Germ theory of disease - wikipedia Germ theory of disease Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae. This is the bacterium that causes cholera. The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory of disease. It states that many diseases are caused by microorganisms. These small organisms, too small to see without magnification, invade humans, animals, and other living hosts. Their growth and reproduction within their hosts can cause a disease. `` Germ '' may refer to not just a bacterium but to any type of microorganism, especially one which causes disease, such as protists, fungi, viruses, prions, or viroids. Microorganisms that cause disease are called pathogens, and the diseases they cause are called infectious diseases. Even when a pathogen is the principal cause of a disease, environmental and hereditary factors often influence the severity of the disease, and whether a potential host individual becomes infected when exposed to the pathogen. The germ theory was proposed by Girolamo Fracastoro in 1546, and expanded upon by Marcus von Plenciz in 1762. Such views were held in disdain, however, and Galen 's miasma theory remained dominant among scientists and doctors. The nature of this doctrine prevented them from understanding how diseases actually progressed, with predictable consequences. By the early nineteenth century, smallpox vaccination was commonplace in Europe, though doctors were unaware of how it worked or how to extend the principle to other diseases. Similar treatments had been prevalent in India from just before AD 1000. A transitional period began in the late 1850s with the work of Louis Pasteur. This work was later extended by Robert Koch in the 1880s. By the end of the 1880s the miasma theory was struggling to compete with the germ theory of disease. Eventually, a `` golden era '' of bacteriology ensued, during which the theory quickly led to the identification of the actual organisms that cause many diseases. Viruses were discovered in the 1890s. Contents 1 Miasma theory 2 Development 2.1 Pre-19th century 2.2 Agostino Bassi 2.3 Ignaz Semmelweis 2.4 Gideon Mantell 2.5 John Snow 2.6 Louis Pasteur 2.7 Robert Koch 3 Sanitation 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links Miasma theory A representation by Robert Seymour of the cholera epidemic depicts the spread of the disease in the form of poisonous air. Main article : Miasma theory The miasma theory was the predominant theory of disease transmission before the germ theory took hold towards the end of the 19th century. It held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia infection, or the Black Death were caused by a miasma ( μίασμα, Ancient Greek : `` pollution '' ), a noxious form of `` bad air '' emanating from rotting organic matter. Miasma was considered to be a poisonous vapor or mist filled with particles from decomposed matter ( miasmata ) that was identifiable by its foul smell. The theory posited that diseases were the product of environmental factors such as contaminated water, foul air, and poor hygienic conditions. Such infections, according to the theory, were not passed between individuals but would affect those within a locale that gave rise to such vapors. Development Pre-19th century In Antiquity, the Greek historian Thucydides ( c. 460 -- c. 400 BC ) was the first person to state, in his account of the plague of Athens, that diseases could spread from an infected person to others. One theory of the spread of contagious diseases that were not spread by direct contact was that they were spread by `` seeds '' ( Latin : semina ) that were present in the air. In his poem, De rerum natura ( On the Nature of Things, ca. 56 BC ), the Roman poet Lucretius ( ca. 99 BC -- ca. 55 BC ) stated that the world contained various `` seeds '', some of which could sicken a person if they were inhaled or if they contaminated his food. The Roman statesman Marcus Terentius Varro ( 116 -- 27 BC ) wrote, in his Rerum rusticarum libri III ( Three Books on Agriculture, 36 BC ) : `` Precautions must also be taken in the neighborhood of swamps (... ) because there are bred certain minute creatures which can not be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases. '' The Greek physician Galen ( AD 129 -- ca. 200 / ca. 216 ) speculated in his On Initial Causes ( ca. AD 175 ) that some patients might have `` seeds of fever ''. In his On the Different Types of Fever ( ca. AD 175 ), Galen speculated that plagues were spread by `` certain seeds of plague '', which were present in the air. And in his Epidemics ( ca. AD 176 -- 178 ), Galen explained that patients might relapse during recovery from a fever because some `` seed of the disease '' lurked in their bodies, which would cause a recurrence of the disease if the patients did n't follow a physician 's therapeutic regimen. During the Middle Ages, Isidore of Seville ( ca. 560 -- 636 ) mentioned `` plague - bearing seeds '' ( pestifera semina ) in his On the Nature of Things ( ca. AD 613 ). Later in 1345, Tommaso del Garbo ( ca. 1305 -- 1370 ) of Bologna, Italy mentioned Galen 's `` seeds of plague '' in his work Commentaria non parum utilia in libros Galeni ( Helpful commentaries on the books of Galen ). The Italian scholar and physician Girolamo Fracastoro proposed in 1546 in his book De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis that epidemic diseases are caused by transferable seed - like entities ( seminaria morbi ) that transmit infection by direct or indirect contact, or even without contact over long distances. The diseases were categorised based on how they were transmitted, and how long they could lie dormant. Italian physician Francesco Redi provided early evidence against spontaneous generation. He devised an experiment in 1668 in which he used three jars. He placed a meatloaf and egg in each of the three jars. He had one of the jars open, another one tightly sealed, and the last one covered with gauze. After a few days, he observed that the meatloaf in the open jar was covered by maggots, and the jar covered with gauze had maggots on the surface of the gauze. However, the tightly sealed jar had no maggots inside or outside it. He also noticed that the maggots were found only on surfaces that were accessible by flies. From this he concluded that spontaneous generation is not a plausible theory. Microorganisms are said to have been first directly observed in the 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, an early pioneer in microbiology. Yet Athanasius Kircher may have done so prior. When Rome was struck by the bubonic plague in 1656, Kircher spent days on end caring for the sick. Searching for a cure, Kircher observed microorganisms under the microscope and invented the germ theory of disease, which he outlined in his Scrutinium pestis physico - medicum ( Rome 1658 ). Building on Leeuwenhoek 's work, physician Nicolas Andry argued in 1700 that microorganisms he called `` worms '' were responsible for smallpox and other diseases. In 1720, Richard Bradley theorised that the plague and ' all pestilential distempers ' were caused by ' poisonous insects ', living creatures viewable only with the help of microscopes. In 1762, the Austrian physician Marcus Antonius von Plenciz ( 1705 - 1786 ) published a book titled Opera medico - physica. It outlined a theory of contagion stating that specific ' animalculae ' in the soil and the air were responsible for causing specific diseases. Von Plenciz noted the distinction between diseases which are both epidemic and contagious ( like measles and dysentry ), and diseases which are contagious but not epidemic ( like rabies and leprosy ). The book cites Anton van Leeuwenhoek to show how ubitquitous such animalculae are, and was unique for describing the presence of germs in ulcerating wounds. Ultimately, the theory espoused by von Plenciz was not accepted by the scientific community. Agostino Bassi The Italian Agostino Bassi was the first person to prove that a disease was caused by a microorganism when he conducted a series of experiments between 1808 and 1813, demonstrating that a `` vegetable parasite '' caused a disease in silkworms known as calcinaccio -- this disease was devastating the French silk industry at the time. The `` vegetable parasite '' is now known to be a fungus pathogenic to insects called Beauveria bassiana ( named after Bassi ). Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian obstetrician working at the Vienna General Hospital ( Allgemeines Krankenhaus ) in 1847, noticed the dramatically high maternal mortality from puerperal fever following births assisted by doctors and medical students. However, those attended by midwives were relatively safe. Investigating further, Semmelweis made the connection between puerperal fever and examinations of delivering women by doctors, and further realized that these physicians had usually come directly from autopsies. Asserting that puerperal fever was a contagious disease and that matter from autopsies were implicated in its development, Semmelweis made doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime water before examining pregnant women, thereby reducing the mortality rate from 18 % to 2.2 % at his hospital. Nevertheless, he and his theories were rejected by most of the contemporary medical establishment. Gideon Mantell Gideon Mantell, the Sussex doctor more famous for discovering dinosaur fossils, spent time with his microscope, and speculated in his Thoughts On Animalcules ( 1850 ) that perhaps `` many of the most serious maladies which afflict humanity, are produced by peculiar states of invisible animalcular life ''. John Snow Main article : 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak Original map by John Snow showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854 John Snow was a skeptic of the then - dominant miasma theory. Even though the germ theory of disease pioneered by Girolamo Fracastoro had not yet achieved full development or widespread currency, Snow demonstrated a clear understanding of germ theory in his writings. He first published his theory in an 1849 essay On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, in which he correctly suggested that the fecal - oral route was the mode of communication, and that the disease replicated itself in the lower intestines. He even proposed in his 1855 edition of the work, that the structure of cholera was that of a cell. Having rejected effluvia and the poisoning of the blood in the first instance, and being led to the conclusion that the disease is something that acts directly on the alimentary canal, the excretions of the sick at once suggest themselves as containing some material which being accidentally swallowed might attach itself to the mucous membrane of the small intestines, and there multiply itself by appropriation of surrounding matter, in virtue of molecular changes going on within it, or capable of going on, as soon as it is placed in congenial circumstances. -- John Snow ( 1849 ) For the morbid matter of cholera having the property of reproducing its own kind, must necessarily have some sort of structure, most likely that of a cell. It is no objection to this view that the structure of the cholera poison can not be recognized by the microscope, for the matter of smallpox and of chancre can only be recognized by their effects, and not by their physical properties. -- John Snow ( 1855 ) Snow 's 1849 recommendation that water be `` filtered and boiled before it is used '' is one of the first practical applications of germ theory in the area of public health and is the antecedent to the modern boil - water advisory. In 1855 he published a second edition of his article, documenting his more elaborate investigation of the effect of the water supply in the Soho, London epidemic of 1854. By talking to local residents, he identified the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street ( now Broadwick Street ). Although Snow 's chemical and microscope examination of a water sample from the Broad Street pump did not conclusively prove its danger, his studies of the pattern of the disease were convincing enough to persuade the local council to disable the well pump by removing its handle. This action has been commonly credited as ending the outbreak, but Snow observed that the epidemic may have already been in rapid decline. Snow later used a dot map to illustrate the cluster of cholera cases around the pump. He also used statistics to illustrate the connection between the quality of the water source and cholera cases. He showed that the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company was taking water from sewage - polluted sections of the Thames and delivering the water to homes, leading to an increased incidence of cholera. Snow 's study was a major event in the history of public health and geography. It is regarded as one of the founding events of the science of epidemiology. Later, researchers discovered that this public well had been dug only three feet from an old cesspit, which had begun to leak fecal bacteria. The diapers of a baby, who had contracted cholera from another source, had been washed into this cesspit. Its opening was originally under a nearby house, which had been rebuilt farther away after a fire. The city had widened the street and the cesspit was lost. It was common at the time to have a cesspit under most homes. Most families tried to have their raw sewage collected and dumped in the Thames to prevent their cesspit from filling faster than the sewage could decompose into the soil. After the cholera epidemic had subsided, government officials replaced the handle on the Broad Street pump. They had responded only to the urgent threat posed to the population, and afterward they rejected Snow 's theory. To accept his proposal would have meant accepting the fecal - oral method transmission of disease, which they dismissed. Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur 's pasteurization experiment illustrates the fact that the spoilage of liquid was caused by particles in the air rather than the air itself. These experiments were important pieces of evidence supporting the idea of Germ Theory of Disease. The more formal experiments on the relationship between germ and disease were conducted by Louis Pasteur between the year 1860 and 1864. He discovered the pathology of the puerperal fever and the pyogenic vibrio in the blood, and suggested using boric acid to kill these microorganisms before and after confinement. Pasteur further demonstrated between 1860 and 1864 that fermentation and the growth of microorganisms in nutrient broths did not proceed by spontaneous generation. He exposed freshly boiled broth to air in vessels that contained a filter to stop all particles passing through to the growth medium, and even with no filter at all, with air being admitted via a long tortuous tube that would not pass dust particles. Nothing grew in the broths : therefore the living organisms that grew in such broths came from outside, as spores on dust, rather than being generated within the broth. Pasteur discovered that another serious disease of silkworms, pébrine, was caused by a small microscopic organism now known as Nosema bombycis ( 1870 ). Pasteur saved France 's silk industry by developing a method to screen silkworms eggs for those that were not infected, a method that is still used today to control this and other silkworm diseases. Robert Koch Robert Koch is known for developing four basic criteria ( known as Koch 's postulates ) for demonstrating, in a scientifically sound manner, that a disease is caused by a particular organism. These postulates grew out of his seminal work with anthrax using purified cultures of the pathogen that had been isolated from diseased animals. Koch 's postulates were developed in the 19th century as general guidelines to identify pathogens that could be isolated with the techniques of the day. Even in Koch 's time, it was recognized that some infectious agents were clearly responsible for disease even though they did not fulfill all of the postulates. Attempts to rigidly apply Koch 's postulates to the diagnosis of viral diseases in the late 19th century, at a time when viruses could not be seen or isolated in culture, may have impeded the early development of the field of virology. Currently, a number of infectious agents are accepted as the cause of disease despite their not fulfilling all of Koch 's postulates. Therefore, while Koch 's postulates retain historical importance and continue to inform the approach to microbiologic diagnosis, fulfillment of all four postulates is not required to demonstrate causality. Koch 's postulates have also influenced scientists who examine microbial pathogenesis from a molecular point of view. In the 1980s, a molecular version of Koch 's postulates was developed to guide the identification of microbial genes encoding virulence factors. Koch 's postulates : The microorganism must be found in abundance in all organisms suffering from the disease, but should not be found in healthy organisms. The microorganism must be isolated from a diseased organism and grown in pure culture. The cultured microorganism should cause disease when introduced into a healthy organism. The microorganism must be reisolated from the inoculated, diseased experimental host and identified as being identical to the original specific causative agent. However, Koch abandoned the universalist requirement of the first postulate altogether when he discovered asymptomatic carriers of cholera and, later, of typhoid fever. Asymptomatic or subclinical infection carriers are now known to be a common feature of many infectious diseases, especially viruses such as polio, herpes simplex, HIV, and hepatitis C. As a specific example, all doctors and virologists agree that poliovirus causes paralysis in just a few infected subjects, and the success of the polio vaccine in preventing disease supports the conviction that the poliovirus is the causative agent. The third postulate specifies `` should '', not `` must '', because as Koch himself proved in regard to both tuberculosis and cholera, not all organisms exposed to an infectious agent will acquire the infection. Noninfection may be due to such factors as general health and proper immune functioning ; acquired immunity from previous exposure or vaccination ; or genetic immunity, as with the resistance to malaria conferred by possessing at least one sickle cell allele. The second postulate may also be suspended for certain microorganisms or entities that can not ( at the present time ) be grown in pure culture, such as prions responsible for Creutzfeldt -- Jakob disease. In summary, a body of evidence that satisfies Koch 's postulates is sufficient but not necessary to establish causation. Sanitation In the 1870s, Joseph Lister was instrumental in developing practical applications of the germ theory of disease with respect to sanitation in medical settings and aseptic surgical techniques -- partly through the use of carbolic acid ( phenol ) as an antiseptic. See also Molecular and Cellular Biology portal Alexander Fleming Cell theory Epidemiology Germ theory denialism Robert Hooke Rudolf Virchow Zymotic disease Notes Jump up ^ In a 1767 report to the College of Physicians in London, John Zephaniah Holwell mentions the practice of Smallpox vaccinations by Ayurvedic doctors and their explanations of the cause of the disease. References Jump up ^ `` germ -- definition of germ in English from the Oxford dictionary ''. oxforddictionaries.com. Jump up ^ Henderson, Donald A ; Moss, Bernard ( 1999 ). Smallpox and Vaccinia, Vaccines. W.B. Saunders Company. Jump up ^ `` BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA ''. ucla.edu. Jump up ^ `` Germ Theory ''. jrank.org. Jump up ^ John M. Last, ed. ( 2007 ), `` '' miasma theory `` '', A Dictionary of Public Health, Westminster College, Pennsylvania : Oxford University Press Jump up ^ Singer, Charles and Dorothea ( 1917 ) `` The scientific position of Girolamo Fracastoro ( 1478 ? -- 1553 ) with especial reference to the source, character and influence of his theory of infection, '' Annals of Medical History, 1 : 1 -- 34 ; see p. 14. Jump up ^ Thucydides with Richard Crawley, trans., History of the Peloponnesian War ( London, England : J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1910 ), Book III, § 51, pp. 131 -- 132. From pp. 131 -- 132 : ``... there was the awful spectacle of men dying like sheep, through having caught the infection in nursing each other. This caused the greatest mortality. On the one hand, if they were afraid to visit each other, they perished from neglect ; indeed many houses were emptied of their inmates for want of a nurse : on the other, if they ventured to do so, death was the consequence. '' Jump up ^ Nutton, Vivian ( 1983 ) `` The seeds of disease : an explanation of contagion and infection from the Greeks to the Renaissance, '' Medical History, 27 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 34 ; see p. 10. Available at : U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health Jump up ^ Lucretius with Rev. John S. Watson, trans., On the Nature of Things ( London, England : Henry G. Bohn, 1851 ), Book VI, lines 1093 -- 1130, pp. 291 -- 292 ; see especially p. 292. From p. 292 : `` This new malady and pest, therefore, either suddenly falls into the water, or penetrates into the very corn, or into other food of men and cattle. Or even, as may be the case, the infection remains suspended in the air itself ; and when, as we breathe, we inhale the air mingled with it, we must necessarily absorb those seeds of disease into our body. '' Jump up ^ Varro, Marcus Terentius with Lloyd Storr - Best, trans., Varro On Farming ( London, England : G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1912 ), Book 1, Ch. XII, p. 39. Jump up ^ Nutton ( 1983 ), p. 4 Jump up ^ Nutton ( 1983 ), p. 6 Jump up ^ Nutton ( 1983 ), p. 7 Jump up ^ Nutton ( 1983 ), p. 20 Jump up ^ Nutton ( 1983 ), p. 21 Jump up ^ `` The Life and Work of Athanaseus Kircher, S.J. '' mjt.org. Jump up ^ `` The History of the Germ Theory ''. The British Medical Journal. 1 ( 1415 ) : 312. 1888. Jump up ^ Melvin Santer, ' Richard Bradley : A Unified, Living Agent Theory of the Cause of Infectious Diseases of Plants, Animals, and Humans in the First Decades of the 18th Century ', in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Volume 52, Number 4, Autumn, 2009, pp. 566 - 578 Jump up ^ Winslow, Charles - Edward Amory ( 1967 ). Conquest of Epidemic Disease : A Chapter in the History of Ideas. Hafner Publishing Co Ltd. ISBN 978 - 0028548807. Jump up ^ Pg. 90 of `` The invisible world revealed by the microscope or, thoughts on animalcules. '', second edition, 1850 ( May have appeared in first edition, too. ( Revise date in article to 1846, if so. ) ) Jump up ^ John Snow ( 1849 ). On the Mode of Communication of Cholera. London : J. Churchill. There is no doubt that the mortality was much diminished, as I said before, by the flight of the population, which commenced soon after the outbreak ; but the attacks had so far diminished before the use of the water was stopped, that it is impossible to decide whether the well still contained the cholera poison in an active state, or whether, from some cause, the water had become free from it Jump up ^ Chapelle, Frank ( 2005 ). `` Ch. 5 : Hidden Life, Hidden Death ''. Wellsprings. New Brunswick NJ : Rutgers University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8135 - 3614 - 9. Jump up ^ Pasteur, Louis ( 1880 ) ( May 1880 ). `` ( translated from French ) '' ( On the extension of the germ theory to the etiology of certain common diseases ). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. XC. Ernst, H.C. ( trans ). pp. 1033 -- 44. Jump up ^ Walker L, Levine H, Jucker M ( 2006 ). `` Koch 's postulates and infectious proteins ''. Acta Neuropathologica. 112 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 4. doi : 10.1007 / s00401 - 006 - 0072 - x. PMID 16703338. ^ Jump up to : Koch Robert ( 1884 ). `` Die Aetiologie der Tuberkulose ''. Mittheilungen aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte. 2. pp. 1 -- 88. ^ Jump up to : Koch Robert ( 1893 ). `` Über den augenblicklichen Stand der bakteriologischen Choleradiagnose ''. Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten ( in German ). 14 : 319 -- 333. doi : 10.1007 / BF02284324. Jump up ^ Brock TD ( 1999 ). Robert Koch : a life in medicine and bacteriology. Washington DC : American Society of Microbiology Press. ISBN 1 - 55581 - 143 - 4. Jump up ^ Evans AS ( May 1976 ). `` Causation and disease : the Henle - Koch postulates revisited ''. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 49 ( 2 ) : 175 -- 95. PMC 2595276. PMID 782050. Jump up ^ Jacomo V, Kelly P, Raoult D ( 2002 ). `` Natural history of Bartonella infections ( an exception to Koch 's postulate ) ''. Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology. 9 ( 1 ) : 8 -- 18. doi : 10.1128 / CDLI. 9.1. 8 - 18.2002. PMC 119901. PMID 11777823. Jump up ^ Falkow S ( 1988 ). `` Molecular Koch 's postulates applied to microbial pathogenicity ''. Reviews of Infectious Diseases. 10 ( Suppl 2 ) : S274 -- 6. doi : 10.1093 / cid / 10. Supplement_2. S274. PMID 3055197. Jump up ^ Inglis TJ ( November 2007 ). `` Principia aetiologica : taking causality beyond Koch 's postulates ''. Journal of Medical Microbiology. 56 ( Pt 11 ) : 1419 -- 22. doi : 10.1099 / jmm. 0.47179 - 0. PMID 17965339. External links Stephen T. Abedon ( 1 ) Supplemental Lecture ( 98 / 03 / 28 update ) William C. 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Question: who established the idea that microorganisms play a role in disease
Answer: Agostino Bassi; Robert Koch