Overview
Academic contacts
Offerings
Requisites
Other learning activities
Learning activities
Learning outcomes
Choose the appropriate laboratory investigations to identify common bacteria and viruses, and test
antimicrobial susceptibility.
Outline the concept of antimicrobial resistance in clinical settings
Recognise the importance of multi-drug resistant bacterial clones in health care settings.
Evaluate and communicate the relevance of laboratory findings to clinical presentation.
Competence in basic laboratory diagnostic techniques.
Assessments
Additional information
Clinical microbiology is the branch of laboratory medicine that is concerned with the prevention, diagnosis
and treatment of infectious diseases. BMS324 Clinical microbiology I will continue from the foundations set
in BMS212 Medical Microbiology, with a specific focus on bacterial and viral infections that cause human
diseases. This unit covers the pathophysiology of infectious diseases and the laboratory investigations used
to diagnose these conditions. During the first part of semester this unit covers bacteriology, including
mechanisms and detection of antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial agents and susceptibility testing, infections
of the urinary tract, central nervous system, nosocomial infections, zoonotic infections, gastrointestinal
infections, molecular diagnostics inclusive of next generation sequencing, basic understanding of important
pathogens such as multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), clostridial infections. During the second part of semester
this unit covers virology particularly, serology, antigen detection methods and next generation sequencing
of viral pathogens, respiratory and diarrheal infections, hepatitis, HIV, zoonotic viruses. The unit will also
cover the basis of vaccines. This unit will cover these topics using an integrated series of lectures and
practicals. There will be an emphasis on the development of laboratory skills and problem solving through
case studies.