Question

IMPORTANT!!! Please answer it precisely. It is expected to use academic knowledge and language. Use your own words, do not copy paste.

Suppose you are a microbiologist living in late 1800ies and early 1900. You suspect that the microorganism called Mycobacterium leprae might be responsible for the disease called leprosy. You had heard about a researcher called Robert Koch and his postulates, and you would like to follow his approach to test if leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Explain stepwise and in detail the experimental procedure that you would follow. Please also explain what kind of results you would expect in each step of your procedure.

Answer 1

Koch's postulates state that a disease causing microbe should be present in the diseased person and not in healthy person and it can be isolated from diseased person. When this microbe is isolated and reintroduced into a new host the same symptoms should get manifested. Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy and it can be isolated from the pustules on the skin. For pure culture isolation of M. leprae, it has to be grown on culture medium and it takes many weeks to grow. In 1800s to 1900s this was not yet discovered. Hence the final interpretation would be that the microbe couldn't get isolated. But if the pus from the patient is introduced into a normal host, it would manifest it's symptoms. Hence this would be an exceptional case for the Koch's postulate if it were in the 1800s to 1900s. The bacterium normally grows in mouse foot pads or in armadillos.

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