Clinical Microbiology and Related Diagnostic Techniques

The course aims to provide students with the basics to:
- understand the mechanisms of direct and indirect clinical microbiological investigations;
- describe pathogenic microorganisms most commonly the cause of disease in humans;
- understand the importance of morphological, culture and antigenic characteristics for the diagnostic process useful to determine the etiology of an infection disease;
- understand the usefulness of knowing the route of microorganisms trasmission and the pathogenic characteristics of infectious agents, in order to make the choice of the appropriate diagnostic path;
- understand the importance of the type of sample to be analysed, the timing and methods of sampling/collection, storage and transport.

The student will learn the general and clinical characteristics related to bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections. These features will serve as a basis for applying the main detection techniques for the main microorganisms as well as for the learning of those diagnostic techniques useful for the following year (the third one).
Student will be able to learn the most relevant diagnostic techniques in the microbiological field. She/he will also learn the basis of the analytical flow within a typical Microbiology Laboratory.