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0:01
Hello. My name is
Dr. Martin Goldberg.
I'm a senior lecturer in
clinical microbiology
at Birmingham City
University and I've been
asked to produce a
series of lectures
for Level 4 biological
sciences students.
This series is an
introduction to microbiology.
Today's lecture is entitled
Microbes and disease.
We're going to dig deep
into why some organisms
become harmful,
become pathogenic
whereas other organisms
remain harmless and what we
call commensal organisms.
0:40
There are four learning outcomes
I'm going to talk about.
First of all, we're going
to look at the entry
of microorganisms and
colonization of the body.
We're going to have
a look at the spread
of pathogens within the host.
We're going to look
at the physiology
of microbial diseases.
I'll just give some
examples just to
give you an idea of
the diversity of
pathogens and finally look at
how pathogens escape and
spread to new hosts.
1:10
But before we can start
looking at pathogens and
how they cause disease,
we need to understand
that the body contains or
has on its surface up to
10th power of 14 bacteria,
fungi viruses, all sorts
of microorganisms and
they live on our skin,
the gastrointestinal tract,
the genital tract
and the oropharynx.
With so many microorganisms
associated with our bodies,
the body needs to develop
a whole series of
barriers to ensure that
these microorganisms do not
enter parts of the body
that are particularly sensitive
and could cause harm.
An equilibrium is built between
the body and these
microorganisms.
The task is to prevent
colonization and
invasion by pathogens,
but at the same time allowing
the normal flora to be able to
colonize and carry out
a wide range of very important
functions keeping
us fit and healthy.
A couple of important
definitions
