Childbed Fever How a Yorkshire Doctor Beat Semmelweis to the True Cause of Puerperal Fever
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The magazine of the Society for Applied Microbiology ■ Sept 2005 ■ Vol 6 No 3 ISSN 1479-2699 illustration: Robert A Thom Childbed Fever How a Yorkshire doctor beat Semmelweis to the true cause of puerperal fever ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: ■ 2006 January Meeting Programme Dr Margaret ■ Med-Vet-Net - approaching its first year Patterson appointed new ■ Fungi in your shopping basket Honorary President of the Society ■ 2005 Summer Conference report excellence in microbiology W ! gy e lo are io th crob e friendly face of mi Don Whitley Scientific is a leading supplier of innovative equipment and contract & consultancy services for microbiologists worldwide. If you work in clinical, pharmaceutical, research or industrial microbiology, please phone one of the friendly faces in our technical sales team on: +44 (0)1274 595728 www.dwscientific.co.uk The magazine of the Society for Applied Microbiology ■ Sept 2005 ■ Vol 6 No 3 ISSN 1479-2699 REGULARS MEETINGS FEATURES Microbiologist Vol 6 No.3 04Editorial 20 SfAM 18 Fungi in September 2005 Lucy Harper reviews January your this issues top stories ISSN 1479-2699 Meeting shopping 05 Contact 2006 basket Full contact a one day meeting 2005 Misac information for all on Epidemiology competition results Committee members and vaccines. Thursday 5th 05 Media Watch January 2006 Microbiological news stories from around the world 07 Micro break Publisher: Society for Applied Microbiology. 75th Anniversary competition Editor: Lucy Harper [email protected] 08President’s Contributions: These are column 26 Cover story always welcome and should Interview with Dr be addressed to the Editor at: [email protected] Margaret Patterson Advertising: 10 Med-Vet-Net Julie Wright Approaching its first 24 HPA Annual Telephone: 01234 326661 year Conference 2005 [email protected] 12 Membership 24 Institute Pasteur Art and Design & layout: Mastering anti- Pollard Creativity Matters infective Production and printing: therapies Pollard Creativity. 14 Farewell to All technical questions should Peter Silley 25 Cordia be addressed to: BioTechonology [email protected] Tel: 01933 665617 33 2005 Summer Convention 2005 Conference 25 Gut © Society for Applied Childbed Microbiology 2005 report Microbiology Material published in 2006 Fever Microbiologist may not be Milton Wainwright reproduced, stored in a 39 Students retrieval system, or into Work discusses how a transmitted in any form WRITE FOR US! Yorkshire doctor without the prior permission report The editor is always looking beat Semmelweis to of the Society. for enthusiastic writers who the true cause of 41 The wish to contribute articles to Society for Applied childbed fever Microbiology, The Blore President’s Microbiologist on their Tower, The Harpur Centre, chosen microbiological 30 Stat Note 2 Fund articles subject. Bedford MK40 1TQ, UK The application of For further information Tel: +44 (0)1234 326661 47 Books normal distribution please email: Fax: +44 (0)1234 326678 to some common [email protected] email: [email protected] 50 Join SfAM statistical problems www.sfam.org.uk Editorial Microbiologist ERE IN THE SfAM OFFICE Vol 6 No.3 we’ve all been extremely busy H over the last three months. The September 2005 society has gone through a period of great change in recent times. Contact the Editor: Not only do we have a new president of [email protected] the society, Dr Margaret Patterson, but we also have two new members of committee Microbiologist copy Dates: contributors please who will introduce themselves in the next note that the final copy issue of Microbiologist. dates in 2005/2006 will be: In this issue of the magazine we say a fond farewell to our previous president Dr Vol 6 No.4 Dec 2005 Peter Silley. We all know what great work Friday 16 Sept 2005 Peter has done for the society, and some of the Officers of the Society tell us about Vol 7 No.1 March 2006 his work and entertain us with some Friday 16 December 2005 slightly more personal anecdotes about their experiences of working with Peter. predecessors, the Society for Applied Vol 7 No.2 June 2006 Friday 10 March 2006 We also extend a warm welcome to Dr Bacteriology and the Society for Margaret Patterson, the fourth female Agricultural Bacteriology would be very Vol 7 No.3 Sept 2005 president of the Society. As such Margaret welcome if members could bear to part Friday 7 July 2006 will undoubtedly be a great role model for with them to a good home! If you can all our members. She introduces herself help then please contact David Post either How to submit material here and talks a little about her career through the SfAM office, or on 01424 Please submit all articles, and the fact that science and 870590. reports, meetings microbiology in particular is such a great The second item which we are all very notifications, letters etc., as career. excited about, but which requires the help plain text (*.txt) or rich text Since the last issue was published of all of you is the 75th Anniversary files (*.rtf). Please submit all images as original we’ve had our annual general meeting competition. To celebrate 75 years of the photographic prints or and summer conference at the Old Ship Society for Applied Microbiology we are transparencies rather than Hotel in Brighton—which those of you running a writing competition to find the scanned images and these who joined us will know was a great most interesting, entertaining and will be processed by us and success. In this issue there is a informative article describing an returned to you promptly. comprehensive report on the meeting on historical event in Microbiology. We are If your images are only in page 33 which I’m sure will prove very looking for 500-700 words of your digital format please make interesting reading for those of you who opinions, thoughts or memories of a sure they are supplied at a couldn’t make it. famous microbiological breakthrough, resolution of 300dpi (dots Our feature article for this issue by historical event or a personally significant or pixels per inch at a size of not less than 100mm (4 Milton Wainwright unearths the truth tale. The only other rules of the inches) square. behind the discovery of the cause of competition are that the article is Childbed fever (page 26). I find it microbiological in nature and that it is Advertisers: if you wish to fascinating when such investigations based upon an event of the last 75 years. advertise in Microbiologist reveal something that might re-write the So, for all you writers out there like you should contact the history books. When we learn that Milton Wainwright who have witnessed or Society Office in the first someone we’d all assumed to have made are merely fascinated by a particular instance. Advertising rates a discovery was actually several years Microbiological breakthrough or event of and Guidelines on how to behind a name we barely recognise. For the last 75 years, then see page 7 and submit advertisements are those of you who are interested in the send in your entries to me. given on the website and are also obtainable by history of Microbiology, you might like to emailing the editor at: do some digging yourselves as we have a [email protected] couple of history-related items with which we need your help. Website: the society Firstly, our archivist, David Post needs website is a timely source the help of all members. Intensive work of up-to-date information on sorting the society archives has shown on all Society matters and that they are far from complete. maintains a comprehensive Members, especially long-standing ones, archive of articles and may be keeping material that is of interest reports on a variety of microbiological topics. in recording the history of the society. Such items as minutes, meetings reports, www.sfam.org.uk journals, letters and indeed anything pertaining to the Society and its 04 September 2005 www.sfam.org.uk Contact point COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2005 - 2008 HON PRESIDENT: Dr Margaret Patterson, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX [email protected] HON GENERAL SECRETARY: Dr Anthony Hilton, School of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET [email protected] HON MEETINGS SECRETARY: Professor Martin Adams, School of Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford,Surrey GU2 7XH [email protected] HON TREASURER: Dr Valerie Edwards-Jones, Research Development Unit, Manchester Metropolitan University, Lower Chatham St, Manchester M15 5HA [email protected] HON EDITOR: Journal of Applied Microbiology Professor Arthur Gilmour, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, DARD and Queen’s University, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX [email protected] HON EDITOR: Letters in Applied Microbiology Dr Jean-Yves Maillard, Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3XF [email protected] HON EDITOR: Microbiologist Dr Lucy Harper, Society for Applied Microbiology, The Blore Tower, The Harpur Centre, Bedford MK40 1TQ [email protected] ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS until July 2006 Dr David McCleery, Chief Specialist Microbiologist, Safe Food, Food Safety Promotion Board, 7 Eastgate Avenue, Little Island, Cork, Ireland [email protected] Dr Shona Nelson, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY [email protected] Professor Diane Newell, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB [email protected] ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS until July