Welcome to the wonderful world of microbiology! Yay! So. What is microbiology? If we break the word down it translates to “the study of small life,” where the small life refers to microorganisms or microbes. But who are the microbes? And how small are they? Generally microbes can be divided in to two categories: the cellular microbes (or organisms) and the acellular microbes (or agents). In the cellular camp we have the bacteria, the archaea, the fungi, and the protists (a bit of a grab bag composed of algae, protozoa, slime molds, and water molds). Cellular microbes can be either unicellular, where one cell is the entire organism, or multicellular, where hundreds, thousands or even billions of cells can make up the entire organism. In the acellular camp we have the viruses and other infectious agents, such as prions and viroids. In this textbook the focus will be on the bacteria and archaea (traditionally known as the “prokaryotes,”) and the viruses and other acellular agents.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Microbiology
2. Microscopes
3. Cell Structure
4. Bacteria: Cell Walls
5. Bacteria: Internal Components
6. Bacteria: Surface Structures
7. Archaea
8. Introduction to Viruses
9. Microbial Growth
10. Environmental Factors
11. Microbial Nutrition
12. Energetics & Redox Reactions
13. Chemoorganotrophy
14. Chemolithotrophy & Nitrogen Metabolism
15. Phototrophy
16. Taxonomy & Evolution
17. Microbial Genetics
18. Genetic Engineering
19. Genomics
20. Microbial Symbioses
21. Bacterial Pathogenicity
22. The Viruses

Learning Objectives in this unit:

Distinguish between signs and symptoms of disease
Explain the difference between a communicable disease and a noncommunicable disease
Compare different types of infectious diseases, including iatrogenic, nosocomial, and zoonotic diseases
Identify and describe the stages of an acute infectious disease in terms of number of pathogens present and severity of signs and symptoms
Summarize Koch’s postulates and molecular Koch’s postulates, respectively, and explain their significance and limitations
Explain the concept of pathogenicity (virulence) in terms of infectious and lethal dose
Distinguish between primary and opportunistic pathogens and identify specific examples of each
Summarize the stages of pathogenesis
Explain the roles of portals of entry and exit in the transmission of disease and identify specific examples of these portals
Explain how virulence factors contribute to signs and symptoms of infectious disease
Differentiate between endotoxins and exotoxins
Describe and differentiate between various types of exotoxins
Describe the mechanisms viruses use for adhesion and antigenic variation
Describe virulence factors unique to fungi and parasites
Compare virulence factors of fungi and bacteria
Explain the difference between protozoan parasites and helminths
Describe how helminths evade the host immune system

Hi. This OER contains PowerPoint Presentation slides for the Microbiology OpenStax textbook. Chapters 1 - 10 have been uploaded to this platform. All PowerPoint presentations will be refined during implementation. In the meantime, please feel free to use these resources and modify to your liking as I have a different arrangement of slides that are most suitable to my student's needs and course learning outcomes. Thank you for taking time to stop by!  "OpenStax Microbiology Slides" by Adronisha Frazier, Louisiana Community and Technical College System, Northshore Technical Community College is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. 

Microbiology for Allied Health Students is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements for the single semester Microbiology course for non-majors and allied health students. The book presents the core concepts of microbiology with a focus on applications for careers in allied health.

Adapted from OpenStax Microbiology, CC BY 4.0