1. An Introduction to Infection
- A basic introduction to what an infection is
- Understand how a patient might get an infection
- Understand some of the signs of infection
Infection
Infection
Learn the processes and outcomes of infection within the human body and how both the body and medical professionals deal with pathogens.
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- Introduce and explain the concept of an infection model
- Detail each step of the infection model
- Discuss healthcare-acquired infection (an infection caught while receiving healthcare)
3. Bacterial Structure, Classification and Growth
- Connect bacterial walls, capsules, appendages (surface structures such as the whip-like flagella and the hair-like pili), oxygen use and growth phases with survival, how bacteria behave when grown in the laboratory, and drug targets.
4. Biofilms
- What are biofilms (communities of bacteria stuck to a surface in a protective slime)?
- What is the clinical significance of biofilms?
- Management of biofilms
- What are the different innate barriers to infection?
- How do these barriers work?
- What can damage these barriers or prevent them from working correctly?
- What are the key components in the adaptive immune response?
- What is the function of antigen presenting cells?
- What are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules (proteins that display antigens to immune cells) and why are they important?
- Why are T-helper cells (white blood cells that coordinate other immune cells) important and how do they respond to microbes inside our cells (intracellular) and outside them (extracellular)?
7. Gram Staining and Investigative Techniques
- Understand the investigative techniques used to diagnose a patient's infection, including Gram staining (a dye test that sorts bacteria by their cell wall), and identify the causative micro-organism.
8. Staphylococci and Other Gram-positive Bacteria
- Use morphology (shape and appearance), catalase (an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide), coagulase (an enzyme that clots plasma), spores (tough dormant forms) and toxin mechanisms to organise the major Gram-positive (purple-staining) bacterial groups, including staphylococci (clusters of round bacteria).
9. Streptococci
- Learn the classification and characteristics of streptococci (chains of round bacteria)
- Learn about the virulence factors (features that help a microbe cause disease) of Streptococcus pyogenes in particular and how they influence pathogenicity (the ability to cause disease) in a clinical context
- More broadly, understand the influence of virulence factors on disease progression in the infected person (the host).
10. Gram-negative Bacteria: Structure, Entry Routes and Endotoxin
- Relate the Gram-negative (pink-staining) envelope and lipopolysaccharide (LPS, a fat-and-sugar molecule in the outer wall, also called endotoxin) to inflammation, then organise organisms by entry route and by the part of the body or environment they live in (their niche).
11. The Organisms Gram Staining Misses
- Explain why unusual envelopes and intracellular lifestyles evade Gram staining and how this changes which diagnostic test is chosen.
12. Sepsis
- Describe and understand the mechanism of sepsis
- Identify the red flag symptoms
- Learn the management of sepsis
13. Antibiotics
- Be able to outline the commonly used antibiotics and give examples of conditions that they are commonly used to treat
- Be able to describe how each type of antibiotic works
- Be able to discuss the advantages of choosing one antibiotic class over another
- Be able to describe antibiotic resistance
- Be able to outline the commonly used antifungals and antivirals and when they are used
14. Principles of Medical Virology
- Build a reusable model of viral structure, replication, latency (the virus lying dormant in the body), antigenic change (changes in virus surface proteins that avoid immunity), diagnostic methods and selective antiviral targets (viral features that antivirals can attack without harming human cells).
15. Hepatitis
- What is hepatitis?
- How is hepatitis detected?
- What are the main types of hepatitis and how common is each type?
- How is hepatitis transmitted?
- How can we treat and prevent hepatitis infections?
- How is a needlestick injury (a skin puncture from a used needle) treated when the source is an infected individual?
16. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- Understand the epidemiology of HIV
- Learn about the structure, replication and treatment of HIV
- Look at prevention of HIV and associated ethical dilemmas
17. Fungi and Parasites: The Eukaryotic Pathogens
- Compare fungal structure with protozoal (single-celled parasite) and helminth (parasitic worm) lifecycles to predict which drug targets, tests and immune responses apply.
18. The Immunocompromised Host
- Describe the immune defects associated with immunodeficiency diseases (conditions in which the immune system is weakened)
- Describe the most common primary immunodeficiency diseases and their warning signs
- Understand the basics of management of primary immunodeficiency diseases
- Describe common causes of secondary immunodeficiencies
- Be able to list some common travel-related infections, their presentations and the management plan associated with them.
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