BMSC210 CH1.1 Flashcards
What invention made it possible to prove the existence of many types of microbes?
the microscope
What are some examples of fermented foods and beverages?
beer, wine, bread, yogurt, cheese, pickled vegetables
What is microbial fermentation?
Process that uses bacteria, mould, or yeast to convert sugars to alcohol, gases, and organic acids.
How did people first learn about fermentation?
Possibly by accident, such as drinking old milk that had curdled or old grape juice that had fermented.
What are some products made using fermentation?
Bread, cheese, and wine.
What type of organism is yeast?
Fungus
How do yeast cells cause bread to rise?
By metabolizing carbohydrates and producing carbon dioxide
Who is Ötzi the Iceman?
A 5300-year-old mummy found frozen in the Ötzal Alps.
What possible treatment for his infections was Ötzi carrying?
Piptoporus betulinus fungus
What was Ötzi using the Piptoporus betulinus fungus for?
Possibly trying to treat his infections
What understanding did some ancient civilizations have about disease transmission?
Could be transmitted by things they couldn’t see
What is an example of historical attempts to contain the spread of disease?
Quarantining people with leprosy and other diseases
What do historical attempts to contain the spread of disease suggest?
Understanding that diseases could be communicable
What did the ancient Greeks attribute disease to?
Bad air and miasmatic odours.
What did the Romans believe in?
The miasma hypothesis.
What sanitation infrastructure did the Romans create?
Aqueducts and the Cloaca Maxima.
What did researchers believe about the Roman sanitation infrastructure?
It helped protect them from epidemics of waterborne illnesses.
Who is considered the ‘father of Western medicine’?
Hippocrates
What did some doctors, philosophers, and scientists understand before the invention of the microscope?
Invisible forces (microbes) that can cause infection, disease, and death
Who dismissed the idea that disease was caused by supernatural forces?
Hippocrates
What important observation did Thucydides make about the Athenian plague?
Survivors did not get re-infected
Who observed that survivors of the Athenian plague were immune to the infection?
Thucydides
Who proposed that certain minute creatures in the air cause diseases?
Marcus Terentius Varro
Who was the first to develop a lens powerful enough to view microbes?
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
