Central university of Jammu

Department of Zoology
Course: Microbiology and Immunology
Semester: IV

History of Microbiology

Epidemic, transmissible diseases were documented in the recorded histories

of early civilizations. Ancient Hebrew (official language of Israel) texts refer to
“plagues” that beset (to affect somebody/something in a bad way) the Pharaohs
(Pharaoh is the vernacular term often used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt, who
ruled from the First Dynasty until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in
30 BC) in Egypt more than 1,000 years before the birth of Christ

The Greeks and Romans each experienced cataclysmic outbreaks that had
profound impacts on their respective Empires. With each of these “plagues”
enlightened observers noted the phenomenon of resistance upon re-exposure to
the same disease process. The Greek historian Thucydides recorded such
observations regarding smallpox, and there is evidence that the Chinese
exploited this knowledge in the sixteenth century in their practice of
variolation (Leung 1996).

Back in the Old World a dramatic epidemic of another kind was

underway. Shortly after Columbus first return voyage in 1493, an epidemic of
“Great pox” occurred throughout much of Europe. “Great pox” aptly described
the clinical appearance of the cutaneous lesions of secondary syphilis (A
bacterial infection usually spread by sexual contact that starts as a painless
sore).

Using his powers of observation and knowledge of epidemics, the Italian

physician Girolamo Fracastoro, had written a treatise (a long formal book, article
or piece of writing dealing with a particular subject) on the germ theory of
disease entitled “de Contagione” in 1546. Fracastorius correctly surmised that
tiny, free-living organisms, which he referred to as “seeds of disease,” existed in
nature. Despite being invisible to human eyes, he postulated that these disease-
causing organisms could be transmitted from person-to-person directly or via
intermediaries, thereby spreading contagion (Gensini and Conti 2004). He
correctly surmised that syphilis was caused by such a microscopic organism. In his
poem entitled “Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus” (translated “Syphilis or the French
Disease”) he described in remarkably accurate, yet mythical, poetic detail the
clinical consequences of syphilis (Conrad et al. 1995).

The Dutch textile merchant and self-taught scientist, Antonie van

Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) is credited with first identifying microorganisms, or
“little animals,” using his newly developed microscope in 1677, thereby
confirming Fracastoro’s hypothesis (Corliss 2002). Plant pathologists and
mycologists had already demonstrated the essential role of microorganisms as the
cause of selected diseases in plants.

The critical significance of these tiny forms to human health was not fully
appreciated until almost 200 years later when Pasteur and Koch first successfully
cultured bacterial organisms from diseased tissues. Despite the technical
shortcomings in the period between van Leeuwenhoek (Fig.1) and Pasteur, a
number of scientists and physicians correctly hypothesized the existence of
microscopic organisms and their contribution to human disease.
 Fig.: Antony van Leeuwenhoek (Rijksmuseum, The Netherlands)

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek known as the “father of microbiology”.

The development of microbiology.

In the late 1800s and for the first decade of the 1900s, scientists seized the
opportunity to further develop the germ theory of disease as enunciated by
Pasteur and proved by Koch. There emerged a Golden Age of
Microbiology during which many agents of different infectious diseases were
identified.

Golden age of microbiology:

From 1857-1940 has been named Golden age of microbiology. During this
period, rapid advancement spread hold mainly by Pasture & Robert Koch lead to
the establishment of microbiology as a science.

Vaccination:

Edward Jenner a young British Physician used scraping of cowpox blister to

vaccinate against small pox.
Jenner published his findings in 1798 in a pamphlet “An inquiry into the cause and
effect of variole vaccine”.

Discovery of disease causing agent

Robert Koch a Germen physician discovered the cause of Anthrax (Bacillus

anthracis) in 1870’s.

Koch postulates:

1. Same pathogen must be present in every case of a disease.

2. Pathogen must be isolated from the diseased host and grown in a pure
culture.
 3. Pathogen from the pure culture must cause the disease when it is inoculated
into susceptible animal.

Fermentation:

French chemist Louis Pasteur discovered fermentation in 1857. His

experiments demonstrated that microorganisms, like yeast, are responsible for the
fermentation process. Microorganism like yeast converts sugar to alcohol in the
absence of air this process is called fermentation. It is used to make wine and
beer.

Pasteurization:

Pasteurization is named after the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, whose

research in the 1860s demonstrated that thermal processing would deactivate
unwanted microorganisms in wine. Spoilage enzymes are also inactivated
during pasteurization.

It is the heat treatment of beverage and milk at 72̊̊̊ C for 30 min to kill
microorganism (which causes spoilage of liquid) in food without compromising on
its quality. Now a day it is only used for milk product.

Antiseptic:

Microorganisms are the cause of disease. In 1860’s English surgeon Joseph

Lister use phenol (Carbolic acid) as a disinfectant and antiseptic solution.
Carbolic acid, also known as phenol, was the first antiseptic used by Joseph
Lister. This practice reduced the incidence of infection and death others surgeon
readily adopted it. Lister technique was the earliest medical attempt to control
infection caused by microorganism.
Microbiology Comes of Age: Louis Pasteur

The actual inception of microbiology as a distinct science traditionally

dates to 1857, when Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) convincingly demonstrated that
microorganisms were responsible for the fermentation of fluids, significant
advances in the field had occurred in the intervening period since van
Leeuwenhoek’s observations using microscopy (Wainright 2001). With these
investigations Pasteur essentially proved the germ theory of disease and
launched the field of modern microbiology.

He showed that heat sterilization, chemical sterilization, or filtration of air and

water could maintain organic materials in sterile conditions indefinitely without
any microbial growth.

Techniques of sterilization and “Pasteurization” of dairy products were

soon introduced and undoubtedly saved millions of lives in the period that
followed. Pasteur established the Pasteur Institute through a combination of
major private financing and public monies. The Institute soon became an
international center for microbiology, immunology, and medicine, largely due
to the efforts of Louis Pasteur himself.
 Pasteur’s work inspired the British surgeon Joseph Lister (1827–1912) to
attempt to use sterile methods to protect the wounds of trauma patients at the
orthopedic infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland in 1867. Realizing that universal air
filtration or heating the patient to maintain sterility were impractical clinical
options, Lister investigated the use of chemical disinfectants as a method of
preventing wound infections. Based on the discovery by local farmers that
carbolic acid decreased the fetid odor of the common fertilizer “night soil” (i.e.
human excreta), Lister demonstrated the value of dilute solutions of this
chemical in maintaining the sterility of dressings, surgical instruments, and
the hands of surgeons caring for injured patients (Harding-Rains 1977).

Robert Koch and the Berlin School of Microbiology

Even as Paris was fast becoming the center of research in the nascent field of
microbiology, a country doctor from Prussia was beginning his career in
microbiology essentially as a weekend hobby. Robert Koch (1843–1910) studied
medicine at the University at Göttingen where he came under the influence of
the notable Professor of Anatomy Jakob Henle, an early proponent of the germ
theory of disease, and learned the importance of careful animal experimentation in
understanding disease causation. In the 1870s, as a district medical officer in the
Prussian town of Wollstein, Koch began his investigations into the etiology of
anthrax in sheep; this marked the beginning of a distinguished career in scientific
research (Brock 1988). He identified anthrax bacilli in the blood of infected
sheep and successfully transmitted the infection into healthy experimental
animals. Using careful photomicroscopy and detailed drawings, he accurately
described the life cycle of anthrax and the process of endospore formation. With
the publication of this work in 1876, Koch became a major force in the
fledgling field of microbiology.
 Koch pioneered a number of laboratory techniques. He employed the use
of the oil immersion microscope to study bacteria; developed new staining
methods for bacterial identification; and he invented procedures for the isolation
of pure bacterial cultures on solid media, the latter facilitated by the use of agar
as the solidifying agent in flat “Petri” dishes, named after their inventor, Richard
Petri (a colleague of Koch) and still in common use today.

Using differential staining techniques, careful microscopy, and solid

agar methods, Koch isolated the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
in pure culture (Dubos and Dubos 1956).

Causative agent of malaria:

Alphonse Laveran discovered the causative agent of malaria in 1880. Laveran

was a French physician, parasitologist, and pathologist who worked in Algeria.

Modern Advances in Microbiology

The history of microbiology in the twentieth century was dominated by

research discoveries in genetics, nucleic acid biochemistry, and molecular
biology. Since Charles Darwin’s description of natural selection and variation and
Gregor Mendel’s work in defining the laws of genetics in the mid-nineteenth
century, scientists had sought the biochemical basis for genes that determine the
destiny of life forms on earth.

The discovery of penicillin, the first widely used antibiotic, is credited to

Alexander Fleming in 1928. While working at St. Mary’s Hospital in London,
Fleming observed that a mold contaminating his petri dishes of staphylococci
bacteria inhibited bacterial growth.
 He identified the mold as Penicillium notatum and found that it released a
substance capable of killing a wide range of bacteria. Fleming obtained an extract
from the mold, naming its active agent penicillin. He determined that penicillin
had an antibacterial effect on staphylococci and other gram-positive pathogens.

Alexander Fleming was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or

Medicine for discovering penicillin. He shared the award with Ernst Boris Chain
and Sir Howard Walter Florey.

Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty, and Colin MacLeod, working at the

Rockefeller Institute identified the “holy grail” of genetics in 1944 with their
finding that the “transforming principle” or genetic material of Streptococcus
pneumoniae was deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), not protein as previously
postulated (Lederberg 1994).

This observation led to the elucidation of the structure of DNA in 1953 by

James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins, which
in turn led to the deciphering of the genetic code by the former two scientists and
ushered in the modern era of molecular biology.

James Watson and Francis Crick, along with Maurice Wilkins, won the 1962
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of DNA

The first complete genomic sequencing, that of a bacteriophage was

accomplished in 1977 (Sanger et al. 1982); followed shortly thereafter by the first
draft of the human genome in 2001. To identify and map all the 20,000-25,000
genes (approx) in the human DNA from a physical and functional standpoint.
 In 1990, the 2 major funding agencies, the US Department of Energy
(DOE) and National Institute of Health (NIH), developed an MoU in order to
coordinate plans and set the clock for the initiation of the Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international research project

that sequenced the human genome. The project began in 1990 and was completed
in 2003.

Recent advances in microbiology, including the development of

recombinant DNA technology, the polymerase chain reaction, and monoclonal
antibodies have revolutionized clinical microbiology and permitted the use of
non-culture methods to diagnose fastidious or non-cultivatable organisms such as
hepatitis C virus, Trophyrema whippelii, (Whipple's disease is a bacterial
infection that can cause a variety of symptoms, including digestive, neurological,
and cardiac issues) and a variety of other organisms that likely contribute to human
disease.
1. Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7176178/#:~:text=The
%20actual%20inception%20of%20microbiology,the%20intervening%20period
%20since%20van
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10458164/