The Fight against Germs

Detailed Notes on Pasteur, Koch, and Other Microbe Hunters

Pasteur's Discoveries (1877-1881)

• 1877: Pasteur competes with Koch in finding new microbes.

• 1880: Chance discovery of a vaccine for chicken cholera.

• 1881: Public experiment with attenuated anthrax bacteria to make sheep immune. Similar method used for rabies vaccine.

Koch's Methods Impact (1883-1902)

• 1883: Edwin Klebs discovers diphtheria germ.

• 1891: Emil von Behring produces antitoxin for diphtheria.

• 1902: Ronald Ross receives Nobel Prize for malaria transmission discovery, disputed by Giovanni Battista Grassi.

Paul Ehrlich's Contributions (1889-1911)

• 1889: Ehrlich discovers dyes killing malaria and sleeping sickness germs.

• 1905: Syphilis bacteria identified.

• 1911: Salvarsan 606 used as a treatment for syphilis.

Impact of Germ Theory

• Introduction of new vaccines, antiseptics, and government intervention in public health.

• Limited impact on treatments in Britain until the pharmaceutical industry boom in the 1940s.