History of Microbiology

Germ Theory of Disease

• Fracastoro of Verona-diseases due to invisible organisms
• Transmitted from one person to other
• Von Planciz 1762-Different germs for different diseases
• Oliver Wendell Holmes(1809-1894)- Physician- a disease of childbirth (puerperal
fever), very contagious, many deaths after childbirth
• THE CONTAGIOUSNESS OF PUERPERAL FEVER (1842
 Germ Theory of Disease
• Ignaz Phillip (Hungry)-use of antiseptics during obstetrical practice
• Death rate decreased due to infections during child birth
• The Cause, Concept & Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever in 1861- a book
• But still his advise was ignored
• Joseph Lister (England)- importance of antisepsis was fully appreciated by him
 Germ Theory of Disease
• Pasteur’ role- Silk industry of France, he found the parasite of a silkworm disease, Pebrine
after a long struggle
• He suggested the use of healthy disease free caterpillars for breeding stock
• Anthrax a disease of cattles- he grew microbe in the flasks from the blood sample of died animals
• Father of Medical Microbiology • Robert Koch(1843-1910)
• Anthrax problem in Germany- Discovered bacilli bacteria with squarish end in the blood of cattles
• Discovered tuberculosis bacteria
• Koch’s Postulates
 LABORATORY TECHNIQUES AND PURE
CULTURES
• Laboratory techniques used to isolate microorganisms representing each species
and to grow each species separately
• The growth of mass of cells of the same species in a laboratory vessel is called
Pure Culture
• Joseph Lister- Used serial Dilution Technique (1878) • Sample – milk
• After serial dilution single kind of bacteria was there-Bacterium Lactis
LABORATORY TECHNIQUES AND PURE
CULTURES
 LABORATORY TECHNIQUES AND PURE
CULTURES
• Koch-refine method of studying bacteria
• Smearing bacteria on glass slide and adding dyes
• Added geletin and solidifing materials to obtain
growth of organisims as colonies
• Isolation of tuberculosis organism from
pulmonary tuberculosis patients
 PROTECTION AGAINST INFECTION
• Pasture give concepts of:
• Virulence
• Attenuation
• Antibodies
• Worked on chicken cholera
PROTECTION AGAINST INFECTION