Robert Koch

Robert Koch (1843-1910)

• German physician
• He discovered the anthrax disease cycle (1876) and the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1883)
• Awarded Nobel Prize in 1905
• Koch and his team also developed ways of staining bacteria to improve the bacteria’s visibility under the microscope
• Determined guidelines (which are widely accepted now as Koch's Postulates) to prove that- disease is caused by specific organism
• Koch’s postulates are:
üSpecific microorganism is associated with a given disease
üMicroorganism can be isolated from the diseased animal and grown in pure culture
üCultured microbe will cause disease when transferred to a healthy animal
üSame type of microorganism can be isolated from the newly infected animal

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