Who Discovered Staph Infections?

Staphylococcus is a normal inhabitant of the nose and skin in 30 percent of healthy adults. Usually, the bacterium does not cause a problem. When breaks in the skin occur, such as burns, cuts or abrasions, this microorganism can cause infection. The discovery of staph bacteria led to breakthroughs in bacteriology and treatment of these infections. A few notable scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries studied bacteria, which eventually led to the discovery and classification of staphylococcus.

Discovery of Bacteria

• Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek discovered the existence of bacteria in 1683. Van Leeuwenhoek was a textile weaver and Dutch naturalist. He also learned to make lenses and made a basic microscope that he used to observe bacteria. He made written observations and drawings about his microscopic discoveries. His written accounts opened up the field of bacteriology, paving the way toward modern medicine.

Identification

• Surgeon Alexander Ogston was conducting research in 1800 at the Aberdeen (Scotland) Royal Infirmary on abscesses and blood poisoning (septicemia.) As a surgeon, he conducted the research in hopes of reducing the high mortality rate in the operating theater. During his research, he identified bacteria known as micrococcus that, when viewed under a microscope, clustered into a grape cluster formation. In 1882, he called them staphylococci after the Greek word for grape cluster.

Controversy

• English surgeon Joseph Lister's work in antisepsis greatly influenced Ogston. Lister erroneously thought that air was the factor that caused wounds to putrefy and fill with pus. However, Lister's discovery that drenching surgical dressings with carbolic acid prevented infection greatly reduced the death rate after surgery. Ogston didn't agree that air was the cause of abscesses. After his discovery of staph, he did further research to prove the bacterium was the cause of wound infections.

Further Research

• Taking his discovery a step further, Ogston injected pus from a patient's abscess into mice and guinea pigs. These animals then developed abscesses and septicemia. He then drew blood from these sick animals and found the same bacteria he found in the original patient. When he treated the pus with heat or carbolic acid prior to injection into the rodents, the animals did not become sick.

The Official Naming

• Staphylococcus aureus was officially named in 1884. Anton J. Rosenbach, a German surgeon, was the person who isolated this bacterium and gave it the name it is known by today. This was an important step in combating this microorganism that even today causes high rates of mortality.