Manual for Practical Exercises in Microbiology

This manual is intended for students studying medical microbiology. Its main aim is to provide medical students with basic knowledge concerning laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases. The book is arranged to give a practical approach on how to use laboratory services and interpret the results obtained by them in an intelligent manner. In this regard we emphasize on the basic clinical microbiology laboratory procedures in for obtaining specimens, isolating and identifying bacteria, assessing their clinical significance and resistance to antimicrobial agents.

Particular sections cover molecular biology and immunology and present a wide variety of tests for analysis of specimens. We describe only those diagnostic microbiology techniques which we have found to be reliable and useful. The manual gives the most important aspects of laboratory diagnosis of bacterial, fungal and viral infections. It covers bacteriological investigation of blood, cerebrospinal fluid, purulent exudates, urine, sputum, feces and pharyngeal exudates. Particular attention is given to the laboratory diagnosis of infections caused by the major pathogens.