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germ theory |
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germ theoryTheory that certain diseases are caused by invasion of the body by microorganisms. Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, and Robert Koch are given much of the credit for its acceptance in the later 19th century. Pasteur showed that organisms in the air cause fermentation and spoil food; Lister was first to use an antiseptic to exclude germs in the air to prevent infection; and Koch first linked a specific organism with a disease (anthrax). The full implications of germ theory for medical practice were not immediately apparent after it was proven; surgeons operated without masks or head coverings as late as the 1890s. germ theory [′jərm ‚thē·ə·rē] (medicine) The theory that contagious and infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Against this view, Meyer and Cotton posed a novel paradigm based on the germ theory of disease and the new sciences of bacteriology and virology. Germ theory is not the entire story, but do wash your hands often when out in public. Her dissertation, Americans and the Germ Theory of Disease (1949), has received appreciative attention recently as scholars revisit the reasons why the American medical establishment clung so tightly to the miasma theories of disease long after they had been rejected on the Continent (Tomes, 1997). |
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