Microbiology Nuts & Bolts
  • Home
  • Basic Concepts
    • What is infection?
    • Normal flora
    • Diagnosing infection
  • Microbiology
    • Basic bacterial identification
    • Interpreting bacteriology results
    • Interpreting serology results
  • Infection Control
    • What is infection control?
    • Universal precautions
    • MRSA
    • Clostridium difficile
  • Clinical Scenarios
    • Respiratory infections
    • Urinary infections
    • GI infections >
      • D&V
      • CDAD
    • CNS infections
    • Skin & bone infections
    • Sepsis
  • Antibiotics
    • Antimicrobial Stewardship
    • How antibiotics work
    • How to choose an antibiotic?
    • Reviewing antibiotics
    • Antibiotic resistance
    • Testing antibiotic resistance
    • Penicillin allergy
    • Theraputic Drug Monitoring
  • Guidelines
  • Lectures & Lecture Notes
    • Medical Students
    • Curriculum for the Foundation Program
    • Foundation Year 1
    • Foundation Year 2
    • Other Lectures
  • The Bug Blog
  • Buy the book...
  • NEW Edition Updates
  • Peer Reviews
  • Our Facebook page
  • Want to know more?
  • Contact

Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto the beach…they say stay out of the water!

22/5/2020

 
The government are allowing us to visit the beach but are advising us to stay out of the water as there are no lifeguards on duty and do not want additional casualties in hospital. But there might be another reason for us to consider staying out too! Viruses!!! Really!!? Can you actually find viruses in the sea? It’s a simple question but not one many of us have considered before… including me, but then why would we?
 
You might think that seawater is too salty for viruses and that they would never survive in such a hostile environment. Alternatively you might think that if viruses can survive on surfaces like plastic, metal and cardboard then why not also in the sea. But do we know?
 
Well back in 1990 Scientists confirmed that viruses can indeed be found in seawater; while looking at seawater with transmission electron microscopes (TEM) they saw “something unusual” but they didn’t actually know at that time what it was… however they could see them! So they started to study them. Remember, TEMs can “see” much smaller objects than normal light microscopes; the limit of magnification of a light microscope is about 1,000x, not enough to see a virus, whereas TEMs can magnify 10,000,000x! OK I know you youngsters think 1990 seems a long time ago but in scientific terms it’s not that long, it’s only since these discoveries in the 1990s that they actually confirmed viruses were there, even though “infection” from contaminated seawater was suspected.
 
Further studies have shown that in fact there are lots and lots and lots of viruses in seawater….
viruses in the sea

Read More

There ain’t no flies on us - Normal flora in healthcare workers

14/5/2020

 
As the saying goes, “there ain’t no flies on us, there ain’t no flies on us, there may be flies on some of you guys but there ain’t no flies on us!”
 
I had a great question last week from Michael Kamdar who asked me “if a healthcare professional who works within a hospital would have the flora of that of a normal person within the community or within a hospital?” Great question! And although I have no specific resources I can comment from experience… Firstly let’s go over the normal flora of non-hospitalised people.
Picture
image from www.evolution.berkeley.edu

Read More

If you can’t go to the zoo, could the zoo be coming to you?

7/5/2020

 
SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS Cov2), the cause of the infection Covid-19, is a zoonotic infection; it has been transmitted from an animal to a human. Genetic analysis of the virus has shown that SARS Cov2 is an intestinal bat coronavirus that has successfully made the jump from bats to humans, probably as a result of human contact with bat guano.
 
Although that sounds alarming, zoonotic infections are actually quite common and have been a problem for Homo sapiens/humans ever since we crawled out of the primordial slime millions of years ago.
zoonoses

Read More

    RSS Feed

    Blog Author:

    David Garner
    Consultant Microbiologist
    Surrey, UK

    Please DO NOT advertise products and conferences on our website or blog

    Categories

    All
    Antibiotic Resistance
    Antibiotics
    Basic Concepts
    Clinical Scenarios
    Guidelines
    Infection Control
    In The News
    Microbiology

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All
    Antibiotic Resistance
    Antibiotics
    Basic Concepts
    Clinical Scenarios
    Guidelines
    Infection Control
    In The News
    Microbiology

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.