Pasteur Koch A Thriving Rivalry SLICE SCIENCE FULL DOCUMENTARY

on one side is Louis pastur Frenchman in his 50s and chemist he's already famous for his work on germs and the conservation of wine on the other is Robert German 20 years as Junior totally unknown Country Doctor at this point they have never met yet their confrontation will revolutionize science at the end of the 19th century epidemics were decimating populations tuberculosis diptera chalera and the plague were still as much feared as they had been in the Middle Ages what caused them how were they passed on Scholars were still stuck with the same theories her it insalubrity or Divine punishment but some Pioneers were putting forward radical idea what if the bugs that could be observed under microscope played role their intuition was right medicine was about to change forever microbes had been revealed as the agents that pass on epidemics but who was behind this scientific breakthrough for the French it was the work of Louis pastel while the Germans were convinced Robert Cox's research was key perhaps both of them or was one against the other what if their rivalry was the source of this revolution in October 1872 the chemistry professor Louie pester was weary four years earlier stroke had left him partially paralyzed on his left side his family life had also been series of tragedies of his five children three had died of sicknesses but Pastor was retiring from teaching so he could work even harder the chemist wanted to continue the research that had made him famous his work on wine and beer had led to the discovery that Ferman ation was the work of microorganisms and he had an intuition similar organisms invisible to the naked eye played much more important role what if they were responsible for human illnesses the idea was revolutionary and he was determined to explore further and yet Pastor hesitated he was not physician it was not his field it would take something else to push him onto this terrain something or perhaps someone th000 km from ABA in the little Prussian town of Vin young country doctor had questions of his own Dr Robert tended to his patience but it was not his patience that concerned him most the doctor was interested in Anthrax disease that was decimating Livestock in the region as soon as his day was done Co was eager to get back to his research he would spend hours in his makeshift laboratory staring through the microscope his wife had given him he wanted to find the cause of this terrible disease at the time anthrax was killing hundreds of thousands of domesticated animals in Europe they would swell up and die in matter of hours hemorrhaging black blood had discovered tiny elongated organisms in the blood of infected animals bacteria could they be the source of the illness to establish this they first had to be cultivated and then introduced to healthy animal but how after months of Trials he finally found the solution Co had discovered that microbes could be cultivated using an ox's eye the liquid contained in the eye is sterile drew it out of the oxid and used it for his cultures the advantage of this Aquis humor is that it's rich in nutrients the bacteria are very happy there and multiply fast now he had to perform the second stage injecting this culture into healthy animal few days later the doctor had the demonstration he hoped for the rabbit inoculated with his culture had died of Anthrax for the first time in history this modest Country Doctor had just proved that disease could be passed on by bacteria but was not ready for the consequences of his Discovery his finding sent shock wave through the scientific Community then had to face critics among them famous French chemist at the Academy of Medicine in Paris the newly retired Lou pester was enraged it was in fact Pastor who was the first to State clearly that disease like fermentation was due to microbes and now this totally unknown doctor claimed to have demonstrated that microbe caused disease in this case anthrax so Pastor was not best pleased at seeing his theory proved by humble doctor the second catastrophic element was that COA was German decade earlier pastur had been an admirer of Germany but the war had swept all that away in July 1870 Napoleon III attacked bismar Prussian forces but an overconfident and ill-prepared Imperial Army was cut to shreds in 3 weeks on September 2nd Napoleon thei third capitulated France lost Alas and Lorraine Pastor who was close to the emperor was distraught all of my work to my dying day will bear the epigraph hated for Prussia Revenge Revenge deep down Pastor was sure the German doctor was right but he thought his demonstration was lacking it was the work of an amateur it was time to carry out much more rigorous experiment decided to reproduce CO's experiment but using his own method yeah the unlike the country doctor he had modern laboratory and assistance and the results were unequivocal was right it was indeed the anthrax bacteria which transmitted the disease but Pastor wanted to go further he wanted to solve the mystery of this illness whose Origins remained mystery it was disease which occurred during summer and there was strange phenomena of cursed Fields these were places her outbreaks were recurrent every year or at least regularly in the same spot these places were said to be cursed in summer 1878 Pastor decided to study this phenomenon in the field with his new assistant Dr Amil Ru he visited Mr manori an important Farmer in the shatra region where anthrax was taking terrible toll pester had read cock's work attentively and the German had already made significant progress on the issue of cursed fields in wellstein he had discovered that Anthrax bacteria produce spores which appear as shiny round dots these are dehydrated bacteria which allowed the disease to remain in hibernation is that but that did not explain everything how could these spores remain for several years in the same Fields despite the wind and rain analysis of the worms would confirm pastor's intuition the of the cursed Fields had finally been resolved it was the earthworms that carried the germs and which from the depths brought this terrible parasite to the surface of the ground by completing the German doctor's work the Frenchman's career took decisive turn the fight against contagious diseases was underway in the summer of 1880 to the dismay of local residents Dr cooch left the small town of volin for Berlin thanks to his work on Anthrax the young doctor had been noticed and was offered bacteriology laboratory with the title of government adviser this man who had always worked alone would now be surrounded by the best in his field had new goal after Anthrax he wanted to understand the origins of specifically human diseases but to become microbe Hunter he would have to improve his techniques this was when he developed key Innovation for microbiology culture in solid medium until now cultures had been grown in liquid environments when dealing with only one sort of bacteria such as in sheep's blood infected with Anthrax it was easy to cultivate but when there were several kinds of bacteria it was much more difficult to isolate them the Doctor's first breakthrough involved growing bacteria on potatoes but this method did not work for the microbes he was interested in those which could transmit disease after numerous trials he finally found the perfect medium his Discovery was revolutionary this new technique meant that identifying microbes took on whole new dimension while the German doctor honed his techniques the Frenchman was preparing coup of his own on May 5th 1881 Pastor set out to perform public experiment on Anthrax vaccination the principle of vaccination had been understood since the end of the 18th century an English physician Edward Jenner had demonstrated that subjects could be protected from small poox very dangerous Sickness by injecting them with pus containing the bacteria of related but less serious illness cowpox although Jenner had invented vaccination he didn't know why it worked pastur thought he had found the answer smallpox was certainly caused by microb and the vaccine must be milder form of the same microb he had already achieved some results with Anthrax when vet Mr renol challenged him to make public demonstration on May 5th pastor's team carried out the first ever public vaccination program involving 50 sheep 25 of them were given first injection of attenuated Anthrax intended to protect them for the next month the public flocked to the farm to observe their behavior but the public were mainly interested in the second injection when full-blown Anthrax would be introduced to all 50 sheep those vaccinated and those unprotected the experiment at pu lafur was an incredible gamble no one would ever repeat experiment like that in front of the press and the public he vaccinated the animals he could easily have destroyed his reputation because experiments like that can go wrong in many ways he did it anyway fore fore speee spee spee foree fore foreign fore 2 months later pastur was invited to the international medical Congress in London in the wake of his success at pu LEF pastor's appearance was Triumph dear Marie 3,000 members of the Congress gathered people packed in variety of speeches only one name mentioned mine followed by an ovation was bursting with pride inside at the thought of being exceptionally distinguished in the midst of this vast Gathering of foreigners especially Germans who are here in considerable numbers among this German contingent Pastor certainly didn't notice the humble Doctor Who had so irritated him with his article was not part of the Elite he watched pastor's appearance as simple spectator was expecting the celebrated chemist to acknowledge his work on Anthrax but pastur made no mention of him was very upset after three years of laborious work while still practicing as doctor he had made full study of the disease and he thought that this at least deserved to be mentioned was sething and was planning to leave London without meeting Pastor when the English surgeon Joseph liser stepped in liser had organized the Congress and was great admirer of Pastor he was also very impressed by Cox's recent discoveries with growing cultures in solid medium he invited Pastor to attend demonstration lisst arranges to have them both in his laboratory gives demonstration of his new techniques and Pastor is quite surprised Pastor was one over and ended up admitting this is great step forward sir so Pastor paid compliment to and after that one might imagine that everything was fine between pastor and Pastor cannot isolate the anthrax bassilus pastor's experiment is of no value it even smacks of naivity his work has led to confusion on many questions that had already been resolved or about to be as soon as he was back from London coch wrote an article ATT attacking pastor's work stung by his rebuke he did what pastur had never done he took on human disease he chose the deadliest of the day tuberculosis in the age of industrialization the sickness was widespread in insalubrious neighborhoods in cities it killed one adult in three in certain working districts it wiped out 60% of children but where did it come from most doctors thought it was hereditary did not agree and went in search of the microb it was tricky task these were tiny organisms that grew very slowly and which were difficult to spot even under the microscope but was sure he was on the right track he he developed coloring technique to identify the bacteria patiently day after day over many months he closed in on the Suspects on March 24th 1882 summoned his most eminent colleagues he only told them he would be discussing tuberculosis the participants mainly came out of curiosity but they soon realized they were witnessing an historic moment in his usual matter OFA manner Robert told them how he had succeeded in identifying the tuberculosis bacteria tubercul the assistants were stunned tuberculosis had been known since Antiquity had started work on it 7 months previously this was incredibly fast to identify one of the most dangerous bacteria known to mankind few days after their initial publication his findings were reported in the international press the tuberculosis bacteria would soon be known simply as Co basilis year after the London Congress Koch was boyed with new confidence when he attended the international hygiene Congress in Geneva this time there would not be be just one star as in London but two and this time the Frenchmen and the German were not arriving on the same terms there had been no exchange between them since CO's harsh criticism in the wake of the London Congress Rober Robert cooch arrived proudly thanks to his discovery of the tuberculosis basilis while Pastor was plotting his revenge having since read CO's respon resp to his presentation in London he had already drafted speech to demolish CO's critique Pastor stayed in the hotel de on the shores of Lake Geneva for once he was accompanied by his wife Marie who had carefully crafted his speech along with his young assistant Lou on the morning of the 5th of September he spotted Co who was staying in the same Hotel they bid one another silent greeting Pastor was saving himself for the Congress gentlemen the committee of this Congress at 2: p.m. in the Hall of the University Pastor took to the podium and was met with an ovation cooch was seated in the front row Pastor began his speech in Geneva describing his work on vaccination against fowl chera Anthrax and so on his speech was quite short then all of sudden he veered off and attacked Robert have encountered both in France and abroad some Fierce detractors permit me to single out among them he whose personal merits most deserves our attention I'd like to talk about Dr of Berlin and he totally ridiculed the arguments that had put forward in his article and also those put forward by his colleagues suddenly Co grew angry he seemed utterly appalled and he tried to interrupt Pastor to sum up not one of the criticisms leveled by and his pupils stands up all they did was underline the mistakes and inexperience of their authors got up on stage the audience held its breath but to despite his frustration cooch declined to debate don't believe there is any point responding to attacks here since do not speak French and Mr pastur does not speak German we cannot engage in meaningful discussion reserve the right to respond to Mr Pastor through the medical journals pastur was great orator whereas Haw was no such thing he wasn't charismatic speaker he certainly would not have been able to match pastur in battle of oration my dear Ru won't tell you about Geneva to can do that everything went well was greatly ridiculed quite besched the two Scholars left Geneva without speaking to one another it was the second time they had met it would be the last on the subject of Anthrax everything we heard amounted to results of no interest whatsoever brought no new scientific elements really sir Pastor is happy to trot out generalities which naturally change nothing for the topic itself Pastor is not even doctor you hadn't even cut your teeth in science when was concentrating on isolating and growing microbes in pure State fresh epidemic gave them the first opportunity for confrontation in the field in the summer of 1883 Cera threatened Europe the outbreak began in Egypt the whole Nile Delta was infected the disease killing some 500 people day France as the colonial power had to play leading role mission was set up in Alexandria on the 15th of August now aged 60 pester did not join the trip he put the mission in the hands of his disciple Emil ru on the other side of the Rind the German government entrusted with similar task the German LED his delegation in person when they arrived in Alexandria on the 24th of August dear Emmy arrived here yesterday it is hot but bearable went to bed after midnight and we were at work at 5:00 a.m. the epidemic will not last much longer fortunately we quickly found someone who had died of chera to begin our analysis so far we are all in good health May that continue for for this was total disaster for him he blamed himself and felt guilty that said he had given them whole host of instructions not to take any risks despite that poor who he held very dear and who was gifted and Brilliant student with much promise died at the age of 26 Mr coch and his team came over as soon as the news spread across town they found the most touching words for the memory of our dearly departed this was quite surprising episode in the relationship between and past the death ofier created sort of Truth in their confrontation these gentlemen brought two reads that they themselves nailed to the coffin they are modest said Mr coch but they are made of Laurel like those given to the glorious as the epidemic petered out the source of the cha remained mystery refused to give up he had lead in the shape of basilis found in the gut he wanted to pursue his research in place with chera one month later he arrived in India with his assistant gafi and Fisher as soon as he arrived made crucial observation whereas pastur thought CA was passed on by air Co and his team understood the key role of water he noticed how each time the locals washed their clothes soiled by chera in sources of drinking water the sickness spread the doctor continued his hunt for the agent responsible and 3 weeks later he sent triumphant communicate to Berlin can conclude that the bassilus found in the gut of infected patients is indeed the pathogenic bassilus behind chera we have identified what differentiates its bacteria the bassilus is in the shape of comma with tuberculosis and chera cooch had identified the two most deadly microbes in the world in May 1885 he was appointed professor at The Institute of hygiene in Berlin his Fame now equaled that of pastur the Frenchmen even lagged behind the German since he had made no major discoveries on human illnesses it was time for him to take on Scourge that struck Terror into the heart of man passed on by the bite of dog fox or wolf rabies the symptoms of rabies are terrifying hallucinations convulsions phobia of water Savage Behavior once infection is confirmed certain death follows there's no treatment rabies wasn't however priority it only led to handful of fatalities year nothing in comparison to the thousands who fell victims to tuberculosis but it had one feature that pastur found very interesting rabies begins with bite then the wound Heals Nothing happens then two 3 four sometimes 6 months later the disease appears this time lag changed everything unlike the vaccine for small poox or Anthrax which must be administered before infection by the disease with rabies one could vaccinate victim who had already been bitten and head the disease off the vaccine would also be the remedy potentially spectacular breakthrough but pastur faced problem he had not dealt with before the microb was invisible it was in fact virus much smaller than bacteria and impossible to see with microscopes of the day pester therefore had to work by deduction after weeks of trials with his disciple Dr Rue he succeeded in vaccinating dog then second one and then more princess this was animal experimentation but the passage from experiments on animals to experiments on human subjects scientifically speaking should have been long way off there wasn't sufficient testing to switch to any Trials of treatment on person foree it's hard to imagine what Pastor who had lost two children to infectious disease might have felt before this boy who was perhaps doomed to die if he didn't act it's hard to imagine the anguish he may have felt it had worked with dogs but there was no guarantee it would work on human who was firmly against it was doctor and it was he who performed the injections on top of this he'd written his thesis on rabies so if he could challenge Pastor on anything it was that no for me had been bitten 48 Hours previously if the disease was present it would not be for matter of weeks which left plenty of time to test vaccine and what's more he was alian how could this be overlooked for pastor with his Fierce hatred of Germans he had the boy examined by two doctor acquaintances vpan and who confirmed the bites were serious me was no doubt contaminated almost secretly pastur took the plunge for two weeks Joseph was injected with nerve tissue infected with weaken rabies each day the dose administered was increased so his body would become accustomed to it but one doubt remained what if Meister did not have rabies how could they prove the vaccination had worked that was the aim of the 13th and final injection he needed that crucial test and at the end of the treatment with Joseph Meister he injected him with rabies at the end of the course he had him injected with totally virulent nerve tissue which would have given RAB if he had not been protected by the previous injections for him this was the validation of his theory but you can see why today this type of treatment would be unacceptable my dear friend think something amazing has occurred Joseph Meister came out of the laboratory the child is in fine Health this morning he has good appetite and no longer has any fever one of the great medical Feats of the century is underway this time Pastor was sure of himself he could repeat his exploit this time giving it maximum publicity he chose to vaccinate Jean Baptist jup Shepherd boy who is bitten saving his friends from Rabbid dog it was an ideal story to promote his vaccine in the following weeks people came from around the world to be vaccinated in Paris faced with such success The Academy of Sciences opened an International Subscription to found an Institute pastur was hero at the end of 1889 professor professor cooch shut himself mysteriously into his laboratory he was hoping to pull off major cool he had resumed his study of tuberculosis the bacteria which made him famous only now he wanted to take the next logical step and find remedy if he could find cure for tuberculosis that would far outstrip what pastur had done with rabies former after several months had obtained some promising results having cured some guinea pigs infected with tuberculosis was confident he was on the right track but the most celebrated scholar in Germany was under great pressure to come up with results on the 4th of August 1890 the 10th International Medical Congress was held in Berlin was to be the star the Kaiser wanted to show the world the superiority of German medicine and was counting on major announcement from his Champion knew his findings were only partial he had yet to do any human trials but pressed by his superiors he took the plunge he gave presentation on microbiology in general but right at the end in the last two minutes he dropped bombshell was still very prudent at that conference but he was considered very serious scientist meticulous and precise so everyone thought if Robert said something there must have been much more to it the conference attendees were in doubt had found cure for tuberculosis tuberculin as called it was presented by the press as the greatest discovery in the history of humanity sick people flock to Berlin from all over the world to be treated the government built research establishment along the same lines as that built for Pastor Robert Co would have his own Institute com in Paris some voed their reservations about this miracle cure Pastor himself silenced the critics but Robert had jumped the gun after hundreds of people had received injections the initial results were disastrous it quickly became clear that tuberculin was actually harmful and that the sick who received the treatment suffered more from tuberculosis than those who received nothing Robert was in tight spot his Fall From Grace was not yet over as his Triumph turned into fiasco events in his personal life further tarnished His Image Co was now spending more time at the theater than in his laboratory the renowned Professor now 48 came to watch hedvig age 17 divorced Emmy whom he had known since childhood two months later he caused scandal marrying hedvig fryberg 29 years his Junior while wallowed in disgrace Pastor was at the height of his glory to mark his 70th birthday the French President sadik Carno brought together some 4,000 prestigious guests at the sbone but pastor's Health had deteriorated rapidly supported by his son John Baptist he made his last public appearance since the their first Skirmish 20 years before and pester were no longer the same men pester no longer left his room traveled the world with his young wife the Rivalry between the two researchers was now continued by their disciples it was contest between two institutes two teams an outbreak in China of one of the most feared diseases Bubonic plague provided the backdrop for one final battle between their respective followers it was one of pastor's men Alexandre Yan who discovered the basilis responsible just beating the Japanese researcher kitoto disciple of this came as final satisfaction for the Frenchmen on October 5th 1895 state funeral paid tribute to hero of science Lou pastur had died few days earlier at man laet profoundly moved by the universally felt loss of the wonderful founder of the asup the Berlin Institute of infectious diseases shares in the sense of grief Robert coch Robert coch was 20 years younger and continued his travels with his wife he obtained one of the first Nobel prizes for medicine in 1904 he came to Paris for the first time and paid visit to the Institute pastel the followers of his former rival welcomed him as one of their own he died in 1910 aged 67 after pastur and Medical Science entered new era henceforth diseases were no longer defined by their symptoms but by their causes epidemics diminished and life expectancy made its greatest jump in history the chemist and the country doctor had become National icons so much so that one often forgets that the work of Louis past would perhaps not have been the same without the research of Robert and vice versa