Brief history of the development of microbiology

1. Historical
Development of
Microbiology
Emerson C. Soriano
Biology - Chemistry

2. Objectives
• Identify and explain the impacts of infectious
diseases that changed history and in the
study of microbiology;
• Identify the different proponents and their
contributions of the study of microbiology;

3. Microbes Have Changed
History
Microbes working with us:
• Food preservation and
preparation for instance Beer,
wine, bread, cheese,
sauerkraut, yogurt…
Microbes working against us:
• Many microbial diseases have
altered the outcome of
historical events.
Although not always recognized at the time, microbes have dramatically
altered human history.

4. Impact of Infectious Disease
• Average life span:
– Bronze age 26 yrs
– Medieval Europe (400 – 1500 ad) 30 yrs
– Early 20th century 50 – 64 yrs
– Now world average 67.2 years (USA., 78.1)

5. Microbes Have Changed
Science
• Developments in microbiology altered our views
of the scope, diversity, and origin of life
• The germ theory altered our views on the cause,
treatment, and prevention of illness
• The advent of molecular biology and initial
advances in genetics were largely driven by
microbiologists
• Microbiology and its offshoots represent the
majority of modern biological science

6. Girolamo Fracastoro (Fracastorius), an Italian physician.
• During the 1500’s, he was able to observe occurrence
occurrence of epidemics of syphilis and typhus.
typhus.
• in 1546, in his book De Contagione, he proposed that
proposed that epidemic diseases are caused by tiny
by tiny particles that transmit infection by direct or
direct or indirect contact, or even without contact
contact over long distances.
• the name syphilis was derived from Fracastoro’s 1530

7. 1660: Robert Hooke
• (1635-1703) published "Micrographia",
containing drawings and detailed observations
observations of biological materials made with
made with the best compound microscope and
microscope and illumination system of the time.
the time.

8. 1676:Anton von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
• was the first person to observe microorganisms.
• discovered bacteria, protozoans, microscopic algae and nematode. He described hundreds of what he
hundreds of what he thought were tiny, living animals which he called “animalcules”.
• he was also able to observe sperm cells, blood cells, and much more
• He opened up an entire world of microscopic life to the awareness of scientists and in the 17th century
17th century convinced scientists of the existence of miroorganisms. He was thus named Father of
Father of Microbiology

9. 1688: Francesco Redi (1626-1678)
• was an Italian physician who refuted the idea of
spontaneous generation by showing that rotting
kept from flies will not spontaneously produce
maggots.

10. 1710 LouisJoblot (1645 – 1723)
• French mathematician
• Boiled hay infusions
– Open container became cloudy
– Sealed container remained clear
• Argued that contamination come from outside of the container

11. 1745John Needham (1713 – 1781)
• English scientist
• Boiled mutton broth
• Growth observed in both open and closed flasks after boiling
• Inadequate boiling probably
• Argued that the growth was intrinsic to the nature of the broth

12. 1768 LazzaroSpallanzani (1729 – 1799)
• Italian priest
• Repeated Needham’s experiment
– Boiled sealed flasks
– No growth in flasks until opened
– Argued that Needham must have contaminated his flask when closing it
when closing it

13. 1836 FranzSchulze (1815 – 1873)
•After Priestly discovered oxygen
•Unheated gasses passed through concentrated acid or base solutions
•No growth observed in boiled broth media

14. 1864 Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895)
• French microbiologist
• Used swan-necked flasks
• Untreated air allowed in and out of flasks
• No growth in undisturbed flasks
• Contacting the broth with the dust results in rapid microbial growth

15. 1834OliverWendell Holmes
• American physician –Observed
Observed the apparent spread of
spread of puerperal fever
(Streptococcus) by health care
care providers
• Published findings with guidelines
guidelines to reduce transmission
• Results largely ignored for twenty
twenty years

16. 1841 IgnatzSemmelweiss
• Vienna physician - Puerperal
Puerperal fever outbreak was
severe in his hospital
• Observed a difference in
incidence in clinical wards
• Forced hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions
• Before germ theory
• Unpublished and largely ignored

17. 1862 Louis Pasteur
• French microbiologist -Was contacted by wine producers with a problem the wine
problem the wine was going sour
• Pasteur thought that the wine was “infected” with detrimental microbes
microbes
• He briefly heated the wine to kill these microbes
• Advent of pasteurization
• Also postulated that if wine can be infected by microbes, people can too
too
• This is the beginning of the germ theory of disease -the concept that specific
that specific infectious disease is caused by a specific microorganism.

18. 1867 Joseph Lister
• British surgeon - Applied
Applied germ theory to the
the treatment and prevention
prevention of disease
• Used carbolic acid (phenol) to
clean wounds and operating
operating rooms
• Disinfection
• Antisepsis

19. 1854John Snow
• British doctor Cholera outbreak inSoho
in Soho
• Tracked incidence in the population
population
• Traced source to contaminated drinking
drinking water
• Epidemiology

20. 1876: Robert Koch (1843-1910).
• German microbiologist
• Contemporary of Pasteur
• Worked on anthrax, tuberculosis,
and cholera
• Used pure cultures
• Developed the germ theory of
disease
• Described several postulates for
the etiological agent of disease

21. "Koch's postulates" (1884), the critical test for the
involvement of a microorganism in a disease:
• The agent must be present in every case of the disease.
• The agent must be isolated and cultured in vitro.
• The disease must be reproduced when a pure culture of the
agent is inoculated into a susceptible host.
• The agent must be recoverable from the experimentally-
infected host.

22. 1789 Edward Jenner
• English physician - Studied
smallpox outbreaks
• Variolation had been used
• Rather dangerous
• Cowpox was noted to cause mild
lesions in milk maids
• Used the cowpox virus (vaccinia)
to protect against smallpox
• The first “vaccination”

23. Advent of Chemotherapy
• Aniline dyes were observed to inhibit microbial growth
• Salvarsan - discovered by Paul Ehrlich (1908)
Arsenic compound that inhibited syphilis
• Penicillin – Alexander Fleming (1928)
Commercially available in the 1939
• Protosil - first sulfa-drug Gerhard Domagk (1935)
Also the first drug to be used commercially
• Streptomycin – Selman Waksman and Alber Schatz (1944)
– isolated antibiotics produced by actinomycetes, most notably
streptomycin, the first effective pharmaceutical treatment for
tuberculosis, cholera, and typhoid fever. They also isolated
neomycin, used as a topical antibacterial agent.

24. Molecular Biology
• Many of the most critical development of modern
molecular biology were worked out in microbes
• Griffith and Avery study transformation
• Lederberg developed bacterial genetics
• Meselson and Stahl studied DNA replication
• Hershey and Chase study bacteriophage
• Howard Berg performed first cloning
• Keri Mullis developed PCR
• We will revisit these scientists throughout the
course.

26. History-Altering Microbes
• The possibility of such an occurrence happening firstly in
Sumer c.2000 BCE, the site of the world’s first cities, followed
by the Indus Valley Civilization c.1900 - 1350 BCE, Pharaonic
Egypt during the 18th Dynasty c.1350 BCE, Haft Tappeh in
Elam c.1350 BCE, then the end of the Hittite Empire c.1200
BCE, and finally the end of the Bronze Age in the Near East
c.1200 BCE.
• Infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, polio,
tuberculosis, dysentery, malaria, typhoid, leprosy and finally
the “big two” infectious disease epidemics namely smallpox
and plague; decimated the ancient world.

27. An image of a blind
harpist adorns the
walls of the tomb of
Nakht and his wife
Tawy. Trachoma, an
infectious eye
disease, was common
in ancient Egypt and
remains a leading
cause of blindness
today.
Some of the earliest references are over 4000
years old. Akkadian clay tablets of incantations
from the ancient city-state of Ur, unearthed in
modern-day Nuffar, Iraq and dated to ca. 2100-
2000 BCE, include a fascinating exchange
between Marduk, the God of Healing and his
father Enki. Striking is the tone of despair – the
suggestion of even divine impotence in the face
of the still-now incurable disease: “Oh! my Father!
Concerning a man whom […] a rabid dog attacks,
and to whom passes its venom […], I do not know
what I shall do for that man,” Marduk admits.

28. Malaria - Plasmodium falciparum
(Protozoan)
• Mosquito-borne infectious disease
• Thought to have killed Alexander
the Great (323 BC)
Still an important pathogen:
– Infects ~400,000,000 annually
– Kills ~2,000,000 annually that is
over 5,000 every day!

29. Bubonic plague - Yersinia pestis
(Bacterium)
• Vector-borne septicemia
• Black Death (1347-1351)
• Between 25-40% of Europe died
• Loss of laborers contributed to the
collapse of the feudal system
• Lead to the Peasant’s Revolt of
1381
• Still endemic around the world
Doctor beak from Roman engraving, 1656 Physician
attire for protection from the Bubonic plague

30. • The Sedlec Ossuary, small Roman Catholic
chapel, located in the Czech Republic.
• Contains ~ 40,000-70,000 human skeletons
which have been artistically arranged to form
decorations and furnishings for the chapel.
• Many of these bones were from bubonic
plague victims.

31. Smallpox (Virus)
• Directly transmissible disease
• This disease was a big problem in Europe and
Asia. Deadly disease that, in survivors, can
cause disfigurement and blindness.
• Caused two airborne virus variants, Variola
major and Variola minor.Variola major has a
40% mortality rate
• Hernán Cortéz landed in Mexico in 1519
– Smallpox was brought to the Americas
– Aztec civilization was decimated
– Spanish rule over the region was enabled
• Eliminated by vaccination in 1979
• Now still possible weapon of bioterrorism.

32. Potato Blight - Phytophthora infestans
(Fungus??)
• Irish potato famine (1845-1849)
• Potato crops were wiped out
~1,000,000 starved to dead
~2,000,000 emigrated
Many came to the United States
in the mid-1800s
• Still a chronic problem for potato
farmers

33. Influenza
• Infectious disease caused by RNA viruses in the
viruses in the familyOrthomyxoviridae.
• Spanish flu pandemic 1918; more than 50
50 million deaths.
• In the U.S. seasonal flu kills thousands of people
of people every year (mainly very young and
young and old).
Q: How is pandemic influenza different from
from seasonal flu?

34. AIDS
⮚ Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
⮚ Caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency) virus,
a retrovirus that infects T-cells of the immune
system.
⮚ More than 25 million people have died from since
it was recognized in 1981.
⮚ With anti-retroviral drug therapy, more, and more
people are living with AIDS.
⮚ New breakthroughs in anti-retroviral drugs can
reduce contagiousness and transmission of HIV.

35. HBV
⮚ Hepatitis B = infectious
inflammatory illness of the liver
caused by hepatitis B virus
(HBV).
⮚ Virus transmitted by exposure to
infectious blood or body fluids.
⮚ Risk of HBV transmission from carrier 10 – 35%. Health care workers high risk
group.
⮚ The hepatitis B virus is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV.
⮚ HBV infection may be either acute (self-limiting) or chronic (long-standing).
Persons with self-limiting infection clear the infection spontaneously within weeks
to months.

36. SARS
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the
by the SARS coronavirus, an enveloped RNA virus.
virus.
• One near pandemic to date, with 8,096 known
known infected cases and 774 deaths (fatality rate of
(fatality rate of 9.6%).
• Within a matter of weeks in early 2003, SARS spread
SARS spread from a province of China to infect
infect individuals in 37 countries.
• Majority of those who became sick were household
household contacts and health care workers.