Historical approach to infections and its

control
The history of microbiology is the story of men and
women who developed a technique a tool or a
concept that was generally adopted in the studying
of microorganisms. It is also the history of events
and metamorphosis of microbiology as a science.
In this unit we will be studying stages in the
development of the science of microbiology, some
early scientists and their contributions to the field
of microbiology.
 Discovery of microorganisms

The advent of the microscope permitted the studying of

microorganisms. The first microscopes were simple ground glass
lenses that magnified images of previously unseen microorganisms.
Among the first to observe is previously unseen and invisible
microbial world were Robert Hooke and Anthoney Van
Leewenhoek, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) an English Mathematician
and natural historian
• He coined the term “cells” to describe the “little boxes” he
observed in examining cork slices with a compound microscope.
• He was the first to make a known description of microorganisms.
• He made microscopic observation and the earliest description of
many fungi.
 Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek
(1632-1723) lived in Delft, Holland. He was a draper and an amateur microscope
builder.
• He learned lens grinding as a hobby and made over 100 simple microscopes
each capable of magnifying an image about 300 times.
• By using simple microscopes, he observed microscopic organisms which he
called ‘animalcules’.
• He discovered bacteria in 1676 while studying pepper water infusion and
reported his observations in a series of letters to Royal Society of London
which published them in 1684 in English translation.
• He made sketches of the different shapes of bacteria
• He was the first person to publish extensive, accurate observations of
microorganisms.
• (a) Antony Leeweenhoek (1632-1723) holding one of his microscopes.
• (b) Leeweenhoek’s Microscopes and Some of the Sketches of Bacteria from
Human Mouth.
•
He is known as the father of bacteriology
 The Spontaneous Generation Conflict

After Van Leeuwenhoek’s death, the study of microbiology

did not develop rapidly because microscopes were rare and
interest in microorganisms was not high. Scientists then
were debating the theory of spontaneous generation.
• The concepts spontaneous generation state that living
organisms could develop from non living matter. The
proponents of the concept of spontaneous generation
claimed that living organisms could develop from non
living or decomposing matter.
 Francesco Redi (1626-1697)
• challenged this concept by showing that maggots on decaying meat
came from fly eggs deposited on the meat, and not from the meat itself.
• He carried out a series of experiments on decaying meat and its ability
to produce maggot spontaneously.
• He placed meat in three different containers, one was not covered, and
the second was covered with fine gauze to exclude flies.
• Flies laid egg on the uncovered meat and maggot developed.
• The two other two meats did not produce maggots. Spontaneously flies
were attracted to the gauze-covered container and laid their eggs on the
gauze, these later produced maggots. Hence it become evident that the
generation of maggots resulted from the presence of fly eggs and that
meat (a non living matter) did not spontaneously generate maggots as
previously believed.
• Louis Jablot (1670) conducted an experiment in which he
divided a hay infusion that had been boiled into two
containers: a heated container that was closed to the air and a
heated container that was freely open to the air. Only the open
vessel developed microorganisms. This further helped to
disprove abiogenesis.
• John Needham (1713-1781) showed that mutton broth boiled
in flasks and then sealed could still develop microorganisms,
which supported the theory of spontaneous generation.
• Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799) showed that flasks sealed and
then boiled had no growth of microorganisms, and he
proposed that air carried germs to the culture medium. He also
commented that axternal air might be needed to support the
growth of animals already in the medium. The latter concept
was appealing to supporters of spontaneous generation.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a Professor of Chemistry.
He devised a series of swan necked flasks known as
Pasteur-flasks, filled the flasks with broth and heated the
broth to sterilization. After cooling, the flasks were
opened to the air, but bends on the neck of the flasks
prevented microorganisms from falling on the broth and
contaminating it rather the microorganisms fell on the
neck of the bottle. Pasteur proved that no growth
occurred because dust and germs were trapped on the
wall of the curved necks. If the neck were broken, growth
will occur. By these experiments he disproved and
defeated the theory of Spontaneous generation. The
defeat of spontaneous generation: pasteur’s experiment
with the swan necked flask.
• Apart from the defeat of the concept of spontaneous generation,
• Pasteur’s work led to an effective sterilization method which
involve holding juices and milk at 62.8oC (145oF) for 30minutes
known as Pasteurization.
• He discovered that alcoholic fermentation was catalyzed by Living
Yeast Cells.
• He developed vaccines for the diseases anthrax, fowl cholera and
rabies between the periods of 1880-1890.
• As a result of his research on rabies, he become a legend and the
French government built the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1888
originally established as a clinical centre for treating rabies. But is
now a major biomedical research centre for antiserum and
vaccine production.
• He postulated the Germ Theory of Disease which states that
microorganisms are the causes of infectious diseases.
• Pasteur’s work ushered in the Golden Age of Microbiology
• Robert Koch (1843-1910)
• Robert Koch was a German Physician. He was the first to directly prove
the role of microorganisms in causing diseases. He established the
relationship between Bacillus anthracis and the disease it causes
anthrax.
• Using mice as experimental animals, he demonstrated that when a
small amount of blood from a diseased mouse was injected into a
healthy mouse the healthy mouse quickly developed anthrax. From this
work he developed Koch’s postulates.
• Koch’s postulates are:
• The suspected disease causing organism should be present in all cases
of the disease and absent from healthy animals.
• The suspected organism must be cultivated in a pure culture away from
the animal body.
• The isolated organism must cause the disease when inoculated into a
healthy susceptible animal.
• The organism must be re-isolated from these experimental animals and
cultural again in the laboratory after which is should still be the same as
the original organism.
• Using these principles, he discovered causative
organisms of anthrax (1876), tuberculosis (1882) and
cholera (1883).
• He was the first to grow bacteria on solid culture media
to get pure culture hence he developed the pure
culture concept and developed different solid media.
• Koch’s discovery of solid culture media and pure
culture concept supplied the most needed tools for the
development of microbiology as a field of science.
• For his contribution on Tuberculosis, he was awarded
the 1905 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
• Today, “Molecular Kosh’s postulates” have been
established in light of advances in the molecular
biology of pathogenic microbes.
• Edward Jenner (ca. 1798) used a vaccination
procedure to protect individuals from
smallpox.
• Emil Von Behring (1854-1917) and
Shibasaburo kitasato (1852­1931) induced the
formation of diphtheria tetanus antitoxins in
rabbits which were effectively used to treat
humans thus demonstrating humoral
immunity
 The Discovery of Microbial effects on Organic and Inorganic Matter
• Martinus Beijerinck (1851-1931)
• Martinus Beijerinck was a Professor at the Delft Polytechnic.
• He isolated the first pure culture of many soil and aquatic microorganisms,
including sulfate reducing and sulfur oxidizing bacteria, nitrogen fixing
root nodule bacteria.
• He described the first virus and the basic principles of virology.
• Sergei Winogradsky (1856-1953)
• He proposed the concept of chemo-lithotrophy, (the oxidation of inorganic
matter.) He worked with soil bacteria and discovered they could oxidize
iron, sulphur, ammonia, to obtain energy. He also studied anaerobic
nitrogen fixation and cellulose decomposition. He published many
scientific papers and a major monograph, Microbiologic du sol (Soil
Microbiology).
• Beijerinck and Winogradsky pioneered the use of enrichment cultures
and selective media.
• The Development of Microbiology in This Century
• Microbiology established a closer relationship with other discipline during
the 1940s because of its association with genetics and biochemistry.
• George W. beadle and Edward L. Tatum (ca. 1941) studied the relationship
between genes and enzymes using the bread mould, Neurospora.
• Salvadore Lurai and Max Delbruck (ca. 1943) showed that mutations were
spontaneous and not directed by the environment.
• Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. Mcleod, and Maclyn McCarty (1944) provided
evidence that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was the genetic material and
carried genetic information during transformation.

• ERA OF MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY

• Began in the 1970s.
• Advancement in the knowledge of bacterial physiology, biochemistry and
genetics.
• Genetic manipulation which involves the transfer of DNA from one
organism into another or a bacterium and the protens encoded by the DNA
harvested led to the development of the field of Biotechnology.
• DNA sequencing revealed the phylo genetics (evolutionary) relationships
among bacteria which led to revolutionary new concepts in microbial
systematic.
• In 1990s. DNA sequencing gave birth to the field of genomics.