Purchase Solution

Edward Jenner Vaccination

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Microbiology was a study of living organisms that scientists had some trouble proving to the general public that they even existed. One of the reasons for this was that people could not see the organism. That is, not until the microscope was invented. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1674 to 1724) was one of the pioneers in the making of microscopes, His observations are among the first recorded of bacteria, yeasts and protozoa.
Another pioneering microbiologist was Robert Koch (1890) who is known for postulates that help establish the agent for a particular disease. Koch's Postulates:
1. The organism should be associated with the lesions of the disease in all cases and absent from healthy individuals.
2. The organism must be isolated and grown in pure culture outside the diseased host.
3. When this culture is inoculated into a healthy host this host must develop the symptoms of the disease.
4. The organism must be re-isolated from the experimentally infected host grown again in a culture and infect once again a healthy host.

These postulates can be used for human, animals and plants for establishing the disease agent. They are still used today even though some complications and modifications must be used for certain obligate parasitic organisms (must live within a host).

The development and use of the vaccination against smallpox was aided by the work of another early microbiologist Edward Jenner. Edward Jenner was a country doctor working in England around 1798. He observed those individuals who were exposed to cowpox, a related virus that infect cattle, and these individuals did not contract the smallpox virus. He was the first to use an artificial exposure to the cowpox virus to stimulate the human immune response. Edward Jenner's early work put to use one of the first vaccinations for smallpox.

In this discussion share your opinion as to which of these early microbiologists' contribution was the most important and explain your reasoning. Remember to comment on a classmate's response as well. Please contribute before the second Friday of the module.

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

The expert examines Edward Jenner Vaccination of a living organism.

Solution Preview

One of the most important contribution to microbiology and medicine was the early work of Edward Jenner in the development of the first vaccine for smallpox. Smallpox is a devastating disease that wiped out many civilization in ancient times.(1) The disease greatly responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire, the Aztecs population, and the Incas population. Smallpox affected every population of the world. In the 18th century, there were 400,000 people died annually of smallpox. Most survivors went blind and developed disfigured scars. ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Birth 101

Do you know about childbirth? Find out with this quiz.

Basic Concepts in Neuroscience

This quiz provides a review of the basic concepts in neuroscience.

Breast Milk and Breastfeeding

How much do you know about breast milk and breastfeeding? Double check your knowledge level with this quiz!

Understanding the Musculoskeletal system

Introduce and understand basic information how the skeletal system and muscular system work in close concert with one another. And how their interaction between muscle and bone, as they work together to allow us movement.

How Much Do You Know About Genetic Inheritance?

Most of us studied the basics of dominant and recessive genes at some point. However, genetics are much more complicated than this. How far beyond the basics does your knowledge go?