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Viruses have and refrain from kissing their babies to stop ENTER THE VIRUS
become a the contagion. When Louis Pasteur was unable to find a
But was it contagious? At the time, health bacterium that could cause rabies, he speculated
convenient officials believed that a microorganism called about a pathogen too small for detection by
scapegoat Pfeiffer’s bacillus caused the Spanish flu, and microscopes. These tiny particles—about one-
for diseases they were very interested in understanding how hundredth the size of a cell—became visible
the organism could spread so quickly—and so with the invention of the electron microscope in
that don’t fit randomly. To answer that question, doctors from 1931. Scientists assumed that they were bad for
the bacterial the U.S. Public Health Service tried to infect one us—“dangerous infectious agents”—and named
model. hundred healthy volunteers between the ages of them viruses, the Latin word for “toxins.”
eighteen and twenty-five by collecting mucous
Because viruses are always seen in and
secretions from the noses, throats and upper around living cells, researchers surmised that
respiratory tracts of those who were sick. The viruses replicate only inside the living cells
doctors then transferred these secretions to the of an organism—they do not divide like cells
noses, mouths and lungs of the volunteers, but do. Scientists today operate on the assumption
not one of them succumbed. Even when blood that these ubiquitous viruses can infect all
from sick donors was injected into the blood types of life forms, from animals and plants to
of the volunteers, they remained stubbornly microorganisms, including bacteria. Difficult
healthy. to separate and purify, viruses have become
Finally, the doctors instructed those af- a convenient scapegoat for diseases that don’t
flicted with the flu to breathe and cough over fit the bacterial model. Colds, flu and pneumo-
the healthy volunteers, but none became sick. nia—once considered exclusively bacterial dis-
Researchers even tried to infect healthy horses eases—are now frequently blamed on a virus.
with the mucous secretions of horses with the Is it possible that scientists will one day
flu—yes, many animals became ill during the discover that these particles, like the once-
pandemic—but the results were the same. The maligned bacteria, play a beneficial role?
Spanish flu was not contagious, 21,22 and physi- Indeed, scientists have already done just that.
cians could attach no blame to the accused However, old ideas—and especially the “one
bacterium nor provide an explanation for its bug, one drug” mentality that promises profits
global reach. from drugs and vaccines—die hard.
In recent years, we have witnessed a com-
plete reversal of the reigning medical paradigm, KOCH AND RIVERS
which claims that bacteria attack and sicken us. Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (1843-
Indeed, researchers have become increasingly 1910) is considered one of the founders of mod-
frustrated in their attempts to prove that bacteria ern bacteriology, having created and improved
make us sick, except as co-actors in extremely laboratory technologies for isolating bacteria.
unnatural conditions. We have learned that the His research led to the formulation of what
digestive tract contains up to six pounds of bac- are called Koch’s postulates, a series of four
teria, which play many beneficial roles—they principles linking specific microorganisms to
protect us against toxins, support the immune specific diseases.
system, help digest our food, create vitamins The postulates are as follows:
and even produce feel-good chemicals. Bacteria
that coat the skin and line the vaginal tract play 1. The microorganism must be found in abun-
equally protective roles. Bacteria permeate the dance in all organisms suffering from the
soil to make plant growth possible. These dis- disease, but should not be found in healthy
coveries call into question many current medical organisms.
practices, from antibiotics to herbicides to hand 2. The microorganism must be isolated from
sanitizing. a diseased organism and grown in a pure
culture.
3. The cultured microorganism should cause
20 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2020