In the 19th century, a terrible "white plague" began to spread in Europe, causing most patients to die. However, due to the limitations of medical technology at that time, no one could find the cause of the "white plague". It was not until a scientist appeared that a unique dyeing technique was used to find the culprit of the disease. What kind of terrible disease is it? What is the principle of this scientist’s dyeing technology? If you want to know, let me reveal it to you:
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In the 19th century, the urban living environment was extremely poor. Take the UK as an example. At that time, the sewage and domestic waste in the factory were dumped into the Suez Canal, causing the originally clear river water to turn into a stinking "stinky ditch", which made the local residents really unbearable. It is precisely because of this that various infectious diseases have also begun to rage, including tuberculosis , which was called the "white plague" in the 19th century.
Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease that can invade multiple organs of the human body, especially the most obvious lung infection. Its appearance frightens Europeans, and many people have died because of this. The famous piano composer Chopin , Russian novelist Chekov, and British poet Shelley and other celebrities all died in the hands of the "white plague".
In view of the huge panic brought by the "white plague", medical scientists from all over Europe have begun a long journey of fighting against the disease. Before this, European Western medical theory had formed an independent theoretical system, the concept of "bacteria" had emerged, and people's understanding of microorganisms had formed a preliminary understanding. In the eyes of medical scientists at that time, the "white plague" was likely to be a malignant disease caused by some kind of bacteria.
However, it is regrettable that since bacteriology is still in its development stage, many experts have no theory and equipment to find pathogenic bacteria. As a microorganism, bacteria will move constantly. Even if they can be found, they cannot be effectively purified and isolated, thereby achieving the purpose of research.
However, everything is absolutely absolutely true. The emergence of a person has given this medical problem a new way out. He is the famous German doctor and bacterologist Robert Koch . Koch was born in 1843 in a small city in Germany called Klausthal. He had excellent grades since childhood and successfully entered the University of Göttingen after graduating from high school. He successfully obtained a doctorate in medicine four years later. After graduating, Koch went out with the army and entered the army to become a military doctor. Then he returned to his hometown to serve as a medical officer.
When Koch was serving as a medical officer in the town, a "white plague" had begun to break out in the local area. Around him, many relatives and friends died in pain because of the plague, which made Koch himself feel extremely disappointed. From then on, Koch was determined to overcome this medical problem and find the culprit for killing human life.
Koch himself was not an impulse. He had used simple equipment to over-isolate and purify the pathogens of Bacillus anthrax, and determined its pathogenic principles and transmission vector. In addition, he also invented a method of cultivating bacteria with solid culture medium , which has become the basic bacterial cultivation method commonly used in modern medicine. When news of Koch's preparations to purify and separate the "white plague" bacteria came out, many colleagues disdained it, believing that he suffered from a mental illness because he could not bear the blow. Even the European medicine master and founder of cytopathology at that time, Philshao, shook his head and said, "It's impossible, this is too difficult!"
Kach was not frustrated by being denied by the big names, but instead inspired his fighting spirit again. In order to find pathogens, he conducted nearly a hundred experiments, specifically using bacterial staining technology to find pathogenic bacteria. Bacterial staining technology is a method that uses relevant dyes to color cells in order to facilitate observation and research. The usual steps are smear, drying, fixing, and dyeing.The principle of bacterial staining is very simple. There is a layer of lipid-like and lipid-like membrane on the surface of the bacteria. They are not easy to be colored, but once they are colored, it is difficult for ethanol and acid decolorizer to decolorize them. Therefore, this characteristic can be used to make the bacteria "exposed in its original form".
In the process of looking for pathogenic bacteria, Koch successively used crystal violet, blue , eosin , Congo red and other dyes, but still found nothing. It was not until after dyeing with methylene blue that a bacteria that had never been seen in the medical community was discovered. He placed the bacteria in culture medium and injected them into the body of the experimental animal. The animal was indeed suffering from a "white plague". Koch was convinced that he had finally found the pathogenic bacteria of the "white plague" and named it "Bacteria tuberculosis".
On March 24, 1882, the Berlin Physiological Society of Germany was held. At the meeting, Koch made his research results public and gave extremely powerful data proof, which made the experts present nodded frequently, and no one could raise questions. Even Firshao, a medical master who had always looked down on Koch at that time, had to admit the correctness of Koch's theory. From then on, the culprit of the "white plague" finally revealed its true face and was officially named " tuberculosis disease" by the medical community.
As Koch found the pathogen of tuberculosis, the medical community began to have targeted treatments, which eventually made tuberculosis no longer a terrifying disease that people feared. With his perseverance, Koch created miracles in the history of medicine and saved mankind from the hands of illness. He also became a great figure as famous as Louis Pasteur, and was greatly admired and admired.
Wen Xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wen Lan Hairun Studio, this article is written: Special History Writer: Changshan Zhao Zikong
