Conditions
Bacterial Infection
General Class
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The general class of disease caused by pathogenic bacteria invading and multiplying within host tissue, ranging from localized wound and skin infections to systemic, life-threatening conditions such as sepsis. This atlas records bacterial infection as a class alongside specific bacterial diseases, tuberculosis and cholera among them, which merit their own entities for their distinct histories and treatments; this entity is the general target of Louis Pasteur's and Robert Koch's germ theory work and of the subsequent development of antisepsis and antibiotics, addressed as a class of problem rather than one disease.
Facts
Condition Class First DescribedMarks Robert Koch's 1876 demonstration that a single specific bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, causes a single specific disease, anthrax, the first rigorous proof of germ theory rather than the first observation of a microorganism. First Described (Era)Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first observed microorganisms under a microscope in the 1670s, two centuries before their role in causing disease was established. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Penicillin, Discoveries Alexander Fleming's 1928 discovery of penicillin is the first antibiotic effective against bacterial infection generally.
Treated By
Antisepsis prevents bacterial infection of wounds and surgical sites rather than treating an infection already established. Joseph Lister's 1867 antiseptic method, using carbolic acid, dramatically reduced post-surgical infection and mortality.
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