Where the Germs Are
A Scientific Safari
Chapter One
Microbes
An Introduction
There was a time, a little more than a hundred years
ago, when people didn't believe in germs. Nineteenth-century doctors
knew a lot about disease-they could diagnose your illness correctly
and tell you quite accurately how much time would pass before you
would either get better or drop dead. But because knowledge of the
causes of illness was primitive and knowledge of germs was nonexistent,
doctors at the time couldn't do much to cure disease or affect its course.
Then, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, it became clear that
microscopic or invisible organisms caused disease-we've all heard
about Louis Pasteur and the other pioneers of microbiology-and that
you could prevent disease if you could somehow eliminate the organism
that caused it. Remove the handle from the pump in the public
square, and you get cholera under control. Heat up the milk to a certain
temperature before you drink it, and you can kill the organisms in
it that cause illness.
In 1900, the three leading causes of death in the United States were
all infectious illnesses: pneumonia, tuberculosis, and enteritis. Along
wi ... read full excerpt from Where the Germs Are: A Scientific Safari ebook
