THE EVOLUTION OF MICROBIOLOGY

THE UNSEEN WORLD CAME TO LIGHT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPOUND LIGHT MICROSCOPE –A COMBINED EFFORT BY: Anthony van Leeuwenhoek: a Danish lens grinder who later was named the founder of microbiology Zaccharias Jansen: took the lens made by Leeuwenhoek and made the microscope.

A CONNECTION TO DISEASE LOUIS PASTUER ( ) generation –Disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and introduced the new theory of abiogenesis. –Developed the GERM THEORY Based on experiments on wine and beer.

3 PRINCIPLES OF INFECTION BASED ON EXPERIMENTS WITH BEER AND WINE PASTEUR DEDUCED THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES

1. EVERY ALTERATION (OF BEER AND WINE) DEPENDS ON THE DEVELOPMENT IN IT OF MICROORGANISMS WHICH ARE FERMENTS OF “DISEASES” OF THE BEER OR WINE.

2. These “germs or ferments” are brought by the air, by the ingredients, or by the apparatus used in breweries.

3. Whenever beer or wine contains no living organisms it remains unchanged.

These principles later were applied to his work with anthrax, rabies, and pasturization. Confirming that microbial agents were responsible for disease.

EDWARD JENNER (1798) The father of active immunization. Made the observation that dairy maids failed to contract small pox. –Developed the small pox vaccine.

JOSEPH LISTER An ENGLISH PHYSICIAN WHO APPLIED PASTEUR’S GERM THEORY TO HIS MEDICAL PRACTICE DEVELOPING WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS ASPETIC TECHNIQUE. –INCLUDED USING CLEAN INSTRUMENTS AND HAND WASHING –HIS PATIENTS HAD A SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER MORTALITY RATE THAN OTHER PHYSICIAN OF HIS TIME.

ROBERT KOCH ( ) WAS A HEALTH OFFICER INVESTIGATING ANTHRAX (1870) HE DEVELOPED THE PROCEDURE BY WHICH ANY MICROORGANISM IS PROVEN TO BE THE CAUSATIVE AGENT OF A SPECIFIC DISEASE. THIS PROCEDURE IS KNOWN AS KOCH’S POSTULATES.

KOCH’S POSTULATES 1. THE ORGANISM MUST BE ASSOCIATED WITH ALL CASES OF A GIVEN DISEASE, IT’S SYMPTOMS AND LESIONS. 2. IT MUST BE ISOLATED FROM VICTIMS OF THE DISEASE IN PURE CULTURE.

KOCH’S POSTULATES (CONT.) 3. This culture, when inoculated into susceptible animals must reproduce the disease (or engender antibodies) 4. It must then be isolated in pure culture from the experimental animals.