Medical Microbiology in the Genomics Era
Section A Answer one question in this section
1. Assess the British HIV Association (BHIVA) guidelines to treat HIV (20%) and evaluate the mechanism of action of the two classes or reverse transcriptase drug inhibitors to treat HIV infections and provide named examples of each drug class (80%).
2. Compare and contrast the infections caused by influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Include in your answer examples of how both viruses subvert and evade the immune response. (100%)
Section B Answer one question in this section
3. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of human tuberculosis (TB) is a non-motile, non-spore forming bacterium with some unusual features. Evaluate the contribution of each of the following features of mycobacteria to TB diagnostics, disease progression and treatment:
a) cell wall
b) bacterial life cycle
c) growth rate
(equal marks for each component).
4. Examine the concept of anti-malarial drug resistance and how does it develop (70%), and assess why is this of increasing importance in relation to public health (30%).
Section C Answer one question in this section
5. Compare and contrast the laboratory diagnosis of two, named bacterial sexually transmitted infections. (100%)
Write short notes on mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in bacteria (50%) and examine the role of specific named examples of MGEs that contribute to resistance to betalactams in MRSA and resistance to polymyxins in E. coli (50%).
