Jenner, Koch and Pasteur

Question 1

How many people in London had died from smallpox by 1751?

Answer 1

Over 3500

Question 2

What method was used to prevent smallpox before Edward Jenner’s discovery of vaccines?

Answer 2

Inoculation (making a cut in a patient’s arm and soaking it in pus taken from someone with a mild case of smallpox)

Question 3

Describe how Edward Jenner created the smallpox vaccine

Answer 3

• He heard that milkmaids didn’t get smallpox, but they
  did catch cowpox (much milder)
• Jenner investigated and discovered that people with cowpox didn’t get smallpox
• In 1791, he tested his theory, and injected a small boy
  (James Phipps) with pus from a milkmaid with cowpox.
  James didn’t catch the disease
• Jenner published his findings in 1798, coining the term
  vaccination from the Latin word for cow - vacca

Question 4

What year did Jenner test his theory on James Phipps?

Answer 4

1791

Question 5

What year did Jenner publish his vaccination findings?

Answer 5

1798

Question 6

What was evidence that Jenner’s vaccination discoveries were successful?

Answer 6

• Parliament gave Jenner £10,000 in 1802 to open a
  vaccination clinic, and later another £20,000
• Vaccination against smallpox was made free for
  infants in 1840, and made compulsory in 1853
• wiped out completely in 1980

Question 7

What were some negative aspects surrounding Jenner’s vaccination?

Answer 7

• Jenner didn’t know why the vaccination worked, so
  he couldn’t develop other vaccines
• A lot of people opposed vaccination, including
  doctors who gave the old version of inoculation as it
  was seen as a threat to their livelihood
• In 1797, the Royal Society rejected Jenner’s report on
  vaccination
• Some cowpox vaccinations could become
  contaminated with smallpox
• There was a fear of unknown consequences due to the
  link with animals
• The Church did not like the idea of using a disease from cows in human medicine.

Question 8

When were vaccinations made free for infants?

Answer 8

1840

Question 9

When were vaccinations made compulsory for infants?

Answer 9

1853

Question 10

When did Louis Pasteur publish his “Germ Theory”?

Answer 10

1861

Question 11

When was smallpox officially wiped out?

Answer 11

In the 1870s

Question 12

How did Pasteur prove that germs were in the air?

Answer 12

He showed that sterilised water in a closed flask stayed sterile, while sterilised water in an open flask bred germs

(Microscopes, invented in the 17th century, allowed him to view these microbes)

Question 13

What were the main beliefs about the causes of disease in the 1800s?

Answer 13

• Miasma
• Spontaneous generation
• Contact with the diseased

Question 14

What was the theory of Spontaneous Generation?

Answer 14

That diseases were caused randomly, and from non living matter, and microbes were a symptom of disease

Question 15

Who were Contagionists and anti - Contagionists

Answer 15

• Contagionists believed that disease spread through
  contact
• Anti Contagionists believed that disease spread
  through miasma

Question 16

What was argued in Pasteur’s Germ Theory?

Answer 16

That microbes in the air caused disease, and not the other way around. He also argued that some germs caused disease

Question 17

What was the initial reaction to Pasteur’s Germ Theory, and why was it like this?

Answer 17

It was met with scepticism, as people couldn’t believe that tiny microbes caused disease. Pasteur was also unable to identify which specific bacteria caused which disease, which meant that it took several years before it became useful

Question 18

What method did Robert Koch use to link diseases to their specific microbe?

Answer 18

• He used agar jelly to breed lots of bacteria
• Then used dyes to stain the bacteria so they were
  more visible under a microscope
• Then employed newly invented photography record
  his findings

(Injected animals with diseases, then stained bacteria and viewed under a microscope)

Question 19

Identify any diseases that Koch found the specific bacteria for and the years they were discovered in

Answer 19

Anthrax (1876)
Septicaemia (1878)
Tuberculosis (1882)
Cholera (1883)

Question 20

Explain the opposition to Pasteur’s germ theory

Answer 20

A famous doctor - Charles Bastian, believed in spontaneous generation, which contradicted Pasteur’s theory

Many doctors couldn’t believe that such small microbes could do so much harm to humans

Question 21

Name individual microbes that were discovered by other scientists due to Koch’s work

Answer 21

Typhus (1880)
Pneumonia (1880)
Tetanus (1884)
Diptheria (1884)

Question 22

Describe Pasteur and Koch’s effects on other scientists

Answer 22

They inspired a generation of scientists called the “microbe hunters”
- They became interested in diseases and how to prevent them

• John Tyndall gave lectures on the Germ Theory to British doctors
• William Cheyne translated Koch’s work, highlighting that not all microbes caused
  disease
• Positively progressed medicine, as they provided the groundwork for other scientists to build off of, and also established a common, and accurate understanding for the cause of bacterial disease, which meant that treatments and preventions could be made more easily, as doctors now had a better understanding of the illness, which was grounded in accurate scientific research, rather than religion or tradition

Question 23

Describe Pasteur’s work on vaccinations

Answer 23

• In 1881, He produced an attenuated vaccine for anthrax in sheep
• In 1884, he created a vaccine for rabies, which was used a year later on human subjects
• in 1885, he saved a young boys life with his rabies vaccine after he had been bitten by a dog

After a researcher (Charles Chamberland) left out a cholera culture over the weekend. He discovered that attenuated (weakened) cholera germs could make a chicken immune from stronger bouts of cholera

Question 24

How might have rivalry catalysed medical progress? (Pasteur and Koch)

Answer 24

The Franco - Prussia war (between France and Germany) ended in 1871.
National rivalry could have motivated each scientist to make new medical findings, to give their country an advantage over the other

Question 25

What is the name for Koch’s process of linking a disease to a specific microbe?

Answer 25

Bacteriology

Question 26

When did Pasteur’s theories become more widely accepted?

Answer 26

By the 1880s

Question 27

What were the problems with inoculation?

Answer 27

• The dose could be too large and kill the patient
• Inoculation was a treatment that only the rich could afford
• People that had been inoculated could still pass the illness onto other people

Question 28

Describe opposition to Jenner’s vaccinations

Answer 28

• The formation of the Anti Compulsory Vaccination League in 1866
• Many private doctors who performed inoculations disliked them as vaccinations
  essentially put them out of business (they profited off of inoculation)
• Jenner faced criticism as he could not explain why it worked
• Attempts to replicate Jenner’s vaccination failed, however these were mostly due to
  contaminated equipment, which they didn’t realise at the time

Question 29

what were some signs of continuity in regards to beliefs about causes of disease in the 18th century

Answer 29

• people still believed in miasma

Question 30

what did Pasteur’s experiments bring a greater understanding of

Answer 30

fermentation and how to prevent it