1881

Streptococcus pneumoniae

• Pneumonia, lobar pneumonia
• is commonly caused
• by a bacterium,
• streptococcus pneumoniae,
• as discovered
• at the same time
• by George Miller Sternberg
• and Louis Pasteur
• ten years before
• the discovery of X-rays
• and fifty-five years
• before antibiotics.

Work in the field

• Sternberg, a physician for the U.S. Army,
• wrote the Manual of Bacteriology in 1892,
• confirmed that bacteria caused pneumonia,
• tuberculosis, and typhoid fever,
• and pioneered disinfection in America.
• *
• Pasteur is known as the father of microbiology.
• He proved that germs cause infectious disease,
• and that microbes cause fermentation.
• He discovered anaerobiosis.
• He invented pasteurization,
• and he created vaccines for rabies and anthrax.

Ancient history

• The disease was known by the ancients,
• described by Hippocrates and Maimonides
• as causing fever, cough, pain in the side,
• and a blond, frothy, or florid expectorate,
• described by William Osler as
• “the captain of the men of death”
• and is still the leading
• cause of death of the young,
• the old, and the chronically ill.

Still kills

• Concerted efforts
• eradicated smallpox
• but pneumonia
• still kills.