<P> Koch 's postulates ( / ˈkɔːx / ) are four criteria designed to establish a causative relationship between a microbe and a disease . The postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler in 1884 , based on earlier concepts described by Jakob Henle , and refined and published by Koch in 1890 . Koch applied the postulates to describe the etiology of cholera and tuberculosis , but they have been controversially generalized to other diseases . These postulates were generated prior to understanding of modern concepts in microbial pathogenesis that can not be examined using Koch 's postulates , including viruses ( which are obligate cellular parasites ) or asymptomatic carriers . They have largely been supplanted by other criteria such as the Bradford Hill criteria for infectious disease causality in modern public health . </P>
who developed a set of postulates to prove that specific microorganisms cause disease
Robert Koch Friedrich Loeffler