Germ Theory: Medical Pioneers in Infectious Diseases

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Special Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1 Introduction
References
Chapter 2 Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine
Medicine before Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Natural Cause for Disease
The Four Humors and Disease
The Coan School of Medicine
Fever and the Four Humors
The Foundation of Evidence-Based Medicine
The Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Corpus: Epidemics
The Lasting Influence of the Humoral Theory on Medicine
Evolution of the Humoral Theory through the Centuries after Hippocrates
Galen: His Legacy
References
Chapter 3 Avicenna, a Thousand Years Ahead of His Time
Bubonic Plague in the Middle Ages
Medicine in the Medieval Islamic World
Role of Translation in the Establishment of Medieval Islamic Medicine
Changes to Medical Education in Medieval Islamic Medicine
Avicenna, the Prince of Physicians
The Canon of Medicine
Beginnings of Evidence-Based Clinical Trials
The Concept of Contagion
The Canon of Medicine’s Influence in Western Medicine
References
Chapter 4 Girolamo Fracastoro and Contagion in Renaissance Medicine
Plague in the Renaissance
Syphilis in the Renaissance
Stages of Syphilis
Girolamo Fracastoro: Early Influences
Fracastoro’s Epic Poem—Syphilis sive morbus Gallicus
Fracastoro: on Contagion and Contagious Disease
Reaction to De Contagione
Fracastoro and the Council of Trent
The Tumult over Fracastoro’s Burial Place
The Rediscovery of De Contagione
References
Chapter 5 Antony van Leeuwenhoek and the Birth of Microscopy
The Discovery of the Microscopic World
Antony van Leeuwenhoek: Early Influences
van Leeuwenhoek and Lens Making
van Leeuwenhoek and the Royal Society in London
Reactions to van Leeuwenhoek’s Microscopic Discoveries
The First Description of Bacteria
van Leeuwenhoek’s Microscopes
Modern Investigations into van Leeuwenhoek’s Microscopes
Spontaneous Generation and van Leeuwenhoek
Microorganisms and Disease in the Enlightenment
References
Chapter 6 The Demise of the Humoral Theory of Medicine
Andreas Vesalius and His Challenge to Galenic Anatomy
The Challenge to Galenic Physiology: William Harvey, the Discovery of the Circulation of Blood, and the Scientific Method in Medicine
Morgagni and the Anatomic Basis of Disease
The Paris School of Medicine
The Rise of Modern Hospitals in Western Medicine
Contagion and 18th-Century Medicine
The Sanitary Movement, Contagion, and 19th-Century Medicine
Contagionism versus Anticontagionism in the 19th Century
References
Chapter 7 Edward Jenner and the Discovery of Vaccination
The Disease of Smallpox
A Short History of Smallpox
Smallpox in the 18th Century
Contagion and Smallpox in the 18th Century
Variolation and the “Control” of Smallpox
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Edward Jenner: Early Influences
Milkmaids, Cowpox, and Smallpox
The First Inoculation against Smallpox
Publication of An Inquiry into the Causes and Effectsof the Variolae Vaccinae
Reaction to An Inquiry into the Causes and Effectsof the Variolae Vaccinae
Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to Jenner
Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox
Global Application of Vaccination
Vaccinia Virus in the Contemporary Smallpox Inoculation
Success of Vaccination
References
Chapter 8 Ignaz Semmelweis and the Control of Puerperal Sepsis
The Development of Hospitals in Western Medicine
The Tragedy of Puerperal Fever
Theories about the Causes of Puerperal Fever in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Alexander Gordon and Puerperal Fever in England
Contagion versus Infection in Early 19th-CenturyMedicine
Oliver Wendell Holmes and Puerperal Fever in America
Ignaz Semmelweis: Early Influences
The University of Vienna Hospital: A Short History
Semmelweis and Childbed Fever: A Tale of Two Divisions
The Tragic Clue to Childbed Fever
Prevention of Childbed Fever: Hand Washing
Reaction to Hand Washing
Semmelweis’s Departure from Vienna
The Return to Hungary
Opposition to Semmelweis and His Theory
Semmelweis’s Last Years
References
Chapter 9 Louis Pasteur and the Germ Theory of Disease
Louis Pasteur: Early Influences
Pasteur the Chemist and the Discovery of Crystals
The “Diseases” of Fermentation
Pasteurization
Spontaneous Generation and Louis Pasteur
Diseases of Silkworms and Their Role in the Germ Theory of Disease
The Germ Theory of Disease, Pasteur, and Medicinein the 19th Century
Pasteur’s Work on Anthrax
The Discovery of Toxin Production from Anthrax Bacilli
Chicken Cholera and Attenuation of Microorganisms
Pasteur and the Anthrax Vaccine
The Rabies Vaccine
Reaction to the Rabies Vaccine
Pasteur’s Last Years
References
Chapter 10 Robert Koch and the Rise of Bacteriology
Robert Koch: Early Influences
The Discovery of Anthrax Spores
Improvements in Microscopy
Koch’s Move to Berlin
The Development of Pure Bacterial Cultures
The Discovery of the Tubercle Bacillus
Koch’s Postulates
The Discovery of the Causative Agent of Cholera
The Rivalry between Koch and Pasteur
The Mistranslation of a Word
The Institute of Hygiene
The Tuberculin Fiasco
Public Reaction to Koch’s Announcement
The Effects of Tuberculin Failure on Koch
The Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin
Cholera in Germany: A Public Health Triumph for Koch
The Robert Koch Institute
The 1905 Nobel Prize in Medicine
References
Chapter 11 Joseph Lister, the Man Who Made Surgery Safe
The Discovery of Anesthesia
Surgery before Joseph Lister
History of the Treatment of Wounds
Joseph Lister: Early Influences
James Syme in Edinburgh
Marriage of Joseph Lister and Agnes Syme
The Move to Glasgow
The Clue to Wound Infections
Antiseptic Surgery
The First Success with Antisepsis
Antisepsis and Surgical Wounds
Problems with Carbolic Acid
Move back to Edinburgh
Reaction to Surgical Antisepsis
Acceptance on the European Continent
Listerism in the United States
The Death of President James A. Garfield
Antiseptic Surgery in England
Antisepsis and Asepsis in Surgery
Lister’s Other Accomplishments
Honors and Accolades
Death of Lady Agnes Symes Lister
Lister’s Later Years
References
Chapter 12 Paul Ehrlich and the Magic Bullet
Early Influences
Ehrlich’s Discovery of the Mast Cell
First Meeting with Robert Koch
Doctoral Dissertation: Theory and Practice of Histologic Staining
The Charité Hospital in Berlin
Improving the Identification of the Tubercle Bacillus
Death of von Frerichs
Back to Berlin
Discovery of the Diphtheria Antitoxin and Serum Therapy
Cellular Immunity and Humoral Immunity
Standardization of Diphtheria Antitoxin
The Steglitz Institute and the Royal Prussian Institute for Experimental Therapy in Frankfurt
The Side Chain Theory—The First Theory of Antibody Production
The Magic Bullet: The Dawn of Chemotherapy for Infectious Diseases
The Nobel Prize
Compound 606—Salvarsan
The Public Announcement of Salvarsan at the Congress of Internal Medicine in April 1910
Troubles Introducing Salvarsan to Human Medicine
Awards and Honors
Last Years
References
Chapter 13 Lillian Wald and the Foundations of Modern Public Health
Early Influences
“Baptism of Fire”
Wald’s Proposal: A Nursing Service
The Lower East Side of New York in the 1890s
The Public Health Nurse
TB and the Nursing Service
School Nurses Introduced in New York City Schools
The House on Henry Street
Columbia University and the Department of Nursing and Health
Nationwide Insurance Coverage for Home-Based Care
Establishment of a National Public Health Nursing Service
Joint Board of Sanitary Control
Wald’s Other Achievements and Activities
Awards and Honors
Later Years
References
Chapter 14 Alexander Fleming and the Discovery of Penicillin
Progress in Chemotherapy of Infectious Diseases
The Beginning of Sulfonamides
The Beginnings of the Penicillins
Alexander Fleming: Early Influences
Almroth Wright and the Inoculation Department of St. Mary’s Hospital
Fleming and the First World War
The Discovery of Lysozyme
Work on Antiseptics
The Discovery of Penicillin: “That’s Funny”
A Decidedly Unstable Substance
First Presentation of Penicillin’s Discovery
First Attempt to Purify Penicillin
Prontosil: Early Work Leads to Success
The Discovery of Sulfanilamide
Renewal of Interest in Penicillin
The Oxford Team
The Isolation of Partially Purified Penicillin
Penicillin Testing in Animals—Miraculous Results
The First Human Trials of Penicillin
The First Penicillin Patient: the Oxford Policeman
Penicillin Production in the United States
Large-Scale Cultivation of Penicillium
Wartime Penicillin Production in the United States
Penicillin and Patents
Penicillin Use in England
Public Awareness of Penicillin: the Fleming Myth
Secrecy in Wartime England
Penicillin Production during World War II on the Continent of Europe
France
The Netherlands
Denmark
Postwar Penicillin Production
The Nobel Prize
The Chemical Structure of Penicillin
The Impact of Penicillin on Chemotherapy of Bacterial Diseases
References
Chapter 15 Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and the Discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Clues to the Etiologic Agent of AIDS
Reverse Transcriptase and Retroviruses
Discovery of the First Human Retrovirus—HTLV-1
Early Influences
Sinoussi and the Pasteur Institute
Work at the National Institutes of Health in the United States
Return to France
Isolation of a Retrovirus at the Pasteur Institute
Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus (LAV)—The Cause of AIDS?
Controversy Develops: LAV or HTLV-3?
Claims against Patents Further Controversy
Barré-Sinoussi and the World of AIDS Patients
Barré-Sinoussi after Discovery of HIV at Pasteur Institute
The Nobel Prize
Cold Spring Harbor, 2019
Awards and Honors
References
Chapter 16 Barry Marshall and Helicobacter pylori in Peptic Ulcer Disease
Causes of Peptic Ulcer Disease, circa 1980
Complications of Peptic Ulcer Disease
Curved Bacteria on Gastric Biopsies
Early Influences
First Study on Peptic Ulcers and Gastric Bacteria
Growth Characteristics of the Unidentified Curved Bacilli from the Stomach of Patients
First Presentation of the Association of Helicobacter pylori and Peptic Ulcer Disease
Attempt to FULFILL Koch’s Postulates
Physician Self-Experimentation
Natural History of H. pylori disease
A Difficult Year, 1984
A Boost from an Unexpected Source
The Move to the United States: Research at the University of Virginia
The Tide Turns
A Watershed Year, 1994
H. pylori and Gastric Cancer
Infectious Agents and Other Chronic Diseases
Awards and Honors
The Nobel Prize
Challenges Remaining
Conclusions
References
Chapter 17 Anthony Fauci: America’s Top Infectious Disease Doctor
Early Influences
Fauci and the National Institutes of Health
Chief Residency
Breakthrough in Vasculitis Treatment
Fauci and AIDS
Fauci Named Director of the NIAID
Opening the Door of the AIDS Activist Community
Advising U.S. Presidents on Infectious Diseases
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV
Creation of President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
PEPFAR’s Successes
A Series of New Infectious Disease Threats in the 21st Century
SARS
2009 Influenza Pandemic
MERS-CoV
Zika Virus Outbreak
Ebola Virus Epidemic
COVID-19 Pandemic
Fauci and the White House Coronavirus Task Force
Dr. Fauci and President Trump
Operation Warp Speed
COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy
Politics of COVID-19
Development of COVID-19 Variants
COVID-19 and Herd Immunity
Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID)
Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Awards and Honors
Dr. Fauci’s Legacy
References
Chapter 18 Conclusions
The Development of Antibiotic Resistance
The Need for a New Paradigm in Antimicrobial Treatment
Threats from New or Reemerging Pathogens
Strengthening Public Health
The Challenge of Vaccines
References
Index
EULA