Biomedical Theory: Improving Patient Outcomes

development of the germ theory of disease- with this historical brought improvement to science and technology in discovery

-The germ theory led to the creation of vaccines, anti-toxins, antibiotics, and the development of laboratory-based pharmacology to help patients to get healthy.

136). The germ theory can be defined as “microorganisms, which are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope, can invade the body and cause certain diseases” (Kusinitz).

Throughout history until the 19th century, infectious diseases, epidemics, and pandemics were thought to be the manifestation of supernatural forces and little to nothing was truly effective in preventing or treating these devastating threats to society. It was only during the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment that the long-accepted realities of society were questioned and research was conducted based on science and reason that would forever change the world we live in (Kumar, 2007). The science of epidemiology was founded by John Snow’s identification of polluted public water well as the source of an 1854 cholera outbreak in London. Shortly thereafter germ theory began to emerge and science took off.

Germs and many other diseases spread primarily through airborne particles, skin to skin contact, and or touching objects such as door handles, hospital buttons, or by sharing patient possessions. Nurses and other health care clinicians are constantly in physical contact with many different patients, who all have varying illness’ and diseases themselves. Many may also carry a

One of the prominent men behind the germ theory was Robert Koch, a German physician, who laid the foundation for the theory. Koch experimented on animals because he noticed what most people saw as a mystery. He used a microscope to look at blood that belonged to cows that died of anthrax. Koch discovered that there were tiny bacteria shaped like a rod and supposed that it was a disease called anthrax. Out of curiosity, he transported the bacteria to mice, which also acquired anthrax. His observation of the transportation of anthrax led Koch to create the four standards that determines that a certain germ can cause a specific disease. Koch’s criterion famously known as Koch’s Postulates and are still commonly used. His third postulate is, “the disease must be reproduced when a pure culture is inoculated into a healthy, susceptible host.” In other words, a disease is able to multiply when a clean group of germs introduces itself to a vulnerable animal to house the germs. Robert Koch launched the germ theory for other great minds to enhance by discovering a disease and creating a set of principles.

“Louis Pasteur – Germ Theory of Disease” Inventors About. Com. 2014. Retrieved on January 13 2014 from Biography.com: http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventors/a/Louis_Pasteur.htm

Although most disease struck the poorest, the upper class was not fully immune. Because people wanted to move to cities to make their lives better, they were forced to live around these diseases without proper means for prevention, protection, and recovery. Once contracting the disease, they would either die within hours or suffer from uncontrollable diarrhea and pain. In addition, scientific knowledge on disease was not as developed as it fortunately is today. Doctors had not yet learned the concept of a germ theory and instead associated the disease with the “bad air” that surrounded toxic, polluted cities. This “bad air” was known as miasa and was incorrectly used to explain the spread of cholera in major cities during the mid 1800s. After studies and research, doctors noticed that there was a heavy concentration of miasmata near certain rivers, but they still connected it to a lack of air quality in bustling cities such as Manchester, London, and Paris. Although air pollution and coal emissions did play a role in certain illnesses, they were not the main cause for diseases such as cholera. Poor ventilation, dirty homes, malnourishment, and no access to clean water made people easily susceptible to a ruthless disease like cholera. Moreover, causes of cholera were investigated more thoroughly after John Snow’s theory claimed that cholera was spread through the water John Snow was an English physician who is today considered one of the fathers of modern epidemiology, the branch of medicine that deals with the distribution and control of diseases relating to health. Finally, doctors could see cholera in a new light and were able to find better means of protection and prevention for its victims. Today, doctors recognize the germ theory of disease which states that some diseases are caused by microorganisms, and not just by “bad

Based on research and observation, we now know that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms (pathogens) and that the immune system provides defense against infectious diseases.

uring the mid to late nineteenth-century, physicians and scientists had begun to understand that diseases are caused by microorganisms. This was a radical departure from traditional medical theories which had held that diseases were caused by miasmas or an

In the early 1800s, both in Europe and in the United States, physicians with formal medical training began to stress the idea that germs and social conditions might cause and spread disease, especially in cities. Many municipalities created "dispensaries" that dispensed medicines to the poor and offered free physician services. Epidemics of cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and yellow fever, and concerns about sanitation and hygiene, led many city governments to create departments of health. New advances in studying bacteria were put to practical use as "germ theory" became the accepted cause for illness. It was in the face of epidemics and poor sanitation, government-sponsored public health, and healthcare that private healthcare began to systematically diverge.

Irresistible diseases slaughter a larger number of individuals worldwide than some other single reason. Irresistible diseases are brought about by germs. Germs are modest living things that are discovered all over the place - in air, soil and water. You can get contaminated by touching, eating, drinking or breathing something that contains a germ. Germs can likewise spread through creature and creepy crawly nibbles, kissing and sexual contact.

The miasma theory of disease stated “diseases were caused by the presence in the air of a miasma, a poisonous vapour in which were suspended particles of decaying matter that was characterised by its foul smell.” (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) He also hypothesized that the infection was in the air, and when breathed in it caused the fever. He tested this and realized his hypothesis was wrong because one wing had a higher percentage of cases with the fever than the other wing. And if the infection was air-born than the percentage of cases with the fever would have been the same in each

the gods today we think that sickness is caused by germs that attack are immunsystem.

Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.