3 ms·

Germ theory is not widely believed. Not really. We wash our hands because we've been trained since a young age to do so, and generally accept that touching stuf

by graeme 3y ago

Germ theory is not widely believed. Not really. We wash our hands because we've been trained since a young age to do so, and generally accept that touching stuff is unsanitary. But that's about it. Witness the reaction to aerosol spread of disease despite literal videos that can capture and show aerosols being spread around a room. People simply don't believe it. They likewise don't believe in any kind of long run response to an infection. We associate the symptoms of acute immune response to be the virus itself, and the entirety of the virus.

throwaway22032 3y ago
You're conflating two issues here. I believe that car accidents cost lives, that power tools can take off my fingers, that illnesses like coronavirus can kill me or give me chronic lung conditions. I also believe that it's worth driving, woodworking, and interacting with people in public despite those risks. Most people, excluding the rare nutjobs, are like that. If you force them on an issue and don't accept variants of "I don't care" as an answer, they might come up with a bizarre explanation, sure. It's hard for a lot of people to simply be honest and say - yes, sure, but I think it's worth it, instead of trying to deflect.
selcuka 3y ago
> They likewise don't believe in any kind of long run response to an infection. We associate the symptoms of acute immune response to be the virus itself, and the entirety of the virus. Anyone who had shingles would think otherwise.
- graeme 3y ago
  Funny you should mention that. The UK has avoid giving children the chick pox vaccine in order to keep up natural immunity. Thus ensuring shingles in later life. I spoke flippantly. There are specific diseases people do recognize cause specific issues. But even in a case like shingles a society like the UK calculates it knows all the consequences. For instance I’m not sure anyone can say whether fighting shingles for decades makes our immune response less flexible in targeting other pathogens.
f6v 3y ago
> Germ theory is not widely believed. What matters is that there’s more and more evidence for microbiota in the gut having impact on seemingly unrelated systems like CNS. I think we’ll find many more surprises of how disregulated host-microbiome interactions lead to some kind of diseases.

by graeme 3y ago

throwaway22032 3y ago

You're conflating two issues here. I believe that car accidents cost lives, that power tools can take off my fingers, that illnesses like coronavirus can kill me or give me chronic lung conditions. I also believe that it's worth driving, woodworking, and interacting with people in public despite those risks. Most people, excluding the rare nutjobs, are like that. If you force them on an issue and don't accept variants of "I don't care" as an answer, they might come up with a bizarre explanation, sure. It's hard for a lot of people to simply be honest and say - yes, sure, but I think it's worth it, instead of trying to deflect.

selcuka 3y ago

> They likewise don't believe in any kind of long run response to an infection. We associate the symptoms of acute immune response to be the virus itself, and the entirety of the virus. Anyone who had shingles would think otherwise.

graeme 3y ago
Funny you should mention that. The UK has avoid giving children the chick pox vaccine in order to keep up natural immunity. Thus ensuring shingles in later life. I spoke flippantly. There are specific diseases people do recognize cause specific issues. But even in a case like shingles a society like the UK calculates it knows all the consequences. For instance I’m not sure anyone can say whether fighting shingles for decades makes our immune response less flexible in targeting other pathogens.

f6v 3y ago

> Germ theory is not widely believed. What matters is that there’s more and more evidence for microbiota in the gut having impact on seemingly unrelated systems like CNS. I think we’ll find many more surprises of how disregulated host-microbiome interactions lead to some kind of diseases.