Robert Koch produced a set of criteria to establish whether a particular organism is the cause of a disease in an animal - HSC - SSCE Biology - Question 12 - 2020 - Paper 1
Question 12
Robert Koch produced a set of criteria to establish whether a particular organism is the cause of a disease in an animal. The criteria are listed below but not in th... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Robert Koch produced a set of criteria to establish whether a particular organism is the cause of a disease in an animal - HSC - SSCE Biology - Question 12 - 2020 - Paper 1
Step 1
The microorganism must be found in the diseased animal, and not found in healthy animals.
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This step emphasizes the necessity of identifying the microorganism in the infected organism and ensuring it is absent in healthy ones. This criterion establishes a strong correlation between the microorganism and the disease.
Step 2
The microorganism must be extracted and isolated from the diseased animal and subsequently grown in culture.
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Here, we isolate the microorganism to study its characteristics further. Culturing it allows for detailed observation and experimentation.
Step 3
The microorganism must cause disease when introduced to a healthy experimental animal.
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This step tests the pathogen's virulence; if the healthy animal develops the disease, it further establishes the microorganism's role in causing the disease.
Step 4
The microorganism must be extracted from the diseased experimental animal and demonstrated to be the same microorganism that was isolated from the first diseased animal.
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This final validation step confirms that the pathogen causing disease in the experimental model is indeed the same as that isolated initially.