Medical historians typically situate the origins of the antimicrobial era during the early germ period at the turn of the 20th century. They have regarded the development of chemical compounds designed to treat infectious diseases by killing their causative germ as the beginning of the antimicrobial era. Scholars, however, had been speculating about the causal relationship between germs and diseases for centuries beforehand. One of them also addressed the practical applications of this theory. The Italian physician Fracastoro proposed in 1546 that infectious diseases could be treated by administering substances to antagonize disease causing germs. He claimed that health could be restored to people who became ill with infections by nullifying the responsible germs at a time when investigators could not see germs or investigate their ability to cause disease. The long genealogy of antimicrobial therapy from its conception to its fruition took place over the span of several centuries.

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抗菌疗法的起源

医学史学家通常将抗菌时代的起源定在 20 世纪之交的早期细菌时期。他们将旨在通过杀死致病细菌来治疗传染病的化合物的开发视为抗菌时代的开始。然而，早在几个世纪前，学者们就一直在猜测细菌与疾病之间的因果关系。其中之一还讨论了这一理论的实际应用。意大利医生弗拉卡斯托罗于 1546 年提出，可以通过服用对抗致病细菌的物质来治疗传染病。他声称，在研究人员无法看到细菌或调查其引起疾病的能力时，通过消灭致病细菌，可以使感染者恢复健康。抗菌疗法从概念到成果的漫长谱系经历了几个世纪的时间。