Germ theory

The first application of chlorine in potable water was introduced in the 1830s for taste and odor control, at that time diseases were thought to be spread by odors. It was not until the 1890s and the advent of the germ theory of disease that the importance of disinfection in potable water was understood. Chlorination was first introduced on a practical scale in 1908 and then became a common practice. 

Of critical importance was the work of Louis Pasteur in France, Robert Koch in Germany, and Joseph Lister in England in the nineteenth century that established the germ theory of disease, a demonstration that took an amazing amount of time to catch on. Too many people, including scientists, do not understand that some fraction of what they know is just not so. People hold onto their misinformation with remarkable tenacity, retarding the acceptance of new knowledge. 

In 1798 Edward Tenner published the classc memoir, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effect of the Variolae Vacciniae, documenting how inoculation with cowpox protected humans against smallpox infection [1]. Louis Pasteur s formulation of the germ theory extended the understanding of this kind of protection against infection [1,2]. About 100 years later, isolation of the diphtheria bacihus and description of a protective substance (antitoxin) by Roux and Yersin demonstrated that the protective substance found in the serum of immunized animals can be transferred to susceptible animals and thereby confer passive immunity [4]. The antitoxin or... 

Pastenr, L., and J. Lister, Germ theory and its applications to medicine and on the antiseptic principle of the practice of surgery. Great minds series. 1996, Amherst, NY Promethens Books. 144. 

For causation see Vivian Nutton, The Seeds of Disease An Explanation of Contagion and Infection from the Greeks to the Renaissance , Medical History, 27 (1983), 1-34 Margaret Felling, Contagion/Germ Theory/Specificity , in William Bynum and Roy Porter (eds.). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine, i (1993), 309-34, esp. 315. 

Pelhng, Margaret, Contagion/Germ Theory/Specificity , in William Bynum and Roy Porter (eds.). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine, i (1993), 309—34. 

In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) confirmed the germ theory of disease with his discovery of bacteria. This led to the discovery of the antiseptic properties of phenol and related compounds, which, as discussed in Chapter 12, could be used to prevent bacterial infection. The first major advance toward curing bacterial diseases was not made until the 1930s, however, when sulfur-containing compounds known as sulfa drugs were developed. Next came penicillin,... 

The medical model represented by germ theory—that major diseases are the result of bacterial, viral (or prion) action—is slowly evolving into a more complex view of medicine. 

The sun-centered solar system Warm-bloodedness in dinosaurs The germ-theory of disease Continental drift... 

Louis Pasteur studied chirality in the 1840s by separating a mixture of two chiral molecules. His greater contribution was in biology for discovering the germ theory of disease. 

Ever since Pasteur, bacteria had been defined as disease-causing germs, and the notion that bacteria played any beneficial role in the tissues of animals was in virtual conflict with the basic tenets of germ theory. Studies... 

Some chiropractors tend to advise clients against any type of immunization. The basis of this attitude seems to lie in early chiropractic philosophy. Eschewing the germ theory of infectious disease, this philosophy considered any disease to be the result of spinal nerve dysfunction caused by misalignment of vertebrae (148). When 150 US chiropractors were questioned about their attitude towards immunization, only 30% reported recommending childhood immunizations (149). 

On many occasions, Lenin and his colleagues took the threat of contamination more literally and spoke in metaphors drawn from the science of hygiene and the germ theory of disease. Thus it became possible to talk of petit-bourgeois bacilli and "infection. The shift in imagery was not far-fetched, for Lenin did want to keep the party in an environment that was as sterile and germ-free as possible lest the party contract one of the many diseases lurking outside. ... 

Environmental influences on asthma were recognised by Hippocrates more than 2,000 years ago. In the 19th century, known associations with asthma included the weather, air temperature, humidity, thunderstorms, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), fenny country, season, occupation, diet, exercise, feather beds, animals, pollen and the passions . The only major risk factor not noted in the 19th century was infection, due to the lack of germ theory. However, there was no formal asthma and allergy epidemiology until the 20th century. 

The agents responsible for these great losses of life were a complete mystery. From ancient times, people had speculated about emanations (miasmata) of disease arising from swampy places (like mist) and from corpses. This bad air or mal aria was associated with the fevers and worse conditions that were prevalent in marshy places. In 1546, the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro proposed what we should now term the germ theory of disease when he wrote in his treatise entitled De Contagione ... 

Pasteur was by now aware of these studies and was able to overcome this scepticism by some clever experimentation. He added one drop of infected serum to sterilised urine, allowed the bacilli to multiply and then added one drop of this urine to another sample of sterilised urine. After 100 transfers, the anthrax bacilli retained the entire potency present in the initial drop of blood serum, and the germ theory of disease was thus confirmed. 

Allow me to take this opportunity to tender my most cordial thanks for having, by your brilliant researches, demonstrated to me the truth of the germ theory of putrefaction, and thus furnished me with the principle upon which alone the antiseptic system can be carried out. 

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