The Department of Medical Microbiology in Košice was founded in September 1948. In the beginning, it was located at Rastislavova No. 43, in the premises of the Central Laboratory at the Regional Institute of National Health and in the premises of the Infectious Diseases Department. In 1961, the academic workplace was separated from the healthcare section of the department, and the department moved to the building of the Faculty of Medicine of UPJŠ on Šrobárova Street. Subsequently, it relocated to the Faculty of Medicine building at Trieda SNP, where it is housed to this day.
Since its foundation, the Institute has provided teaching of medical microbiology for students of General Medicine and Dental Medicine, and since the 1991/1992 academic year, also teaching of the fundamentals of immunology. In the subsequent period, teaching was expanded to include Bachelor’s non-medical degree programs — Laboratory Examination Methods, Nursing, Public Health, and Physiotherapy — as well as tuition for international students in the English language. In recent years, teaching in Master’s non-medical degree programs was added — Public Health and Bioanalytical Diagnostics in Healthcare.
The first Head of the Institute was Prof. MUDr. Ladislav Dubay, CSc. He contributed significantly to the development of the Institute in medical education and scientific research activities, and established a stable personnel foundation for the department. Scientific research during this period was primarily focused on the study of scleroma and ozena. Under the guidance of Prof. Dubay, Assoc. Prof. MUDr. Hana Puzová, CSc., prepared her candidate (CSc.) and habilitation theses; she assumed the position of Head of the Institute after his death in 1978. The main focus of scientific research at the then Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ became opportunistic bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Proteus mirabilis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The research focused on the phenotypic demonstration of virulence factors, resistance to antibacterial agents, and interaction with mechanisms of non-specific immunity. On these topics, candidate dissertation theses were defended by MUDr. Jana Hlaučová, MVDr. Anna Kerestešová, Ing. Viera Janigová, RNDr. Marta Kmeťová, and MUDr. Leonard Siegfried. The latter two also devoted their habilitation theses to the studied issues, expanded to include the detection of extrachromosomal DNA.
In 1995, Assoc. Prof. Puzová was succeeded as Head of the Institute by Dr. h. c. Prof. MUDr. Leonard Siegfried, CSc., who led the institute until 2026. Under his leadership, the institute profiled itself as a top-tier workplace in molecular diagnostics, specifically in the detection of virulence and resistance genes in Escherichia coli and other Gram-negative enteric bacilli, molecular typing and resistance detection of Clostridioides difficile, staphylococci, enterococci, and the detection of selected viruses (SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) within research projects. Doctoral dissertations on these subjects were written by MUDr. Adriana Liptáková, RNDr. Eva Birošová, RNDr. Zuzana Naďová, RNDr. Katarína Čurová, MVDr. Vladimír Hrabovský, MUDr. Ján Koreň, Mgr. Radka Slebodníková, MVDr. Barbora Dzugasová, and Mgr. Annamária Toporová. Infections associated with E. coli and C. difficile bacteria were also the subject of the habilitation thesis of RNDr. Katarína Čurová, PhD.
Since 2026, MUDr. Eva Schréterová, PhD., became the Head of the DMCM. Under her guidance, the department continues its research into the detection of virulence and resistance in C. difficile, staphylococci, and enterococci, while also engaging in the microbiological and epidemiological analysis of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales bacteria and the molecular analysis of selected viruses as part of pandemic preparedness.
Heads of the Department of Medical and CLinical Microbiology:
prof. MUDr. Ladislav Dubay 1948-1978
doc. MUDr. Hana Puzová, CSc. 1978- 1991
Dr.h.c. prof. MUDr. Leonard Siegfried, CSc 1991 – 2026
MUDr. Eva Schréterová, PhD. 2026 –
List of university staff members who worked for more than 5 years and are no longer employed at the DMCM:
doc. MUDr. Hana Puzová, CSc.
MUDr. Jana Hlaučová, CSc.
MUDr. Eva Kapitančíková
Ing. Viera Janigová, CSc.
MVDr. Anna Kerestešová, CSc.
doc. MUDr. Jana Ďurovičová, CSc.
MUDr. Ladislav Cincula
MUDr. Erik Dorko, PhD
MUDr. Adriana Liptáková, PhD.
doc. RNDr. Marta Kmeťová, CSc., mim. prof.
