Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister

Koch, Pasteur, and Lister, pioneers of medicine and public health. Robert Koch was a celebrated German physician and pioneering microbiologist. The founder of modern bacteriology, he's known for his role in identifying the specific causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax, and for giving experimental support for the concept of infectious disease. Koch's work with anthrax is notable in that he was the first to link a specific microorganism with a specific disease, supporting the germ theory of disease. His research led to the creation of Koch's postulates, a series of four generalized principles linking specific microorganisms to specific diseases. This remains today the gold standard in medical microbiology. Louis Pasteur was the first microbiologist ever to state that microbial function caused fermentation. This theory is known as his very famous germ theory. He expanded his theories based upon the germ theory and discovered that heating of liquids like milk kills most of the microbes. Soon this liquid germ killing process was called pasteurization. He also pioneered the use of immunizations with chicken cholera using an artificially weakened form of bacteria that made the chicken immune to cholera in spite of showing mild symptoms of the disease. Pasteur also used his cholera immunization method on anthrax and rabies. Until Lister's studies of surgery, most people believed that damage from bad air was responsible for infections and wounds. A surgeon was not required to wash his hands before seeing a patient because it was not considered necessary to avoid infection. Hospitals practiced surgery under unsanitary conditions. Surgeons took pride in the accumulated stains on their unwashed operating gowns as a display of their experience. Lister tested the results of spraying instruments to surgical incisions and dressings with a solution of carbolic acid. Lister found that carbolic acid solutions swabbed on wounds remarkably reduced infection. What is the significance of the work of Koch, Pasteur, and Lister?