Chapter 1 - Immunology

Question 1

How did Louis Pasteur discover the vaccine?

Answer 1

He discovered that older cultures of Vibrio -sp. that were causing cholera in chickens, were being attenuated/weakened and lost their ability to be infectious, when injected into the chickens.
This was an early form of a vaccine.

Question 2

What contribution did Edward Jenner make towards immunology and vaccinations?

Answer 2

Jenner noticed that when smallpox broke out, milkmaids that had been exposed to cowpox were immune.
To test his theory, Jenner used pus from a cowpox lesion and exposed a boy to it. The boy became ill with fever but then recovered.
This was another discovery that lead to the formation of vaccines.

Question 3

Which vaccines was Pasteur able to create, using attenuated pathogens?

Answer 3

• chicken cholera
• anthrax
• rabies (which contains an antitoxin = antibodies that bind to a toxin)

Question 4

What are other contributions that Pasteur made to industrial microbiology?

Answer 4

• ethanol fermentation with yeasts
• modern wine production now uses pure yeast cultures
• discovered that some microorganisms are anaerobic
• developed the Pasteurization process to preserve wine during storage.