Treatment: Phase 2 Discovery and Development 1860-1875 Flashcards
Who was Louis Pasteur?
A French chemist in the late 1850s
How did Pasteur prove that bacteria was spreading disease?
- He was asked by a brewery company to investigate the sour beer.
- He took two flasks, heated a liquid in one to make it sterile and drove the air out of it. Ge sealed the flasks. Approx 10 years later, the cleaned flask was sterile and the other was full of bacteria.
In 1860 what challenge did the French Academy put forward?
Prove or disprove spontaneous generation
What was the theory developed by Pocuhet?
Scientists thought the germs were spontaneously generated by the decay and then spread the disease further
What was Pasteur’s Germ Theory?
He showed food went off because of contamination through the air. That germs were spread through the air and not spontaneously created
Why was Germ Theory controversial?
Pasteur was a chemist not a doctor
What was the impact of Pasteurisation?
- This was the start of the method of heating and sterilising liquids
- We still use it today! For example, milk. It also paved the way for air-tight food storage such as tins and cans.
What was Pasteur’s investigation into silkworms?
In 1865 he was asked to save the silk industry! He proved that bacteria was spreading the disease and by isolating diseased silkworms you could save the rest.
What was the impact of Pasteur in surgery?
It led to an understanding of why infection often developed after an operation and to Joseph Lister’s antiseptic techniques
What was the impact of Pasteur on public health?
It helped explain the link between hygiene and health.
His ideas led to the identification of various microorganisms causing disease which meant vaccines could be produced.
What were the limitations to Pasteur’s work?
It wasn’t until 1878 that he published Germ Theory and its Application to Medicine and even then, many scientists didn’t accept his ideas.
Scientists did not understand how blood had hundreds of microorganisms but only some caused disease.
It was not clear how germ theory could CURE disease. It could only identify its spread.
