Module: Infection and Immunity
Date: Thursday 22nd February
Time: 2 pm - 3 pm
Infection and Immunity Practical
On Monday you will have a practical as part of your infection and immunology module.
During this practical you must put yourself in the shoes of a clinician to decide what
infection a baby has and who spread the infection.
Your assessment is worth 45% of your grade.
Deadline: 12 noon Tuesday 2nd April (week 35).
You will work in a pair in the lab but try and work independently. You will be working as a
clinical scientist to decipher the diagnosis.
Mims Medical Microbiology Book – refer to this book to support your practical. This will
help you research the disease. You will also have Dr Mike Dawson, who works in the
pathology labs in the NHS, and 3 demonstrators.
Case study:
A young baby is admitted to hospital with blisters all over his upper trunk and face. In this
case the medical officer will identify:
1) What the organism is responsible for the infection?
2) The carrier of the infection?
3) The best way to treat the baby and any suspected carriers of the infection.
4) Suggest some ways to control infection within the hospital.
Identify the organism causing the blisters. The medical officer takes swabs from the normal
skin and skin lesions of the baby on the trunk of the body and then cultures pure isolates of
the microorganism.
These isolates have been cultured on several agar plates:
1) Blood agar (labelled 1)
2) YEPD. Plates (labelled 2)
3) MacConkey Agar plates (labelled 3 and 4)
Some of these plates should identify what type of organism you are growing on them. You
will use the flow charts on the back of the lab manual to guide you, please investigate a
range of tests on the organisms growing on the agar plates to identify the four organisms
that were isolated from the skin on the upper trunk of the baby admitted.
What to do:
1
Date: Thursday 22nd February
Time: 2 pm - 3 pm
Infection and Immunity Practical
On Monday you will have a practical as part of your infection and immunology module.
During this practical you must put yourself in the shoes of a clinician to decide what
infection a baby has and who spread the infection.
Your assessment is worth 45% of your grade.
Deadline: 12 noon Tuesday 2nd April (week 35).
You will work in a pair in the lab but try and work independently. You will be working as a
clinical scientist to decipher the diagnosis.
Mims Medical Microbiology Book – refer to this book to support your practical. This will
help you research the disease. You will also have Dr Mike Dawson, who works in the
pathology labs in the NHS, and 3 demonstrators.
Case study:
A young baby is admitted to hospital with blisters all over his upper trunk and face. In this
case the medical officer will identify:
1) What the organism is responsible for the infection?
2) The carrier of the infection?
3) The best way to treat the baby and any suspected carriers of the infection.
4) Suggest some ways to control infection within the hospital.
Identify the organism causing the blisters. The medical officer takes swabs from the normal
skin and skin lesions of the baby on the trunk of the body and then cultures pure isolates of
the microorganism.
These isolates have been cultured on several agar plates:
1) Blood agar (labelled 1)
2) YEPD. Plates (labelled 2)
3) MacConkey Agar plates (labelled 3 and 4)
Some of these plates should identify what type of organism you are growing on them. You
will use the flow charts on the back of the lab manual to guide you, please investigate a
range of tests on the organisms growing on the agar plates to identify the four organisms
that were isolated from the skin on the upper trunk of the baby admitted.
What to do:
1
