19th Century - Pasteur and Koch

Question 1

Who was Louis Pasteur? (5)

Answer 1

1. 1861: Published his “Germ Theory of Disease” which stated that bacteria could:
   • Make food and liquids rot
   • Be killed by heat (pasteurization)
   • Cause disease
2. All his experiments were about bacteria in liquids not humans
3. Developed vaccines for chicken cholera, anthrax and rabies after Koch identified their germs
4. His work on Germ Theory contributed to the development of aseptic surgery
5. Work was finally accepted by the 1880s - surgery and public health benefited massively but no one knew how to kill bacteria in the body without damaging it.

Question 2

What did people think about germs/disease before Pasteur? (3)

Answer 2

1. Believed that miasma caused disease
2. Believed there was a link between dirt and disease but could not explain it
3. Spontaneous generation - when cells die, they spontaneously generate diseases

Question 3

Why was there opposition to Germ Theory?

Answer 3

Most doctors still held onto the idea of spontaneous generation - they were called anti-contagionists. This was the most dominant view in Britain at the time

Question 4

Who was Robert Koch? (3)

Answer 4

1. Built on and proved Germ Theory which led to it being accepted
2. Identified the germs causing anthrax, TB and cholera
3. Developed a way to stain bacteria to be seen under a microscope

Question 5

Why were Koch and Pasteur rivals?

Answer 5

Franco-Prussian War - national rivalry

Question 6

Who were the Microbe Hunters? (2)

Answer 6

1. Teams of able scientists who “hunted” to find the bacteria that caused diseases such as pneumonia, dysentery and meningitis in order to develop vaccines
2. The first “magic bullet” was developed by Koch’s student Paul Ehrlich, a drug called Salvarsan 606 to treat syphilis