Lagarteja, Regrine B.

2013-88648
The Role of Medical Microbiology in Public Health
Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms. Often, the role of microbiologist in
a health setting is to aid the physician in diagnosis thru identification of the offending
organismmay it be a virus, a parasite, fungi, or bacteria. However, microbiology is
not limited to this level. Microbiologists also play a role in prevention and spread of
these diseases. There is now a term called public health microbiology.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) defined public
health microbiology as a cross-cutting area that spans the fields of human, animal,
food, water, and environmental microbiology, with a focus on human health and
disease. It requires laboratory scientists with the ability to work effectively across
disciplines, particularly with epidemiologists and clinicians. Public health microbiology
laboratories or laboratories with these functions play a central role in detection,
monitoring, outbreak response, and providing scientific evidence to prevent and control
infectious diseases (2010). It provides scientific evidence to prevent and control
infectious diseases.
The areas of concern in public health microbiology are as follows:
Antimicrobial resistance and multiresistant pathogens
Food-borne and water-borne diseases
Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases
Chronic diseases caused by infectious agents
Diseases transmitted through blood transfusions
Vaccination and consequences of infecting agents
Diseases of pregnant women and newborns
Diseases of travellers, immigrants and refugees
Terrorism-associated infectious disease pathogens
New emerging and re-emerging pathogens
Controlling epidemics and pandemics is of the utmost priority for public health
microbiologists. Public health microbiologists are in charge of identifying and
characterizing microorganisms that directly affect the health and wellness of
communities. It traces the origin of outbreaks, and also monitors the prevalence and
spread of endemic diseases in the community. The research they conduct is used to
aid in the control and prevention of communicable diseases. A public health
microbiologist contributes to the prevention of communicable diseases by researching
the link between the microorganisms, the disease, and its impact in the community.
Another important role of the microbiologist is aiding in the production of vaccines in
order to prevent humans or animals (since they serve as reservoir most of the time)

from contracting the disease. After identification, microbiologists alter these pathogens
in order to create vaccines that are safe for human and/ or animal use.

Reference
European Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Technical
Report on Core functions of microbiology reference laboratories for
communicable diseases. Stockholm: European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control.
Health Protection Agency. (2010). National Public Health Microbiology
Strategy. Health Protection Agency.
Canton, R. (25, September). Role of the microbiology laboratory in infectious
disease surveillance, alert and response. Clincial Microbiology Infections .
Madrid, Spain.