Today’s speaker was our own member, Martin Luke on “Microbes and Man”.
Martin’s interest began with a Sunday School prize for attendance, a book on biology. He planned to work in a laboratory but was informed that hospitals also had labs. He rotated through various aspects of hospital laboratory work before settling on microbiology.
There are many and various microbes; Martin concentrated on the three main ones:- bacterial, viruses and fungi. Their discovery followed the invention of the microscope and examination by Louis Pasteur on the difference between good, healthy wine and spoiled wine.
The link between microbes and disease was made by Koch. Lister investigated infection after surgery and began the process of sterilising instruments and using anti-septics. Eventually, these investigations lead to the discovery of antibiotics such as penicillin.
Microbes are named after the scientists investigating them, e.g. Listeria, Pasteurella (microbe names are always italicised, or underlined if hand-written) and also their shapes or arrangements.
We have protection from microbes via our skin, normal bacteria, sweat, stomach acid, tears, white blood cells and our immune response.
How to deal with microbes? Chill them; freeze them; dry them, drop in acid (pickle) or heat them.
Martin then delved into the physical structure of bacteria and the processes by which antibiotics kill them.
He explained how various dyeing techniques and the application of different tests are used to identify bacteria.