NOTES ON

KOCH’S POSTULATE

SUBMITTED TO- DR. NSK HARSH

Prepared By
1. Javad Basha
2. Iftikar Ali
3. R.D. Nadaf
4. Fayaz
KOCH’S POSTULATES
INTRODUCTION
Robert Heinrich Herman Koch (December 11, 1843 – May 27,
1910), considered to be the founder of modern bacteriology, is
known for his role in identifying the specific causative agents
of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax and for giving experimental
support for the concept of infectious diseases. In addition to his
pioneering studies on these diseases, Koch created and improved
significant laboratory technologies and techniques in the field of
microbiology, and made a number of key discoveries pertaining to
public health. His research led to the creation of Koch’spostulates,
a series of four generalized principles linking specific
microorganisms to particular diseases which remain today the
“gold standard” in medical microbiology, animal pathology and
plant pathology. As a result of his groundbreaking research on
tuberculosis, Koch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in 1905.

Koch's postulates are four criteria designed to establish a causal Formatted: Justified

relationship between a causative microbe and a disease. The

postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich
Loeffler in 1884 and refined and published by Koch in 1890. Koch
applied the postulates to establish the etiology
of anthrax and tuberculosis, but they have been generalized to
other diseases also.
History

Koch's postulates were developed in the 19th century as general Formatted: Justified

guidelines to identify pathogens that could be isolated with the

techniques of the day. Even in Koch's time, it was recognized that
some infectious agents were clearly responsible for disease even
though they did not fulfil all of the postulates. Attempts to rigidly
apply Koch's postulates to the diagnosis of viral diseases in the
late 19th century, at a time when viruses could not be seen or
isolated in culture, may have impeded the early development of
the field of virology. Currently, a number of infectious agents are
accepted as the cause of disease despite their not fulfilling all of
Koch's postulates. Therefore, while Koch's postulates retain
historical importance and continue to inform the approach to
microbiologic diagnosis, fulfilment of all four postulates is not
required to demonstrate causality.
Koch's postulates have also influenced scientists who examine
microbial pathogenesis from a molecular point of view. In the
1980s, a molecular version of Koch's postulates was developed to
guide the identification of microbial genes
encoding virulence factors.

THE REASONS WHICH LED TO ITS DISCOVERY

 How would you prove that a particular organism was Formatted: Tab stops: 0.59", List tab + Not at 0.5"

the cause of a plant disease? How could you be sure

you had found the right microorganism and not just
confused it with another of the millions of
microorganisms that occur on a plant?
  This problem challenged scientists for decades and it
eventually led to "Koch's Postulates" as the accepted
scientific method for identifying the causal agent of
a plant disease. In the following experiments, you
one can repeat “Koch's Postulates" and learn how
scientists still identify which microorganisms cause
which plant diseases.

The postulates

Koch’s discovery of the causative agent of anthrax led to the Formatted: Justified

formation of a generic set of postulates which can be used in the

determination of the cause of any infectious disease.[5] These
postulates, which not only outlined a method for linking cause and
effect of an infectious disease but also established the significance
of laboratory culture of infectious agents, are listed here

1. The microorganism must be found in abundance in all Formatted: Justified

organisms suffering from the disease, but should not be

found in healthy organisms.
2. The microorganism must be isolated from a diseased
organism and grown in pure culture.
3. The cultured microorganism should cause disease when
introduced into a healthy organism.
4. The microorganism must be reisolated from the inoculated,
diseased experimental host and identified as being identical
to the original specific causative agent.
REPRESENTATION OF KOCH’S POSTULATES
 EXCEPTIONS TO KOCH’S POSTULATES
Formatted: Justified, Indent: Left: -0.25"
1. Some microbes are obligate intracellular parasites (like chlamydia
or viruses) and are very challenging, or even impossible, to grow
on artificial media.
1.
2. Some diseases, such as tetanus, have variable signs and
symptoms between patients.
3. Some diseases, such as pneumonia & nephritis, may be caused
by a variety of microbes.
4. Some pathogens, such as S?. pyogenes, cause several different
diseases.
5. Certain pathogens, such as HIV, cause disease in humans only --
it is unethical to purposefully infect a human.
Formatted: Justified
For example, Helicobacter pylori and Salmonella typhi did not
satisfy (III) because initially there was no animal models, thus
disease could not be reproduced. [To get around this, researchers
used "model"• pathogens in conjunction with "model"• hosts. H. ?
mustelae was used with ferrets as host, and S?. typhimurium was
used with mice as host. Human volunteer studies and the recent
Formatted: Font: Italic
development of an animal model for H. pylori-induced ulcers have
now satisfied Koch's 3rd postulate.

Formatted: Justified
Chlamydia pneumoniae fails (I) because it is sometimes not found
in diseased (atherosclerosis) individuals. However, the ability to
culture Chlamydia pneumoniae from atherosclerotic plaques taken
from experimentally infected animals was used to support the role
of this bacterium in disease.

Also, Chlamydia sp. or Treponemapallidum are examples of

bacteria difficult to grow (II). However, methods for culturing these
organisms DO exist. C?. botulinum toxin acts at a distance, so
bacteria only recovered in stool (if at all), not in nervous system
(postulate I). But the fact that toxin reproduces disease is
important here, as toxin.

Formatted: Justified
Strep.? mutants: Miller originally failed to isolate this pathogen
because of anaerobic and multi-species community requirements,
thus (II) was initially not satisfied. However, Clark (1924) and
Keyes & Fitzgerald (1960's) did succeed in culturing mutants
streptococci and could transfer disease through contaminated
faeces or plaques.

Mentions source of information