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What are Epidemics? by Phillip Incao, MD (with 2020 update)
Also: how cytokines challenge established germ theory
by Phillip Incao, MD, with his 2020 update, slightly revised for accessibility by BD
“The strongest passion is fear” ~ La Fontaine (1621–1695)
“Passion is catching” ~ Shakespeare (1564–1616, in “Julius Caesar”)
March 2020 update at end. Below is the original 2009 version, my response to the Swine Flu epidemic occurring at the time:
An epidemic, say of influenza, seems at first easy to understand. A pandemic is an epidemic which spreads over the entire world. However, on deeper examination this becomes surprisingly complex. I’m afraid this is true of many things in medicine.
What is your conception of an epidemic? I bet it’s a contagious infection, a contamination of our inner bodily environment by an outer “invader” disease germ. Further, I bet you believe, the enemy germ takes hold of one or more people; and then thru them, by human contact, spreads infection widely through a larger population.
The great epidemic of black plague in the 1300’s is estimated to have killed more than half the population of Europe. The great flu pandemic of 1918–1919 killed over 40 million people worldwide, including a half million deaths in the U.S.
