While neither Pasteur or Koch had been the original proposer of the germ theory, they did make the theory credible with their works. Pasteur's fermentation studies, silkworm diseases, and animal inoculations proved the effects of microorganisms. Those studies benefited many industries pertaining to farming, silk, and alcohol. Koch's postulates provided irrefutable evidence of the connection between microorganisms and disease as well as a guideline for identifying the cause of the illness. These accomplishments broke barriers that lead to a revolution in public health, medicine, and science in the following century. 

The germ theory is a significant topic in history that led to the 20th century's ability to bring multiple medical advancements. Medical practices and equipment were developed to be sterile, which benefits both the practitioner and patient. This led to a drop in infection and mortality rates and a rise in recoveries. Antibiotics also helped in dropping mortality rates whose cause were bacterial infections while vaccines helped prevent viral infections. Koch’s postulates provided a guideline to identifying harmful microbes despite its limitations and declining relevance to modern-day. These valuable improvements resulted in less concern over these diseases that used to terrorize our predecessors. Although there is a difference between viruses and bacteria, these works are fundamental to our fight against COVID-19. Our acknowledgement of bacterial transmission and infection has given us the opportunity to reduce adverse consequences to humans. The medical progress from the twentieth century that was initiated by the research of Pasteur and Koch has given us the ability to fight the virus as efficiently as possible. The pandemic may have been much more fatal, unfavorable, and devastating to our world without these studies.