B.Sc. Medical Microbiology

B.Sc. Medical Microbiology

The attributable mortality to infectious diseases has lately increased many folds both in the developing and developed countries. Emergence of newer infectious diseases like HIV, SARS, bird flu etc and reemergence of the old infectious diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid fever, syphilis and dengue fever with the enhanced virulence and resistance to treatment is the threat to the resource limited developing nations. Another major disquiet for the medical microbiologist is the threat of weapons of bioterrorism, where the diagnosis of the mediated disease has to be established in a very short time and management of the disease in a vast section of the population will be a colossal task. The changing epidemiology, clinical picture of the infectious diseases and the addition of more zoonoses infections is an added quandary for the microbiologist. This incredible creativity of the medical microbiologist emphasizes the contributions to health, diagnosis and management of diseases. The ingenious innovations like use of the molecular tools and newer methods to cultivate the pathogens have revolutionized the diagnosis of infectious diseases. The automation in medical microbiology has effectively reduced the diagnostic time and management cost of the patient.

Course Contents

The graduation course in medical microbiology provides a foundation to build expertise and knowledge in infectious and immune mediated diseases. This knowledge covey the fundamental concepts of sound diagnostic judgment, search for newer antimicrobial agents, mechanism of drug resistance and research on newer vaccines. The course provides an extensive base for the advanced learning and quest for relevant research. The course in B.Sc. medical microbiology comprises of a comprehensive in depth study of the various aspects of infectious and immune mediated diseases. First year: Human anatomy & physiology, Basic pathology, Clinical biochemistry, Preventive medicine and health care, Fundamentals of medical microbiology, Instrumentation techniques in medical microbiology. Second year: Bacterial pathogens & associated diseases, Systemic bacteriology, Misc .microbes fungal pathogens & associated diseases, Laboratory diagnosis of microbial diseases, Human parasitology, Applied medical microbiology. Third year: Pathogenic viruses and associated diseases, Applied immunology & serodiagnosis, Advanced diagnostic technology, Automation and computerization in medical microbiology, Molecular biology & clinical laboratory technology.

Scope


The medical microbiologist is an indispensable member of the team managing the infectious diseases and forms an important part of the health care delivery system. The role of medical microbiologist in the clinical and basic medical research has always remained very crucial. The contribution of medical microbiologist in the pharmaceutical industry remains ever consummate. Medical microbiology is an obligatory part of the food industry and the community health services. After graduation the medical microbiologist can be an important part of investigative team in the hospitals, diagnostic laboratories and clinics. He can be a part of the research team in the research centers. The enthusiasm to run own diagnostic practice can be another vast horizon. Those who look for an academic or research career may opt for pursuing the higher studies like M.Sc. and PhD in medical microbiology to be a part of the faculty in the medical colleges or member of the research team any where in the world.