Many books that can be read will captivate you, can give you another world to live in, can sweep you off of your feet and never set you back down again. Rarely can a book alter your view so entirely about the world you live in, just by giving you more information about what exactly your world is made up of. The book Good Germs, Bad Germs did this for me. Each chapter strategically broke down the history of microbes and bacteria and how they have been perceived (or not perceived) throughout history. Each expanding step lists the theories that were building blocks for the future of the study of microbes. From Nurse Nightingale, Colonel George Waring, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Bonnie Bassler there were medical advances that helped the field of medicine greatly. Even groups who did not believe in the germs made large steps to clean up the population. Each person mentioned in the book had some sort of contribution to the start of fighting against bacteria and viruses, with Nurse Nightingale disinfecting the work area, Waring started cleaning up the streets and created the way to keep sewage separate from the drinking water and Leeuwenhoek who identified bacteria in the first place. This entire book gives as much information as possible without the reader needing a medical degree. It gave an in depth look at the formation and the ability of bacteria to live within the body and outside the body and how the body actually collects the bacteria. From attaining bacteria from the
In everyday life we run into millions of microbes. Some of the bacteria is capable of making humans sick. The study of microbes has become very important subject to help stop potential pandemics and ensure proper hygiene. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was the first scientist who discovered bacteria. In my study of microbiology, I got to choose an unknown bacteria to identify. It is important to start off finding the family of the unknown bacteria and then eliminating one by one the species to know which bacteria it is. By knowing the family, a scientist can save themselves a lot of time by knowing which tests need to be performed for the elimination process. This might seem like a waste of time to one but being able to correctly identify bacteria
Health Models An Overview Before the advent of microscopes and the technology to see the very small, many people thought that illness was caused by divine intervention, lack of faith, or random and unexplained "vapors" or smells. For the most part, there was no understanding that certain organisms caused anything; in fact, while it seems ridiculous to us now, we must remember that for hundreds of years, even many historical figures believed in using leeches or draining blood to help heal the body (Kennedy, 2004, pp. 3-11). After the discovery of bacteria and the use of the microscope, the "Bio-Medical Model" (BMM) moved into prominence, believing that specific illness were linked to specific bacteria, viruses, or pathogens. Many of the more common diseases that killed so many in history were mitigated by using the BMM: measles, chicken pox, tuberculosis, etc. Still, many questions even into the 20th century seemed to not really fit with this pathogen-based model (Porter, 1999). For most of the West, the idea of categorizing everything came out of the Enlightenment and was expressed as a "germ" model. The European mind could then find, define, analyze and kill the germ therefore healing the person. In fact, the whole idea of vaccination came out of this model, and changed the health of society (James, 1992).
Bacterial and fungi infections are easy to cure with the use of antibiotics, where as viruses can be hard to cure or vaccinate against, such as the common cold. Bacteria can be found everywhere and anywhere Soil, Water, Plants, Animals, material and even deep in the earth's crust. Bacteria feed themselves by making there food with the use of sunlight and water. We would not be able to live without Bacteria. The human body consists of lots of friendly bacteria which also protect us from dangerous ones by occupying places in the body. Some of the most deadly diseases and devastating epidemics in human history have
It was Robert Koch who linked the germ theory and disease with actual proof in 1878, a few years after the Second Public Health Act had been passed, but many people believed that he was right before he proved it. One of the most important reasons was that in 1867, the vote was given to all male householders. Before, it had just been the rich that had voted. The rich lived in the towns, owned houses where disease was kept to a minimum and lived, on average, twenty-five years longer than the urban working class. The Public Health Act was extremely successful and by the end of the century almost all towns had hygienic sewers and water systems.
(Starr.) Germ theory or “filth theory”, as coined by Charles V. Chaplin, was established in order to help define how environmental health impacts infection was transmitted. Personal hygiene and modern sanitary science became radically popular outlook in the early 19th century that helped aid and control diseases like tuberculosis and veneral disease, improving the health of infant, and other health problems. This growing emphasis created the need for individual health
-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.
It’s fascinating and a bit strange to think just how many bacteria live in our mouths, on our skin, and inside our bodies. Usually we think of all bacteria as being bad and harmful to us, but our bodies contain tons of good bacteria that play a very important
Before, biologists assumed all microbes are bad for the human body (automatically thought of pathogens), caused many diseases and harm our body fundamental systems. In addition, the biologists think that our body is already built which had all the functions required to maintain our health. However, the attitude has changed over the last decade. The biologists characterized the most prevalent species of microbes in the body, and found out that these collective microbes do not threaten us, and they also are important part of human bodies.
Throughout history, infectious diseases have impacted communities around the world. Outbreaks of bacteria and viruses in the past have damaged cities and devastated populations. Over the years, new developments in technology have led to advances in medicine and health. The great strides that have been made over the years have helped improve the lives of individuals and have led to a better environment.
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 this paper, I will be explaining within the context of three case studies, how microorganisms can be distinguished from each other and how best to treat the particular pathogens that have caused the three diseases.
Microbes aren’t really mentioned much today, but back when the New World was discovered, these Microbes were causing a lot of trouble in the Old and New World. So let’s go back to 1494. In Europe, a very dangerous disease known as Syphilis came about. This disease was most likely coming from sexual transmission and even killed children once born. In the New World, we assume that everyone was healthy, but there are signs that Syphilis was already there. We don’t know if that’s true, but that evidence is still there in case the claim is fact. Then by the time Columbus arrived, his team spread the smallpox disease to the Native Americans.To make things worse, Cortes came in and starved all the Aztecs and the city was destroyed in seventy five
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.
types of microbial diseases; i.e. how diseases are caused by microbes. Their types like bacterial, viral, fungal etc.
Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.