Lesson 3: HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY, A WALK THROUGH THE PAST Flashcards
a Greek philosopher, he introduced the Theory of Spontaneous Generation which states that life come from non-living matter
Aristotle
Intellectuals that opposed the theory of spontaneous generation of Aristotle but were not able to provide proof
Lucretius and Girolamo Fracastoro
The very first scientist to formally challenge the Theory of Spontaneous Generation was an Italian naturalist named
Francesco Redi
In 1668, he developed an experiment which demonstrated that organisms did not spontaneously appear. He hypothesized that maggots come from flies. He filled jars with rotting meat. Some jars he sealed some he left opened and other he covered with a screen. Those that were open eventually contained maggots, which is the larval stage of a fly. The sealed jars and those with screen covers did not contain maggots because flies could not enter the jar to lay eggs on the rotting meat
Francesco Redi
English Scientist first popularize the use of compound microscope
Robert Hooke 1665
The first person to use the word cell
Robert Hooke
First invented compound microscope
Zacharias Janssen
A book where Hooke described his experiments and observations made through the microscope. It featured many drawings, some of which have been attributed to Christopher Wren, such as that of a detailed flea observed through the microscope.
Micrografia (1665)
He was inspired by the works of Hooke, a merchant of textiles and an amateur lens grinder, to get interested in microscope. He improved Hooke’s microscope by grinding lenses to achieve magnification, some of which magnified objects up to 270 times.
Antony van
Leeuwenhoek
The debate on the origin of organism was finally settled in
1861 by Louis Pasteur
The first person to view living microorganisms, so tiny that they were invisible to the naked eye, which he called “animalcules”. He first described bacteria, protozoans and many cells of the human body. Due to his contribution to the microbiology, he is considered as the “Father of Microbiology”
Antony van
Leeuwenhoek
showed that microorganisms are present in the air. He proved that sterilized medical equipment’s became contaminated once they were exposed to the air.
Louis Pasteur
He based this observation from his experiment of
boiling beef broth in several short-necked flasks. Some flasks were left open to cool. Other flasks were sealed after boiling. The opened
flasks became contaminated with microorganisms while no microorganisms appeared in the closed flasks. He concluded that airborne microorganisms had contaminated the opened flask.
Louis Pasteur
In his follow-up experiment, Pasteur placed beef broth in an open long-necked flask. The neck was bent into an S-shape. Again he boiled the beef broth and let it cool. The S- shaped neck trapped the airborne microorganisms. The beef broth remained
uncontaminated even after months of being exposed to the air. His experiments validated that microorganisms are not spontaneously generated.
Louis Pasteur
in the late 1800s led to one of the most important discoveries in sterilization and bacteriology. They discovered the thermoresistant phase of bacteria to boiling temperatures.
The works of John Tyndall, an English physicist, and Ferdinand, a German botanist.
one of the best known sterilization techniques, was developed and named after Louis Pasteur.
Pasteurization
discovered that bacteria existed in two forms: a heat-stable form and a heat-sensitive form, and that prolonged or intermittent heating called tyndallization destroys heat stable form of bacteria.
John Tyndall
In London (1832-49) during the worst cholera outbreak, one of the very first applications of germ theory in the field of public health was recorded when English physician, _____________. He suggested to filter and boil water before use, short after he suggested that a “cell” is causing the disease. Snow believed that cholera is transmitted by water contaminated with waste of other cholera patients.
John Snow
He observed that communicable diseases were caused by invisible creatures called contagion be it by direct or indirect contact. But since they were not able to provide any proof, the belief that infections are caused by bad air (miasma theory) went on for years.
Girolamo Fracastoro
discovered that these heat-stable forms are spores which develop into microorganisms in inadequately heated infusions.
Ferdinand Cohn
states that living matter is generated from another living matter gained popularity. This new theory leads to the active promotion of Germ Theory of Disease which states that microorganisms or germs can lead to a disease in humans, animals or other living hosts.
Theory of Biogenesis
Sterilization technique by heating the liquid by boiling water.
Pasteurization
saved lives by encouraging fellow doctors to wash their hands after performing autopsy and before proceeding to deliver a baby. In this manner, post-partum deaths due to childbed or puerperal fever could be prevented. Unfortunately, his suggestions were not widely accepted by the medical society.
Austrian physician Ignaz Semmelweis
first conducted formal experiments to promote germ theory of disease with his experiment on fermentation of wine. He showed that growth of microorganisms cause contamination in wine that could be prevented by heating the liquid in boiling temperature. Pasteur is also credited for his discovery of weakened or attenuated vaccine against fowl cholera, anthrax for small ruminants and rabies.
Louis Pasteur
elaborated the theory and practice of antiseptic surgery, which included washing the hands with carbolic acid to prevent infection. He is known as the “Father of Modern Antisepsis.
Scottish surgeon Joseph Lister
successfully linked a germ, Bacillus anthracis, to a specific infectious disease, anthrax; and Mycobacterium bacillus to tuberculosis which established the germ theory of disease.
Robert koch
He grew Bacillus anthracis in pure culture, demonstrated its ability to form spores and produced experimental anthrax by injecting it into his animal subjects. With these experiments he developed guidelines, the Koch’s postulates, to establish relationship between a microorganism and an infection.
Robert Koch
The first antibiotic discovered by
Sir Alexander Fleming 1928
Koch’s postulates stated that
- The microorganism must be present in every case of
the disease but absent from healthy host. - The suspected microorganism must be isolated and grown in a pure culture from lesions of the disease.
- The isolated organism, in pure culture, when inoculated in suitable laboratory animals should produce a similar disease.
- The same microorganism must be isolated again in pure culture from the lesions produced in experimental animals. New addition to this postulates state that
- Antibodies specific to the
bacterium should be demonstrable in the serum of patient suffering from the disease. Limitations of the guidelines include species-specificity of some microorganisms, and unsuitability of some microorganisms to be grown in pure culture.
And the protection from the disease by vaccination is called
Immunity
a British physician, discovered smallpox vaccine by collecting scrapings from cowpox blisters (a much milder
form of disease) and inoculated it into a child volunteer. The child then showed mild symptoms of the disease but recovered and developed immunity against cowpox and
smallpox.
Edward Jenner
The process was called vaccination from the Latin word
vacca which means cow
Most of the infectious diseases are caused by bacteria which
can be prevented, managed and treated through anti-bacterial group
of compounds known as
Antibiotics
The first antibiotic discovered was extracted from the
Penicillum sp. mold thus called Penicillin
was extracted from the Penicillum sp. mold thus called Penicillin. He observed that his pure culture of bacterial Staphylococci sp. colonies disappeared on plates contaminated with the said mold.
Alexander Fleming
