Chapter 37, Problem 9A

Summary Introduction

To prove:

A particular bacteria was causing an infectious disease in a mouse population.

Introduction:

Robert Koch was a medical doctor and a bacteriologist. He was the first one to provide the first evidence for an association of an autoimmune response with disease.

Explanation of Solution

Robert Koch experimented on mouse that how a particular bacteria was causing an infectious disease. He designed elaborate inoculation studies using mice. He discovered that inoculating a mouse caused the mouse to die the following day with blood from a sheep that had died of anthrax. In the experiment he injected healthy mice with a material from diseased animals, and the mice became ill. After transferring anthrax by inoculation through a series of 20 mice, he incubated a piece of spleen containing the anthrax bacillus in beef serum then the bacilli grew, reproduced, and produced spores and when the isolated bacilli or spores were injected into mice and anthrax developed. During his studies on bacterial diseases, it became necessary to isolate suspected bacterial pathogens. Thus, his criteria for proving the causal relationship between a microorganism and a specific disease are known as Koch’s postulates.

Conclusion

Hence, it is proved that particular bacteria (anthrax) caused an infectious disease in mouse population and his criteria for proving the causal relationship between a microorganism and a specific disease are known as Koch’s postulates.