World TB Day: Know About German Bacteriologist Robert Koch Who Announced Potential Cure For Tuberculosis

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World TB Day: Know About German Bacteriologist Robert Koch Who Announced Potential Cure For Tuberculosis

On March 24, 1882, at the Berlin Institute for Physiology, Koch announced the discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen – with his lecture on the "Aetiology of Tuberculosis" and became world-famous overnight.

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German Bacteriologist Dr Robert Koch, on March 24, 1882, announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB). During this time, TB killed one out of every seven individuals living in the United States and Europe. The scientist's discovery was the most important step towards controlling and eliminating this deadly disease. A century later, March 24 was designated World TB Day, a day to educate people about the impact of TB globally.

Until Tuberculosis is eliminated, World TB Day is a valuable opportunity to educate people about the devastation caused by TB and how it can be stopped.

In the 19th century, diseases like tuberculosis, diphtheria, cholera and wound infections were the most common cause of death globally. In Germany alone, thousands of people died every year. This was the time when Dr Robert Koch, discovered that diseases of this kind were caused by tiny organisms – bacteria. In Berlin, he and his colleagues managed to identify individual pathogens and infection paths and pave the way for preventive measures and therapies.

According to Robert Koch Institute, this was due to new scientific methods like solid culture media for cultivating bacteria, microphotography, and dyeing techniques, that allowed to trace the microphotography, and dyeing techniques, that allowed to trace the pathogens and visualise them. In 1891, Koch was appointed director of the Royal Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases (present Robert Koch Institute). For his discovery of the tuberculosis bacterium, he bagged the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1905. Together with Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch is now known as the pioneer of microbiology.

Initial Scientific Achievements

Robert Koch was born to a mining family in Clausthal in Germany's Harz region on December 11, 1843. After completing his high schooling, he went to university in Göttingen and pursued natural sciences for one semester and then shifted to medicine. He earned his doctorate in January 1866 and passed his state examination in Hannover shortly afterwards. After different positions working as a doctor in the provinces and as a hospital doctor during the Franco-German War, he became a district physician in Wollstein ( present Wolsztyn in Poland) in 1872.

In his spare time, Koch started researching into anthrax-the disease regularly claimed the lives of both humans and animals– but the cause was utterly unknown. Finally, in 1876, Koch proved that a single pathogen triggers anthrax. He discovered the dormant stage of the pathogen, anthrax spores, and thus solved the previously unexplained chain of infection and the bacterium's resistance to environmental factors. Koch was the first person to prove that a micro-organism was the cause of an infectious disease. In 1878, he published a book describing the pathogens behind wound infections. The key factor in Koch's success was the precision with which he developed and applied his scientific methods and logical construction of the chain of evidence under fairly basic conditions in a poorly equipped laboratory at his Wollstein home.

Discovery Of Tuberculosis Bacteria

With his wife Emmy Fraatz and daughter Gertrud, Koch initially moved from Wollstein to Breslau before being appointed to the Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt in Berlin in 1880. Here, he developed the bacteriological methodology that drove research into infectious diseases and the development of tailored countermeasures like disinfection procedures.

On March 24, 1882, at the Berlin Institute for Physiology, he announced the discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen – with his lecture on the "Aetiology of Tuberculosis" and became world-famous overnight. In the 19th century, tuberculosis had become a widespread disease. Roughly a seventh of the population of Germany died of the disease, called the white plague, what caused it and how it spread were unclear. Now Koch demonstrated that the tubercle bacillus triggered tuberculosis. Special culture media, specific dyeing techniques, and new culturing conditions were required to trace it.

Tuberculosis and cholera were to remain essential areas of research. Koch searched for ways to contain infectious diseases or prevent them from occurring specifically. However, his dream of discovering a therapeutic agent or even a vaccine against tuberculosis did not come true. The remedy he developed, 'tuberculin' – a mixture of components of devitalised tubercle bacteria later proved ineffective. Long-term cures failed, and some patients lost their lives after treatment. Currently, tuberculin is still used alongside more contemporary techniques to diagnose the infection.

Nevertheless, Koch's scientific achievements and the rising significance of bacteriology at the end of the 19th century were enough for the Prussian government to build Robert Koch his research institute.

The Royal Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases opened its doors on July 1, 1891, and until 1904, Robert Koch headed the institute. 'Koch's Institute' was one of the first biomedical research institutes globally.

Robert Koch On The Road

From 1896 onwards, Robert Koch spent many months each year on expeditions to investigate tropical diseases. Firstly, he concentrated on animal diseases in southern Africa like rinderpest, Texas fever and East Coast fever. Then he turned to tropical diseases that affect people, especially sleeping sickness and malaria, to discover how they spread. In 1906 and 1907, a commission led by Koch was sent to East Africa to experiment with ways of treating sleeping sickness. He enjoyed some initial success by treating people with Atoxyl, a drug containing arsenic. But the parasite that caused the infection was only suppressed in the sufferer's bloodstream shortly. Although he knew of the risks associated with the drug, Koch doubled the Atoxyl dose. Several patients suffered from colic and pain, some even turned blind. Despite this, the bacteriologist was still convinced that Atoxyl could be effective. His last research journey was the darkest chapter of his career.

At the beginning of April 1910, Koch suffered a massive heart attack in Berlin. He died during a stay at a sanatorium in Baden-Baden on May 27, 1910. On December 4, 1910, the urn containing his ashes was laid to rest in a specially constructed mausoleum at his institute.

Robert Koch's scientific legacy – including 1,500 letters, award certificates, photographs, lecture manuscripts, prepared microscope slides and publications are preserved at the Robert Koch Institute.

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