjugation, transduction), phagic conversion, R plasmids and
pathogenicity plasmids (pilus-like structures, Col, Ent, Hly).
Pathogenic action: pathogenicity, virulence, infectivity, receptivity, infection, disease, healthy carrier; pathogenicity factors
(adhesion structures, invasive factors, anti-phagocytic defence, endo- and exotoxin elaboration).
Genesis and evolution of an infectious disease: primary lesion, dissemination, tropisms.
Basic knowledge of disinfection: aims, limits, main classes of disinfectants.
Antibiotics: classes and mechanisms of action.
VIROLOGY
Chemical composition, size and structure of complex, cubic-helical symmetry viruses, capsid, capsomers, peplos,
peplomers
Bacteriophages: morphology and structure, lytic cycle and lysogenic cycle.
Interaction between viruses and eukaryotic cells attachment, penetration, replication, maturation, release
Culture: tissue cultures, cell cultures, animals, embryonated eggs. Viral replication culture and detection methods.
Virus titration: physical, biological, hemagglutination methods.
General taxonomic characteristics of DNA and RNA viruses .
Non-conventional infectious diseases
IMMUNOLOGY
Non-specific protection mechanisms of the skin and mucosa: structure, integrity, dynamic phenomena, normal bacterial flora.
Phagocytosis: professional and occasional phagocytes, opsonins, phagocytosis mechanisms, fate of phagocyted microorganisms,
survival consequences.
Antigens: chemical-physical characters, determinants or epitopes, haptenes and carriers, immunogenicity, thymus-dependent and thymus-independent antigens.
Humoral immunity: primary and secondary lymphoid organs, lymphocyte classes, antibody production, structure and classes of
immunoglobulins, distribution.
Local and cell-mediated immunity.
Primary and secondary response, memory, lymphocyte recirculation.
Active immunity: infection, vaccination, types of vaccine, methods of administration.
Passive immunity: transplacental, colostral, by immune sera.
Complement: components, classical and alternative activation route, functions.
Interferons: classes, production, biological meaning in antiviral defence and in the immune and delayed responses.
Immediate and delayed immune hypersensitivity.
Serological reactions: precipitation, agglutination, hemagglutination and its inhibition, neutralization, complement fixation
immunofluorescence, radioimmune and immunenzymatic techniques
Recommended readings
ABBAS A.K., LICHTMAN A.H., POBER S.J.: Immunologia cellulare e molecolare, Piccin, Padova, 1993.
DAVIS B.D., DULBECCO R., EISEN H.N., GINSBERG H.S: Microbiology, Harper and Row, Hagerstown, IV ed.
POLI G., COCILOVO A.: Microbiologia e Immunologia Veterinaria, Utet, Torino, 2005.