Koch’s postulates

Koch and his coworkers – an introduction: -

1. In earlier centuries, most of the diseases were believed to be caused as

a punishment for individual crimes/misdeeds.
2. Although at that time, Pasteur was first to work on microorganisms, but
could not establish any scientific basis for their existence and most people
in Pasteur’s time found it inconceivable that invisible microbes could travel
through air to infect plants and animals or remain on clothing and bedding
to be transmitted from one person to other.
3. In 1880s Joseph Lister an English surgeon, applied the germ theory to
medical procedures. Lister was aware that in 1840s, Hungarian physician
Ignaz Semmelwis had demonstrated that physicians who at that time did
not disinfect their hands routinely transmitted infections from one
obstetrical patient to another.
4. The first proof that microorganisms were responsible for causing
diseases (germ theory of diseases) came from Robert Koch. In his early
work
Etiology of disease (causal organism)

• Koch realized that in order to prove germ theory of disease, he would have to develop a
slander for determining cause that would stand the test of scientific scrutiny

• Koch’s postulates are principle criteria for establishment of etiological studies.

• The etiological phase began with proof of pathogenicity of the late blight fungus on potatoes
& of rust and smut fungi of cereals. Etiological studies were greatly facilitated and
accelerated by development of techniques for pure culture of fungi and bacteria and by
necessity to satisfy Koch’s postulates for every disease.

Experiment conducted by Koch

• Koch experimented with anthrax bacteria which is rod-shaped spore forming

bacterium, now called as Bacillus anthracis and blood of animal infected with anthrax. But
as there were no experimental white mice available he experimented with gray mouse.

Procedure followed by Koch

• Koch established by careful microscopy that the bacteria were always present in blood of
animal that was succumbing to disease. However mere association of bacterium with
disease does not prove. That it actually caused disease, it might instead be a result of
disease.
Procedure followed by Koch

1. Koch established by careful microscopy that the bacteria were always present in
blood of animal that was succumbing to disease. However mere association of
bacterium with disease does not prove. That it actually caused disease, it might
instead be a result of disease.
2. He took a small amount of blood from diseased mouse and injected it into a
second mouse, which subsequently became diseased & died.
3. He then took blood from second animal, injected it into another & again
obtained the characteristic symptoms.
4. He repeated the process as often as 20 times, successively transferring small
amount of blood containing bacteria from one animal to another.
5. The 20th animal died as rapidly as first, and in each case Koch demonstrated by
microscopy that blood of dying animal contained large no. of spore forming
bacteria.
6. He further demonstrated that bacteria could also be cultivated in nutrient fluids
outside animal body and that even after many transfers in cultures the bacteria
could still cause disease.
7. Bacteria in a diseased animal and bacteria in a culture both induced the same
disease symptoms upon infection. On the basis of this and other experiments
Koch formulated his postulates.
Postulates: -

• The organism should be constantly present in animals (hosts) suffering from disease and
should not be present in healthy animal
• The organism must be cultivated in pure culture away from animal body
• Such a culture should be reisolated from these experimental animals and cultured again in
lab after which it should still be the same as original organism

Precautionary measures (while applying Koch postulates)

• Each isolated culture must be pured

• Each culture should be observed microscopically and identified by means of characteristic
test.
• The first and second isolate must be identical.
• The pathological effects, signs and symptoms of disease of 1st & 2nd subject must be same.

Relevance in present time: -

• Every decade new disease challenges to scientific community are posed and application of
postulates turn out true most of time.
• Prominent example Include, toxic shock syndromes, AIDS, Lyme disease, legionaries disease.
Exception to Koch postulates: -

• Those pathogens which cannot be cultured on artificial media which

multiply only within cells, ex. Ricketsial and viral pathogens.
• In a number of cases, when a pathogen shows distinguishing sign and
symptoms which can be produced by no other microbes. They are
unequivocally the only organisms that produce their respective diseases.
• Infectious diseases involve any of the several different pathogens all of
which show same sign and symptoms.
• Good experimental model is lacking in most cases.
• Some pathogens can cause several disease conditions ex. M. tuberculosis
is implicated in disease of lungs, skin, bones and internal organs
• With some pathogens as some viruses phytoplasmas, fastidious phloem
inhabiting bacteria and protozoas, culture or purification of the pathogen
is not yet possible, and the pathogen often cannot be reintroduced into
plant to reproduce the disease.
• Inspite of all its advantages and disadvantages, Koch’s postulates are
indispensable part of any microbiological or pathological tests.