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Koch's postulates are a set of criteria established by the German physician Robert Koch in the late 19th century that serve as a foundational framework for linking specific pathogens to specific diseases. The primary purpose of these postulates is to confirm that a particular microbe is the causative agent of a disease. This is achieved by demonstrating that the microbe is consistently associated with the disease, that it can be isolated from diseased hosts and grown in pure culture, that it can cause the disease when introduced into a healthy organism, and that it can be re-isolated from the newly diseased host.

This approach has been crucial in microbiology, as it provides a systematic method for establishing a direct cause-and-effect relationship between an infectious agent and a disease. This robust methodology has shaped infectious disease research and diagnosis significantly, establishing guidelines that continue to influence the field today.

In contrast, identifying symptoms of diseases pertains to clinical observation rather than a structured method to link microbes to diseases. Categorizing types of pathogens or developing vaccines are important aspects of infectious disease research but do not directly address the causal relationship that Koch's postulates focus on.