OF MICROBES AND MEN
The Emotions, Drama and Mystery of a Struggle to Correct a 125-year-old Mistake and Improve Our Defenses Against Epidemics and Bioterrorism
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This is not a technical book, nor is it a polemic against our government and pharmaceutical companies. It's a public affairs book written for the general reader, because it is we who stand to gain or lose from discoveries that I made accidentally in the course of what should have been a routine research project -- discoveries that should have been made a long time ago. Experiments were made but the results were not followed up, because what they indicated was unbelievable under the then popular philosophy that most bacteria were brainless and simple. They are not, but unfortunately, many scientists still believe they are. As might have been anticipated, our discoveries were found to be unbelievable.
We found that all bacteria create spores, dormant forms, which protect the cell's genes against insults, conspired by man and nature. Bacteria were believed to convert either 100% of their population into these protective nuggets or none at all. However, we found that all species make spores, albeit at low but still at clinically significant levels. We also discovered the molecules bacteria use to slow their growth leading to spore formation. However when entering human space, they are released -- and detected by our immune systems triggering a counter-attack. That too, was found unbelievable. After their release, bacteria are free to form wild mutants and even new species to cope with its new and hostile environment.
How could these findings be missed way back then?
A method developed in the laboratory of the famous German scientist, Robert Koch, by a New Jersey woman late in the 19th Century gave results that were misinterpreted by her generation of scientists -- and those since. It's curious that Koch never used it nor recommended it, and, in hindsight, for the right reason. The innovative method was one that was dearly needed: It allowed a single bacterial cell to be purified and seen with the naked eye. Its maiden use was in determining the nuances of bacterial growth and death. That's when the mistakes were made. Even though those who actually did the work said their conclusions were wrong, they've nonetheless stuck with us for 125 yrs, forming the basis of a widely accepted but false paradigm.
Finding that all bacteria make spores would be a boon to terrorists but learning that the released small molecules help combat infections would be a blessing to us. But our data were insufficient to rally the F.D.A., the Dept. of Homeland Security or the pharmaceutical industry to consider revisiting the paradigm.
The noted historian Thomas Kuhn said that to convince scientists that a paradigm needs fixing requires lots of irrefutable data and then would only be accepted by those who stand to benefit from its rewriting.
Until the murders of Americans with spores in 2001 and the fear of epidemics of new organisms like SRS, Ebola and the avian flu, fixing the flawed dogma might have remained academic, but no more. We can no longer afford to leave it as written. Revising it could thwart terrorists from making time delayed infectious agents in an ordinary kitchen, as well as form a new class of safe and effective drugs to stimulate our immune system against unknown infections, toxemias and septic shock.
This book is written for the lay reader. Scientists can examine the experimental details by consulting the Bibliography and Notes and reading the patents, which were filed in failed attempts to attract industry's support.
William Marshall
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About the Book
Five startling discoveries about how bacteria grow were recently made -- about 100 yr after they should have been made. Scientists back then misled themselves by not vetting out a new method for growing bacteria developed by a New Jersey woman while working in the Berlin lab of a soon-to-be Nobel Laureate. Oddly, he never used it. But everyone else did, and a faulty paradigm emerged from its use and is still in vogue today.
The missed discoveries and faulty paradigm had little impact on the achievements of Science during the 20th Century but not so regarding those required in the 21st. The imbedded paradigm must be corrected if we are to effectively combat epidemics and bioterrorism.
This is a true story told first hand of the discoveries and frustrations to correct this faulty paradigm.
About the Author
William Marshall received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Illinois and post-doctoral training at Uppsala University and Cambridge University. His career included the private and public sectors, including Chairman of the National Agriculture Research And Extension Users Advisory Board to the US Congress and helping to write five monographs on the ethics of biotechnology for the Office of Technology Assessment of Congress. During the 1980s he was president of a biotech company and retired as associate professor of microbiology and immunology from the New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY in 2002. He lives in Naples, Fl.