The Germ Theory

What is the Germ Theory besides being one of the most effective marketing tools ever devised?  It is a theory that 'you' can 'catch' a virus simply by being in close proximity to, shaking hands with or kissing someone with a virus aka a germ.  Ok, so viruses can be transmitted through the air or by kissing the person with the virus. If viruses can be transmitted so easily why aren't we all dead? 

 Based on the naked theory itself it would stand to reason that 'we' would catch the flu, cold or SARS, AVIAN or H1N1 each time we came into contact with someone carrying it.  Meaning that we would never be well, ever.  Our immune system would simply be overwhelmed by the constant barrage of new viruses we would be inhaling, each time we took a breath.  Heaven forbid you fall in love because the act of expressing it would, theoretically, be fatal.  In short if the 'Germ Theory' had teeth our species as well as many other species would have gone extinct long, long ago.

So why aren't we all dead?  Our immune system.  We must be able to adapt to whatever we are exposed to or die. When we go outside on a cold day or bodies get goose bumps and shiver as a means of creating energy to generate warmth.  Our bodies have adapted to the situation.  If we are exposed to a flu virus via natural means, i.e. breathing it in, our bodies immediately identify it as a foreign invader, mark it and immediately begin manufacturing anti-bodies to fight it off. 

You will become symptomatic as your body works to fight this new invader off.  When it is all over, you will have a permanent immunity against that specific virus for the rest of your life.  Whereas if you get the flu shot you are getting last years virus, doing nothing to fight off this years version.  So you will get the flu anyway and the immunity against 'last years' bug will wear off in ten years or less. 

 Historically the 'Germ Theory' is based on 'Demonology'. A medieval idea that sickness was caused by demon possession in punishment of your sins.  Yes the church was diagnosing sickness as punishment for sin.  So not only did some poor soul have to suffer from the symptoms of an illness they had to suffer the condemnation of their peers because it was 'their' fault for being sick.

Treatment for these maladies was blood letting which was performed by the local 'barber'. The years marched on and demon possession morphed into 'frogs in the liver' or a 'toad living in your spleen'.  The 'Germ' displaced all these with the invention of the very first microscope so the 'demon' now had a physical form that could be identified but the treatment didn't change...just the picture. 

Yet the concept of what a virus or germ was didn't translate into cleanliness which was actually scoffed at for decades as quaint and beneath the doctors concern; even as pelvic inflammatory disease ravaged the female population in the 19th century.  

The doctor who discovered the cause of this epidemic was summarily and systematically ruined by his peers for daring to challenge accepted wisdom which did not believe that washing hands between patients was necessary.  Even though he had proven his theory correct by reducing his cases to near zero by using warm soapy water between patients.   So again we see a noble and brilliant doctor ruined by lesser persons who refused to accept a new and beneficial idea because it made them look bad.  Heaven forbid they learn something new or advance their collective knowledge or be perceived as flawed and imperfect human beings.

Unchallenged and unchecked ignorance is more dangerous than any disease.   So it would seem the germ theory is weak and needs to be reconsidered from a new and less dogmatic viewpoint.   The problem lies however with the true disease facing society, unchallenged arrogance and prolific stupidity of those who believe themselves infallible and above being questioned and who destroy those persons who dare to challenge them and who are often more intelligent.

The true disease today is chronic stupidity of persons who believe they are all knowing and godlike.    Doctors must be humble before nature lest they become a disease themselves.