This project (2018-1-ES01-KA203-050606) has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Prepared Microscope Glass Slides


Place where the object is located
Museum for the History of Medicine, School of Medicine, A.U.Th., Thessaloniki, Greece
Story of the object
This case contains 102 prepared glass slides of infectious diseases for microscope use. It was used in the Biochemical and Microbiological lab of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases of Thessaloniki. These cases were commonly used in labs as references.

EARLY USE
The fight against infectious diseases officially started in 1683, when Anton Van Leeuwenhoek created a microscope and managed for the first time to observe micro-organisms becoming thus, the “Father of microscopy”. This discovery was crucial to understanding the concepts of infection and infection prevention.
In 1862 Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist published findings on how some diseases are caused by germs. Robert Koch though, shortly after Pasteur, was the first to link a specific bacterium to a specific disease. He developed new microscopic techniques for identifying bacteria and clarified that they exist as distinct species, each producing specific clinical symptoms. His new techniques included the development of solid culture media. He started with observing fungi growing on potato slides. He was placing liquid cultures in gelatin, cooled the solution and produced a clear and homogeneous culture medium where bacteria could multiply, forming visible colonies. He then experimented with agar, a substance extracted from seaweed with higher melting point, and used shallow, covered dishes into which media could be poured, cooled to solidity, and be protected from contamination. All these developments led to Koch’s famous “plate technique” with which bacterial colonies could be grown, studied and being subjected to experiments.

RELATIVE LITERATURE
• Blevins SM, Bronze MS. Robert Koch and the ‘golden age’ of bacteriology. International Journal of
Infectious Diseases. 2010: 14(9): e744-e751.
• Cunha BA. Historical aspects of infectious diseases, Infectious disease clinics, part I, 2004: 18(1)
• Cunha BA. Historical aspects of infectious diseases, Infectious disease clinics, part II, 2004: 18(2)
Unit of the Educational Material connected (5 - 1)
Label
Item 0104. The item was donated to the Museum for the History of Medicine, AUTH, by the Hospital for Infectious Diseases of Thessaloniki, Greece when it was shut down, in 2018.