“To WILL is a great thing, for

ACTION & WORK usually follow

WILL and almost always WORK is
followed by SUCCESS. WORK,
WILL, SUCCESS fill human
existence. WILL opens the door to
success, both brilliant & happy
WORK, passes these doors and at
the end of the journey, SUCCESS
comes to crown one’s efforts.”

by: Louis Pasteur

 INTRODUCTION AND
HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY

Prepared by: Michell Ganase-Tugade, R.M.T., M.D.

 INTRODUCTION
“what does life really look like? “
- Led to the birth of new science called microbiology

Spontaneous generation advances

Principle behind fermentation in new
Causes of diseases science
Diseases spread in the Middle Ages
plague, smallpox, leprosy, cholera
was brought to Europe
(Messina, Italy) in the 6th
century on the board of Genoa
ships from southern
Crimea
(infected rats)
Diseases spread in the Middle Ages
plague, smallpox, leprosy, cholera
• Until 14th century – 25 mil. of
European inhabitants had died for
plague
• The last great plague epidemic in
Europe - in 1665, mostly in London

Yersinia pestis
Diseases spread in the Middle Ages
plague, smallpox, leprosy, cholera
Alexander Yersin (1863-1943) and
S.Kitasato (1852-1931) discovered cause
of plague Yersinia pestis identified at
HongKong 1894
Infectious diseases spread in the
Middle Ages - smallpox
• Notes of epidemics in 4th cent. B.C.
• Endemic regions in Asia – spread into
Europe and northern Africa in 6 - 8th
century
• During 15th century to southern Africa
and America
• The epidemics were stopped as late as in
19th century (Jenner, vaccination)
• Eradication of small pox – WHO project –
1977, last case in Somalia
Infectious diseases spread in the
Middle Ages - smallpox
Infectious diseases spread in the Middle Ages

• Leprosy – 12th to 13th century whole

Europe
• 1873 described by Armauer Hansen 9 years
before Koch´s discovery of bacillus
tuberculosis
 Infectious diseases spread in the Middle Ages

• Syphilis – most important STD in

history

Treponema pallidum
Infectious diseases spread in the Middle Ages

cholera – during 19th century several

pandemics in Europe and America, last
pandemics started at Celebes and was spread
as far as southern Europe in 1961
in Central and Southern America in 1991

vibrio cholera
 Early Years of Microbiology

Fracastorius
(Girolamo Fracastoro from Verona) 1546
• analysis of contagion: by physical
contact, by formites, at a distance
• He concluded that communicable
diseases are caused by living agents
(„seminaria“, „seeds“)
Early Years of Microbiology

Antoni van Leeuwenhook (1632-1723)

• Created glass lenses of his own,
simple microscope
• Father of microbiology
• Description of simple
microorganisms “animalcules”
• - bacteria, fungi, yeasts,
microbes
Early Years of Microbiology

“what does life really look like”

• Antoni van Leeuwenhook

Stinger of a bee, leg of a louse,
brain of a fly, drop of of blood,
flakes of his own skin, plaques of
his teeth
Early Years of Microbiology

• Passion of creating various

microscopes
• Created a microscope for each
specimen to view them again and
again, studying and recording every
detail
Early Years of Microbiology

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Taxonomic system
• system for naming plants and
animals and grouping similar
organisms together.
 The Golden Age of Microbiology

“spontaneous generation of microbial life

possible?”

Asexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction
Abiogenesis ( from non living matter)

• “What causes fermentation?”

• What causes disease?
• How can we prevent infection and disease?
 The Golden Age of Microbiology

Aristotle (384-322BC)

Theory of spontaneous generation or

theory of abiogenesis widely
accepted for over 2000 years

17th century
Validity of abiogenesis theory became
under challenge
The Golden Age of Microbiology
Francesco Redi (1626-1697)
Italian physician experimented on
decaying meat
The Golden Age of Microbiology

unsealed flask: maggots covered the meat within a

few days
Sealed flask: flies were kept away and no maggots
appeared on the meat
flask covered with gauze: flies were kept away and
no maggots appeared on the meat, although a few
maggots appeared
on top of the gauze.
The Golden Age of Microbiology
The Golden Age of Microbiology
 The Golden Age of Microbiology

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Chemistry : fermentation processes associated
with organisms recognizable by morphology
Started industrial microbiology or
biotechnology
Silkworm disease investigation
Sterilization – heating fluids to 120oC under
pressure, dry heat for glassware at 170oC
Idea of communicable diseases of plants,
animals and man
 Fermentation Process
Steam
Dust from
escapes
air settles
from open
in bend.
end flasks
Air moves
in and out
of flask
infusion is Infusion
heated remains
sterile
Infusion sits, indefinitely
no microbes
appear
The Golden Age of Microbiology

Louis Pasteur
Investigations in immunity:
• Attenuation of pathogen by
prolonged cultivation and suboptimal
conditions → vaccines against
Pasteurella of chicken cholera,
against anthrax in animals
• 1886 – live attenuated vaccine
against rabies (dried suspension of
infected rabitt spinal cord) success in
men infected by rabid dog and wolf
The Golden Age of Microbiology
Louis Pasteur in his laboratory
The Golden Age of Microbiology

Vaccination
against rabies
The Golden Age of Microbiology
The Golden Age of Microbiology
 The Golden Age of Microbiology

ROBERT KOCH (1843-1910)

The Golden Age of Microbiology
• Use of Petri dishes to hold solid
growth media
• Elucidation of bacteria as distinct
species
• Discovery of Mycobacterium anthracis
& Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• isolation of etiologic agents of:
typhoid fever, cholera, pneumoniae,
tetanus, diphtheria, Staphylococci
The Golden Age of Microbiology
The Golden Age of Microbiology
The Golden Age of Microbiology

Result of Gram Staining

Prevention of diseases

• Ignaz Semmelweis (1818 – 1865)

– Austrian obstetrician
– Handwashing , infection control
– high maternal mortality during delivery
– transmission of infection by doctors
by contaminated hands during the
delivery → hand washing in chlorine
compound solution – the basis of
disinfection
Prevention of diseases

• Joseph Lister
– Antisepsis
– Started using carbolic acid(phenol) in
surgical incisions/dressings
– Father of antiseptic surgery
Prevention of diseases
Prevention of diseases
Prevention of diseases
Prevention of diseases
Prevention of diseases
Prevention of diseases
Other Notable Scientists of the “Golden Age of
Microbiology”
PETRI 1887 Petri dish (plate

Roux, 1888 evidence of humoral immunity,

Yersin production of diphtheria toxin

Albert 1879 Gonorrhea - Neisseria gonorrheae

Neisser
Charles 1880 Malaria -Plasmodium species (protozoa)
Laveran
Carl Eberth 1880 Typhoid fever - Salmonella enterica
serotype Typhi
Other Notable Scientists of the “Golden Age of
Microbiology”
Edwin Klebs 1883 Diphtheria - Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Albert 1884 Pneumonia - Streptococcus pneumoniae

Fraenkel

David Bruce 1887 Undulant fever (brucellosis) - Brucella melitensis

Anton 1887 Meningococcal meningitis - Neisseria
Weichselbau meningitidis
m –-
A. A. Gartner 1888 Salmonellosis (form of food poisoning)
Salmonella species

Shibasaburo 1889 Tetanus Clostridium tetani (bacterium)

Kitasato
Other Notable Scientists of the “Golden Age of
Microbiology”
Dmitri Ivanowski 1892 Tobacco mosaic disease -
and Martinus 1898 Tobamovirus tobacco mosaic virus
Beijerinck
William Welch and 1892 Gas gangrene - Clostridium
George Nuttall perfringens

Alexandre Yersin 1894 Bubonic plague - Yersinia pestis

and Shibasaburo
Kitasato
Kiyoshi Shiga 1898 Shigellosis (a type of severe diarrhea)
- Shigella dysenteriae
Other Notable Scientists of the “Golden Age of
Microbiology”
Emil von 1889- diphtheria antitoxin neutralizes toxin
Behring 1890 in vivo, antitoxin to tetanus

Ilja 1891 phagocytosis, cellular defence

Metchnikoff mechanisms

Bordet 1895 complement

Wassermann complement fixation test

Walter Reed 1900 Yellow fever - Flavivirus- yellow fever

virus
Other Notable Scientists of the “Golden Age of
Microbiology”
Robert 1902 African sleeping sickness - Trypanosoma
Forde and brucei, gambiense
Joseph
Dutton

Wright – 1903 antibodies

Schaudin, 1906 Treponema pallidum

Hoffmann
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
 MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• Carl Woese (1928)

– discovered that significant differences in
nucleic acid sequences among organisms
clearly reveal that cells belong to one of
three major groups—bacteria, archaea, or
eukaryotes
 MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• Martinus Beijerinck
– bacteria capable of converting nitrogen
gas (N2) from the air into nitrate (NO3),
the form of nitrogen used by plants,
 MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• Sergei Winogradsky (1856–1953)

– Elucidated the role of
microorganisms in the recycling of
sulfur.
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)

– discovered penicillin
 MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• Gerhard Domagk
(1895-1964)
– German pathologist and
bacteriologist
– In 1935 - Chemotherapy
of bacterial infections
– Prontosil – first anti-
bacterial
chemotherapeutic
agent, sulfonamides
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
MODERN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
end