What is Koch's germ theory?
The concept that microscopic organisms, or 'germs,' are the cause of many diseases is sound, but my contribution lies in providing the empirical foundation. It is insufficient to merely theorize. One must see the bacillus in every case of the disease, isolate it in pure culture, then reproduce the disease in a susceptible animal, and finally, recover the same bacillus from the experimentally infected animal. This is Koch's postulates, the definitive method for proving a microbial etiology. The microbe is the cause, not the consequence.
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