Undestanding The History Of Microbiology Flashcards
What is a microbe?
a living organism that requires a microscope to be seen
- generate the air we breathe (nitrogen gas, oxygen, and carbon dioxide)
-make essential vitamins (ie. B12)
-primary producer of the food webs
involved in food production
- some are pathogens
What are the four types of microbes?
Bacteria, Viruses, Fungi, Protozoa
What are the two types of cellular organization?
Prokaryotic - (bacteria, archaea) cell lacks a membrane - enclosed nucleus
Eukaryotic - (Plant, animal, fungi, protozoa) cells contain a membrane - bound nucleus
Viruses - non cellular microbes that must infect a host cell to reproduce
Microbes impact human culture 1
10,000 BCE - food and drinks are produced by microbial fermentation – Egyptians, Chinese, and others
Microbes impact human culture 2
15,000 BCE - tuberculosis, polio, leprosy, and smallpox are evident in mummies and tomb art – Egyptains
Microbes impact human culture 3
50 BCE - Copper is recovered from mine water and acidified by sulfur oxidizing bacteria – Roman metal workers under Julius Caesar
Microbes impact human culture 4
1,000 CE - smallpox immunization is accomplished by transfer of secreted material – Chinese and Africans
Microbes impact human culture 5
1,025 CE - Diseases are observed to be contagious. The basis of hygiene and quarantine is proposed – Avicenna, or Ibn Sina (Persia)
Microbes impact human culture 6
1,300-1,400 CE - The Black Death (bubonic plague) killed 17 million people in Europe and Asia – Catherine of Siena nursed plague victims; canonized as patron saint of nurses
Microbes impact human culture 7
!,546 CE - Syphilis and other diseases are observed tp be contagious – Girolamo Fracastoreo (Padua)
Microbial Diseases Devastate Human Population
- smallpox, tuberculosis, leprosy, bubonic plague, HIV/AIDS
- The overwhelming majority of microbes humans interact with are beneficial pr neutral
- Humans are inhabited by 10x as many bacterial cells as human cells
- Less than 1% of known bacteria causes severe and life threatening illness in humans
- History has focused on the 1% because of their impact on human life
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Patron Saint of Nursing - cared for the ill and buried the dead
Early Microscopy and the Origin of Microbes dates
1676 - microbes are observed under a microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (Netherlands)
1717 - Smallpox is prevented by inoculation of pox material, a rudimentary form of immunization – African and Asia; Turkish women taught Lady Montagu who brought the practice to England
1765 - Microbes fail to grow after boiling in a sealed flask: evidence against spontaneous generation – Lazzaro Spallanzani (Padua)
1798 - Cowpox vaccination prevents smallpox – Edward Jenner (England)
1835 - Fungus causes disease in silkworms (first pathogen to be demonstrated in animals) – Agostino Bassi De Lodi (Italy)
1847 - Chlorine as antiseptic wash for doctors hands decreases pathogens – Ignaz Semmelweis (Hungary)
1881 - Bacterial spores survive boiling but are killed by cyclic boiling and cooling – John Tyndall (Ireland)
Robert Hooke
First to publish in Micrographia (1665) his work using microscope (mites, mold, small worms)
- First to observe living material and call them cells
Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek (Dutch)
First to observe and record bacteria and protozoa
- Began making and using single lens microscopes
- Often made new microscope for each specimen
-Examined water and visualized tiny animals, fungi, bacteria, algae, and single celled protozoa or small animals “animalcules” (1674)
- It took nearly 200 years before a connection was made between microbes and human diseases
Is Spontaneous Generation of Microbes possible?
Some thought living things arose from three processes
- asexual reproduction
- sexual reproduction
-nonliving matter
Aristotle
proposed spontaneous generation - living things can arise from non living matter
Experimentation - Spontaneous Generation
Redi’s experiments
- When decaying meat was kept isolated from files, maggots never developed
- Meat exposed to files was soon infested
- As a result, scientist began to doubt Aristotle’s theory
Needham’s Experiments - Spontaneous Generation
Broth (gravy) is boiled in flask
- One flask is left open
- One flask is sealed with corks
- Both flasks were cloudy (turbid)
- Scientist thought microbes, but not animals, could arise spontaneously
- Needham’s experiments reinforced this idea
- Vials were cloudy due to a “life force”