Introduction to systemic bacteriology

To ace microbiology for USMLE step 1, you should have a good understanding of the following:

1. How to identify bacteria, which includes morphology, characteristic features like motility, shape, etc. and laboratory tests like fermentation tests, clinical tests testing for antigens or specific antibodies, cultural characteristics like what medium and conditions they grow best, nature of colonies, hemolytic properties on blood agar, etc.

2. Major human diseases caused by bacteria, most of them will be infections but some will be toxin mediated and some may be immunologic resulting from the infectious process.

3. Laboratory diagnosis. The clinical vignette will set up the characteristic clinical features leading to a differential diagnosis and the typical laboratory and biopsy findings will help you clinch the diagnosis.

Each chapter in systemic bacteriology is based on the above concepts, so once you master the material, you will be confident in your ability to pick the right answer.