clearly established the role of anaerobic microorganisms in
various fermentation processes, “fermentation is life without
air” (Louis Pasteur). Indeed, during his work on fermentation, Pasteur discovered the ability of certain organisms to
live in the absence of free oxygen (that is to say, in the
absence of air). He called these anaerobes. (The words
“aerobic” and “anaerobic” were coined by him.) From
1876 onward, Pasteur worked on different bacterial sterilization techniques: on porcelain porous filters and on the
autoclave developed by Charles Chamberland (1851–1908)
and the sterilization by high-temperature dry heating of the
glass equipment used in microbiology (bottles, pipettes, etc.)
in ovens that now carry his name (Pasteur oven).
Thereafter, he devoted much of his life to the role of
pathogenic microorganisms in various infectious processes
and in the genesis of infectious diseases. He thus took part in
the progress of the germ theory of infectious diseases, mainly
developed by Robert Koch. In 1880, Pasteur discovered the
staphylococcus, which he identified as responsible for boils
and osteomyelitis. Thus, for 6 years, Pasteur and Koch, scientific competitors and rivals, independently but in an intense
emulation fanned by the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871)
studied infectious diseases and their causal microbes.
The last part of Pasteur’s career was devoted to vaccines,
that is to say, methods to prevent and suppress infectious
diseases. This technique had been developed by the English
physician Edward Jenner (1749–1823) who had noticed that
farmworkers exposed to vaccinia, a cow disease caused by a
virus similar to smallpox, which is also the origin of the
name “vaccine,” were subsequently protected against smallpox. Jenner had devised a standardized protocol whereby he
took vaccinia blister exudates from infected workers,
suspended it in water and inoculated it to children, and
obtained a high rate of protection against smallpox. In the
summer of 1879, Pasteur and his collaborators, Emile Roux
and Emile Duclaux, discovered that chickens inoculated
with old cultures of the fowl cholera microbe not only did
not die but were resistant to new infections; it was the
discovery of a new type of “vaccine.” Contrary to what
had been the case in vaccination against smallpox, it did
not use as a vaccine a benign “virus”
1 (vaccinia) supplied by
nature as a mild disease that immunizes against a severe
disease, but the artificial attenuation of a highly virulent
strain is provoked on purpose, and it is the resulting
attenuated strain that is used as a vaccine. The theory of
vaccination by attenuated “viruses” was confirmed by
Pasteur’s work on the “anthrax bacillus.” After several successful results with various pathogens, prevention of rabies
was the last great work of Pasteur and the only vaccination
that he applied to humans. Pasteur having published his first
success, his rabies vaccine soon became famous. He died in
1895 and became a national and world celebrity with streets
and institutes named after him all over the world.
Robert Koch (Fig. 2.3) was born in Clausthal-Zellerfeld
in Germany in 1843 and studied medicine, botany, physics,
and mathematics at the University of Go ¨ttingen in
1862–1866. He was a doctor in Wollstein (Silesia) in 1876
when he published a memoir of microbiology, where he
showed the role of the “anthrax bacillus” in the infectious
disease. He isolated the bacterium in pure culture for the first
time, demonstrated its ability to produce spores, and
demonstrated its ability to induce the infectious disease.
Therefore, in parallel to Pasteur, he founded in Germany
Fig. 2.2 (a) Gooseneck bottle used by Pasteur to study fermentation
and to disprove the theory of “spontaneous generation” (see text)
(Source: Wikipedia, Pasteur Institute, http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/file:col_de_cygne.png; free of rights). (b) Louis Pasteur
(1822–1895) (Copyright: Institut Pasteur, Paris)
1 At the time of Pasteur, the name “virus” was given to all infectious
agents, parasites, bacteria, or real viruses; the word virus derives from
Latin and means poison.
12
P. Caumette et al.
various fermentation processes, “fermentation is life without
air” (Louis Pasteur). Indeed, during his work on fermentation, Pasteur discovered the ability of certain organisms to
live in the absence of free oxygen (that is to say, in the
absence of air). He called these anaerobes. (The words
“aerobic” and “anaerobic” were coined by him.) From
1876 onward, Pasteur worked on different bacterial sterilization techniques: on porcelain porous filters and on the
autoclave developed by Charles Chamberland (1851–1908)
and the sterilization by high-temperature dry heating of the
glass equipment used in microbiology (bottles, pipettes, etc.)
in ovens that now carry his name (Pasteur oven).
Thereafter, he devoted much of his life to the role of
pathogenic microorganisms in various infectious processes
and in the genesis of infectious diseases. He thus took part in
the progress of the germ theory of infectious diseases, mainly
developed by Robert Koch. In 1880, Pasteur discovered the
staphylococcus, which he identified as responsible for boils
and osteomyelitis. Thus, for 6 years, Pasteur and Koch, scientific competitors and rivals, independently but in an intense
emulation fanned by the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871)
studied infectious diseases and their causal microbes.
The last part of Pasteur’s career was devoted to vaccines,
that is to say, methods to prevent and suppress infectious
diseases. This technique had been developed by the English
physician Edward Jenner (1749–1823) who had noticed that
farmworkers exposed to vaccinia, a cow disease caused by a
virus similar to smallpox, which is also the origin of the
name “vaccine,” were subsequently protected against smallpox. Jenner had devised a standardized protocol whereby he
took vaccinia blister exudates from infected workers,
suspended it in water and inoculated it to children, and
obtained a high rate of protection against smallpox. In the
summer of 1879, Pasteur and his collaborators, Emile Roux
and Emile Duclaux, discovered that chickens inoculated
with old cultures of the fowl cholera microbe not only did
not die but were resistant to new infections; it was the
discovery of a new type of “vaccine.” Contrary to what
had been the case in vaccination against smallpox, it did
not use as a vaccine a benign “virus”
1 (vaccinia) supplied by
nature as a mild disease that immunizes against a severe
disease, but the artificial attenuation of a highly virulent
strain is provoked on purpose, and it is the resulting
attenuated strain that is used as a vaccine. The theory of
vaccination by attenuated “viruses” was confirmed by
Pasteur’s work on the “anthrax bacillus.” After several successful results with various pathogens, prevention of rabies
was the last great work of Pasteur and the only vaccination
that he applied to humans. Pasteur having published his first
success, his rabies vaccine soon became famous. He died in
1895 and became a national and world celebrity with streets
and institutes named after him all over the world.
Robert Koch (Fig. 2.3) was born in Clausthal-Zellerfeld
in Germany in 1843 and studied medicine, botany, physics,
and mathematics at the University of Go ¨ttingen in
1862–1866. He was a doctor in Wollstein (Silesia) in 1876
when he published a memoir of microbiology, where he
showed the role of the “anthrax bacillus” in the infectious
disease. He isolated the bacterium in pure culture for the first
time, demonstrated its ability to produce spores, and
demonstrated its ability to induce the infectious disease.
Therefore, in parallel to Pasteur, he founded in Germany
Fig. 2.2 (a) Gooseneck bottle used by Pasteur to study fermentation
and to disprove the theory of “spontaneous generation” (see text)
(Source: Wikipedia, Pasteur Institute, http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/file:col_de_cygne.png; free of rights). (b) Louis Pasteur
(1822–1895) (Copyright: Institut Pasteur, Paris)
1 At the time of Pasteur, the name “virus” was given to all infectious
agents, parasites, bacteria, or real viruses; the word virus derives from
Latin and means poison.
12
P. Caumette et al.