Editorial 28 July 1914 was an inauspicious day. Its arrival marked the end of a fragile peace and the golden age that held European alliances together; it also marked an end to the certainties of the establishment and the Empires. I grew up during 1960–70s Britain, with the First World War a lived experience, passed on as vivid stories at the knees of grandparents, or as dark, unspoken silences that had shaped people’s lives in unimaginable ways. Now, as a parent in the 21st Century my perspective of this war has changed. ur landscapes are still marked microbiological cause as had originally testing hypotheses about the viability of with the poignant names of those been proposed in 1916 by two French micro-organisms and the influence of Owho lost their lives during ‘the war officers, Médicin Majors Victor Raymond background ionizing radiation on long- to end all wars’. These days my children and Jacques Parisot. term survival. attend a school built at the turn of the However, the First World War did I hope you find this issue thought- 20th Century, which promised a bright offer opportunities for scientific progress. provoking: our intention is to recognise future for those boys lucky enough to Gavin Thomas outlines the discovery of the role of microbes in this terrible war receive a grammar school education. bacterial viruses (or bacteriophages) and to recognise the role this conflict has Passing through the front door, black during this time, an important milestone played in the field of microbiology today. copperplate writing captures the lives in the history of microbiology. These ‘The Sisters Buried at Lemnos’ of sons and brothers, lost during this findings broadened our understanding poem by Vera Brittain alludes to the ill-fated war. of the fundamental forms of life that multifaceted suffering caused by this In this edition of Microbiology Today exist in nature. The work undertaken by war, and it is a touching account of the we have sought to commemorate the pioneering scientists such as Twort and sacrifices of women who also played start of the Great War. The suffering that d’Herelle evolved and underpins the work their part in all aspects of this conflict. occurred was the result of four years of of modern day pioneering molecular An excerpt is below. conflict and strife. However, it was also biologists and geneticists. Their work Seldom they enter into song or story; caused by ravaging diseases that stalked has also provided a potential route to Poets praise the soldier’s might and the trenches. Rezak Drali, Philippe treat bacterial infections, which has deeds of War, Brouqui and Didier Raoult describe seen a renaissance in the last decade But few exalt the Sisters, and the glory the role the typhus epidemic played, as antibiotic resistance continues to Of women dead beneath a distant star. which has a habit of always striking increase. Preben Krabben provides an No armies threatened in that lonely station, humanity at a time of great disaster. account of the beginning of what was They fought not fire or steel or ruthless foe, John Oxford vividly portrays the ‘perfect to become one of the largest microbial But heat and hunger, sickness and privation, storm’ caused by a war and a global fermentation processes in the world, And Winter’s deathly chill and blinding snow. pandemic, which resulted in the deaths namely acetone and butanol production. Till mortal frailty could endure no longer of over six million soldiers by war, and a This edition has mainly looked Disease’s ravages and climate’s power, shocking further 80 million civilians due back 100 years to the start of the First In body weak, but spirit ever stronger, to influenza. A debate that surrounded World War. Charles Cockell has written a Courageously they stayed to meet their hour. the medical basis of trench foot – a future-focused Comment for this issue. disease synonymous with warfare He provides details about a 500-year Laura Bowater during the 1914–18 conflict – is outlined microbiology experiment to study and Editor by Robert Atenstaedt. He presents quantify the survival of desiccated [email protected] evidence that shows this disease had no organisms over century time-scales, Microbiology Today May 14 | www.sgm.ac.uk 49 Contents Microbiology TODAY 41:2 May 2014 Articles Features Regulars Typhus in World War I 78 Schoolzone 49 Editorial 58 Rezak Drali, Philippe Brouqui & Didier Raoult How World Wars I and II influenced antibiotic development. 52 Council 2013–14 An opportunistic pestilential disease thrived during civil unrest. 53 From the President 81 Outreach 54 News A deadly synergy: the Great War James Redfern’s PhD with a difference. 62 and the Great Pandemic 56 Conferences John S. Oxford 82 Membership Q&A 92 Reviews The global dispersion of Spanish flu was facilitated by the war. Nina Konstantinidou tells us about her work. Editor Dr Laura Bowater A microbiological cause for 84 Policy Managing Editor Ruth Paget Editorial Board Phil Aldridge, David Bhella, Helen Brown, Alan Cann, 66 trench foot? Find out about the work of the Policy Committee. Lorena Fernandez-Martinez, Shaun Heaphy, Paul Hoskisson, Gavin Thomas Rob Atenstaedt Address Society for General Microbiology, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU T +44 (0)20 7685 2683 E [email protected] A fungal cause was questioned during the Great War. 86 Champion your Society Design Ian Atherton, Corbicula Design (www.corbiculadesign.co.uk) Volunteer scheme for passionate communicators. Printed by Charlesworth Press, Wakefield Frederick William Twort: © 2014 Society for General Microbiology ISSN 1464-0570 70 not just bacteriophage 88 Meet the Committees The views expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect official policy of the Society; nor can Gavin Thomas the claims of advertisers be guaranteed. Find out what the Society’s Committees do. Twort’s discoveries during World War I and his post-war legacy. 94 Obituary – Sir Michael Stoker FSC Logo Acetone production during the Looking back at Michael Stoker’s work and life. First World War 74 Preben Krabben 95 Comment – The 500-year Innovative processes that aided the war effort. Microbiology Experiment British soldiers in France during World War I. US Air Force/Science Findings to be confirmed in 2514. Photo Library From the President Council 2013–14 This issue of Microbiology Today is bracketed by two important events. The first is our Annual Meeting in Liverpool. Due to the production schedule, this is written before the event, but the programme is excellent and, as long as the coffee arrives on time Executive Officers (for on such things the reputation of a meeting often hangs!), I President – Professor Nigel L. Brown University of Edinburgh, c/o Society for General Microbiology, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU; [email protected] am sure that we will have had a scientifically rewarding and General Secretary – Dr Evelyn M. Doyle enjoyable time. School of Biology and Environmental Science, Science Centre West, University College Dublin, Belfield Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland; [email protected] Photo Ian Atherton Treasurer – Professor Chris Thomas School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT; [email protected] his is the first Annual Meeting, biography of Peter will appear in the launched a Society Champions scheme. rather than our having separate next issue of Microbiology Today. I, and They will represent the Society locally. Elected Members TSpring and Autumn Meetings. As other members of Society’s Council, Initially this will be a short pilot scheme, Professor Andrew Davison far as microbiology is concerned, I agree very much look forward to working with which, if successful, will subsequently MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Church Street, Glasgow G11 5JR; [email protected] with G. K. Chesterton that ‘there is no him to take the Society forward over the be expanded across the UK and Ireland. Dr Stephen Diggle such thing on earth as an uninteresting next few years. Society Champions will also be provided School of Life Sciences, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD; [email protected] subject; the only thing that can exist is an This issue of Microbiology Today with promotional materials and Dr Pat Goodwin uninterested person’, so I am sure that all acknowledges the centenary of the resources, such as those described by C3 Collaborating for Health, c/o Society for General Microbiology, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU members will have found something of outbreak of the Great War in 1914 James Redfern on page 81. However, Professor Ian R. Henderson interest. through the microbiological impact of even if you have not applied for the Division of Immunity & Infection, University of Birmingham Medical School, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2QU; [email protected] The second event is the the great changes that happened across elections to Council, Committees or Professor David Pearce appointment of our new Chief Executive. those four years and beyond. We are all Divisions, you can still help the Society Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Northumberland Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 8ST; [email protected] Dr Peter Cotgreave starts work at the aware of the H1N1 influenza epidemic by letting me, or a member of one of Professor John H. Sinclair Society at the beginning of June. He and of the oft-repeated aphorism that these bodies, know what you would like Department of Medicine, Level 5, Laboratory Block, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QQ; [email protected] comes to us with a strong background more people died of influenza than the Society to do.