Description
Basic principles in bacteriology: From clinical symptoms to diagnostic procedures and treatment standards
Bacterial infections still pose a significant problem to societies in developing as well as European countries. These infections are usual related to well characterized groups of bacteria with known human pathogenic potential. Such virulent bacterial species express specific factors facilitating the establishment of infections even in the face of a competent human immune system. Knowing the association between specific clinical symptoms and typically encountered pathogens makes it sometimes easy to stratify patients presenting in the hospital and to deduce antimicrobial therapies. However, it is major importance to understand that certainly also unusual pathogens can cause infections, and that the typical pathogens are not necessarily susceptible against antimicrobials administered during what is called empiric therapy. Therefore, especially in the face of ever increasing rates of resistance against commonly used antibiotics, the identification of bacterial pathogens in clinical specimens is of utmost importance, since it sets the basis for a specific, pathogen-targeted therapy. In this lecture, the basic principles of bacterial infections are discussed. In addition, approaches towards the diagnosis of infectious agents in clinical specimens are presented, and very recent advances in the field of diagnostic microbiology will be addressed. In addition, we will learn how modern molecular techniques, i.e. mass spectrometry and next generation sequencing, will fundamentally change our approach to detect and characterize bacterial pathogens in the context of human infections.
