History of Streptococcal Research

Abstract

Streptococcal diseases have been known for centuries, although their delineation into separate disease entities did not begin to occur until the 16th century AD. The original writings of Hippocrates from the 4th century BC describe the disease erysipelas (ἐρυσίπeλας, red skin), as well as the symptoms of childbed fever, and “Galen remarks that not only erysipelas, but also inflammation, when it attacks the impregnated uterus, generally proves fatal” (Adams, 1849). Centuries later, after epidemic rates of mortality, this particular disease was recognized in 1716 as puerperal fever or childbed fever (Strother, 1716). Many theories about the origin of diseases appeared in the intervening centuries, including associating their occurrence with natural phenomena like comets and eclipses; the spread of disease by vapors and smells; “contagion,” or the transferring of diseases from one to another; and the introduction of non-living matter into a patient (Karamanou, Panayiotakopoulos, Tsoucalas, Kousoulis, & Androutsos, 2012). It was not until the 18th century that further progress into the etiology of diseases was made. A major advancement was the invention of the microscope by Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) as well as his descriptions of new life forms, including the shapes of cocci, bacilli, and spirochetes (Figure 1) (Dobell, 1932). However, as with a number of early scientific and medical discoveries or observations, the link between the microscopic discovery of these new life forms and diseases was not realized until almost two centuries later.

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