from a Nobel prize winner, old statement but likely still relevant today: Emerging Infections: An Evolutionary Perspective Joshua Lederberg The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA Our relationship to infectious pathogens is part of an evolutionary drama (1). Here we are; here are the bugs. They are looking for food; we are their meat. How do we compete? They reproduce so quickly, and there are so many of them. They tolerate vast fluctuations of population size as part of their natural history; a fluctuation of 1% in our population size is a major catastrophe. Microbes have enormous potential mechanisms of genetic diversity. We are different from them in every respect. Their numbers, rapid fluctuations, and amenability to genetic change give them tools for adaptation that far outpace what we can generate on any short-term basis. So why are we still here? With very rare exceptions, our microbial adversaries have a shared interest in our survival. With very few exceptions (none among the viruses, a few among the bacteria, perhaps the clostridial spore-forming toxin producers), almost any pathogen reaches a dead end when its host is dead. Truly severe host-pathogen interactions historically have resulted in elimination of both species. We are the contingent survivors of such encounters because of this shared interest.
Okay, nobody but you knows what the postulates of Koch is, but you're posts are interesting. As long as I can control spread by handwashing etc. but when they get airborne (i.e. in a plane) thats when I think we're really have to worry.
There are 4 postulates of Koch, but they can be easily summarized as "one species of bacteria, one disease." But now we know there is an almost infinite array of bacteria. The next challenge is to identify the ways that they cause disease in the body. An acute superbug infection is easy to observe, but I think it is of equal importance to identify how less-dangerous superbugs can evade the human immune system and cause chronic disease. Just think of how inflammation always shows up with chronic disease. The immune system is fighting *something*. One huge way that superbugs evade antibiotics and the immune system is by forming biofilm colonies. Kane Biotech is doing some really cool research into biofilms - gosh the stock is down to 7 cents but I'm in for the long haul.
Its obvious that this article was written to discourage people from visiting and doing business with India in a pathetic attempt to get our jobs back into the US.