Microbiology and Disease Control

Advancements in Microbiology and Disease Control

• Childbed fever was common in the mid-19th century, resulting in death in about 25% of deliveries at the hospital where Semmelweis worked.
• Semmelweis reduced the mortality rate to less than 1% by advocating for handwashing before doctoring, facing resistance from some doctors.
• Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation and demonstrated the link between microbes and disease, using fermentation techniques and broth experiments.
• Pasteur's identification of microorganisms causing disease led to saving the silk industry from a mystery disease in silkworms.
• Robert Koch proved that anthrax was caused by bacteria through experiments involving mice and blood samples.
• Koch developed a sugar-based gelatin to grow bacteria and contributed to the development of the first antibiotic, "Salvarsan," with Paul Ehrlich.
• Before antibiotics, many people believed diseases were acts of God, such as syphilis being associated with immorality and tuberculosis devastating generations.
• Syphilis, caused by Treponema pallidum, progresses through stages and can lead to dementia and heart failure.
• Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the oldest bacterial diseases, spreading through the air and causing necrosis in the lungs.
• Necrosis caused by diseases like tuberculosis and pneumonia often led to fever, which could be fatal due to the body's inability to function at high temperatures.
• People often died of fever rather than necrosis caused by bacteria due to the body's inability to function at high temperatures.
• Advancements in microbiology and disease control, including the discovery of the link between microbes and disease, the development of antibiotics, and understanding the progression of diseases like syphilis and tuberculosis, have significantly impacted public health.