#germ-theory — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #germ-theory, aggregated by home.social.
-
The Secretary Of Health & Human Services Doesn’t Believe In The Foundation Of Modern Medicine
-
Me: I’ll sit next to that guy instead of leaving an empty table at the cafe, I have to stop thinking everyone has some contagious disease and is out anyway.
A minute later: *hears sniffles*
Three minutes later: *huge coughing fit*
Three and a half minutes later: *I get up and move to a different part of the cafe*
Why don’t you fucking stay home if you’re that ill? Seriously? You don’t need that latte and I don’t need your germs. Ffs!
-
“In the natural world, anything that is colored so brightly must be some kind of serious evolutionary badass”*…
There are an estimated 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive on earth today; they’ve been around for over 350 million years and ihabit nearly every environment, from deserts to snowy mountains. Their total biomass is massive, estimated to be around 70 times more than all humans combined. Often considered pests, only about 3% of species are harmful to humans; the vast majority are crucial for pollination, decomposition, and as food sources for other animals. (More insect data.)
“Loren” (and here) is a microbiologist fascinated by bugs– and ready to share…
I am incredibly fond of insects. They’re small and usually pretty fast, so it’s rewarding to successfully capture a photo of one. from 2017 to 2023, I was fairly consistent about chasing down bugs and sharing the photos on instagram, but sticking them all in a square grid can only do so much for me (or you). Here, I want to have a little more fun with my photos, and share other bug-related things that I like. There’s a lot! I am not an entomologist, merely a bug fan, so this page in its current state skews more towards the entertaining than the informative, but who knows what it may turn into. Right now there’s an entomology textbook sitting on my coffee table, and plenty of time to read it while the bugs overwinter…
Browse and learn: “The Bug Zone,” via Matt Muir (@mattmuir.bsky.social) and his always-illuminating Web Curios (@curiobot.bsky.social).
* Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
###
As we creep and crawl, we might spare a thought for a man concerned with “bugs” of a different sort, Joseph Lister (1st Baron Lister, OM, PC, FRS, FRCSE, FRCPGlas, FRCS); he died on this date in 1912. A surgeon, medical scientist, and experimental pathologist, he was a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventive healthcare. Just as John Hunter revolutionised the science of surgery, Lister’s revolutionized the craft of surgery.
Lister researched the role of inflammation and tissue perfusion in the healing of wounds, and advanced diagnostic science by analysing specimens using microscopes. But his biggest contributions were a function of his application of Louis Pasteur‘s then-novel germ theory. Lister introduced carbolic acid (modern-day phenol) as a steriliser for surgical instruments, patients’ skins, sutures, surgeons’ hands, and wards, promoting the principle of antiseptics. And he devised strategies to increase the chances of survival after surgery by reducing post-operative infections (e.g., segragating post-op patients from pre-op patients who had germ-riddled wounds).
#Antiseptic #BugZone #bugs #culture #entomology #germTheory #germs #history #insects #JosephLister #medicine #publicHealth #Science #surgery -
This is mind boggling:
Death is the policy
"Under RFK Jr., ‘Make America Healthy Again’ means junk science like ‘survival of the fittest.’"
"In one of his own published books, Kennedy indicates that he does not believe in germ theory, instead subscribing to a version of the abandoned 19th century concept that the “miasma” is the source of disease."
#Antivax #Medicine #FakeScience #RFKJr #Vaccines #CDC #MMR #HHS #Miasma #GermTheory #BrainWorm #PublicSafety #Ignorance
https://www.theverge.com/health/661362/rfk-jr-measles-autism
-
The Murikan RFK is retarded, a looney tunes, a coconut. Why is everything so dumb?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/rfk-jr-is-dismantling-public-health-a-fringe-theory-may-explain-why/ar-AA1LXGoZ
cc:
@jeffcliff
#germtheory
#miasma
#rfk
#vaccines -
What illness and death were like before germ theory.
RFK, Jr. touts nutrition and alternate therapies, but this nineteenth-century family tried everything available to save their daughter, putting her through dangerous and painful treatments. What they needed were antibiotics.
"RFK Jr. calls vaccines and antibiotics “patented poisons,” but these are the cures for which Celestia and countless others prayed."
https://nursingclio.org/2025/07/21/dying-before-germ-theory/
-
Some people I know were aware that #GermTheory deniers were on the rise. We saw them. We tried to warn.
But the scrappy #scicomm folks didn't have any pull.
So here we are. Consequences.
"Sam and Mark Bailey deny germ theory"
https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360735211/baileys-and-their-crusade-against-modern-medicine
-
#RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of #health science: #GermTheory
In his 2021 book vilifying Anthony Fauci, #RFKJr lays out support for an alternate theory.
It's important to note here that our understanding of #Kennedy's disbelief in #germ theory isn't based on speculation or deduction; it's based on Kennedy's own words. He wrote an entire section on it in his 2021 book vilifying Fauci. The section is titled "Miasma vs. Germ Theory," in the chapter "The White Man's Burden."
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-stance-is-rooted-in-a-disbelief-in-germ-theory/ -
"Swimming in Rock Creek has been banned since 1971 due to pollution from runoff and numerous sewer outfalls. While there are ongoing efforts to clean up the waterways, it is not currently safe. ...
This past Mother’s Day, Kennedy’s belief that germs are overrated was on full display as the head of our country’s public health apparatus promoted swimming in shit."
~ Walter Einenkel
-
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, posted photos on Sunday of himself and his grandchildren swimming in a contaminated Washington creek where swimming is not allowed because it is used for sewer runoff.”
~ Chris Cameron
And MAGA is loving this, since: Rugged! Self-reliance! Immune systems! This is performative politics of cruel social Darwinism, suggesting that those who fall sick are weak and deserve their fate.
#RFKJr #healthcare #GermTheory
/1https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/us/politics/rfk-jr-rock-creek-bacteria.html
-
“RFK Jr. Took His Grandkids for a Dip in a Sewage-Contaminated Creek For Mother’s Day”
Lets just give this guy a #DarwinAward and call it a day.
-
Germ theory denialism is a fringe conspiracy theory and allowing someone who subscribes to this idea to run a modern healthcare organization of any size is unconscionable and yet, here we are. The Republicans have made RFK Jr., a germ theory denialist (and antivaxxer!), the leader of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services.
This is like putting a flat earther in charge of NASA! For all I know they've done that already.
-
"While underlying medical conditions certainly affect people’s health, Mole notes that 'the evidence against terrain theory is obvious and all around us.' But if you think germs are less important than overall health, things like the pasteurization of milk to kill E. coli, salmonella, and Listeria bacteria—which Kennedy opposes—are unnecessary."
-
"This would explain Kennedy’s assertion—refuted by doctors—that the children who died of measles were malnourished. As medical blogger Kristen Panthagani, MD/PhD, explains: Kennedy’s way of thinking is 'the belief that infections don't pose a risk to healthy people who have optimized their immune system.'”
-
"While Kennedy appears to believe germs exist, he also claims to believe in the older theory of disease called 'miasma theory,' although as [Beth] Mole points out, he misunderstands that theory—the idea that diseases are caused by poisonous vapors—and really appears to believe in another old idea: 'terrain theory.' Terrain theory maintains that diseases are signs that the internal 'terrain' of the body is out of whack."
-
"In 2025, the top health official in the United States, a man without degrees in either medicine or public health, appears to be rejecting germ theory and reshaping the nation’s medical system around his own dedication to a theory that was outdated well over a century ago."
~ Heather Cox Richardson
-
In a shocking twist worthy of a flat-earth convention, RFK Jr. has bravely decided that the cornerstone of modern health science – germ theory – is merely a figment of our collective imagination. 🦠🚫 Clearly, he's got a PhD in #Ignorance, specializing in "Things Scientists Figured Out Centuries Ago." 🧐🎓
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-stance-is-rooted-in-a-disbelief-in-germ-theory/ #RFKJr #GermTheory #FlatEarth #HealthScience #HackerNews #ngated -
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory
#HackerNews #RFKJr #germtheory #healthscience #antivaccine #misinformation
-
Folks, I give you a buffoon with ZERO medical education... the US Secretary of Health & Human Services.
☑️ RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-stance-is-rooted-in-a-disbelief-in-germ-theory/
#rfkjr #germtheory #trump -
CW: anti-science bullshit that harms public health
The latest from the anti-vax crowd is just flat-out denying germ theory altogether. Instead they have something they call "terrain theory", which essentially says that viruses don't exist at all, things like rabies and Ebola are hoaxes, and if you have a fatal disease, you just need to eat raw food.
I swear, these fuckers are *trying* to kill us all.😠
https://boingboing.net/2024/11/10/germ-theory-denial-is-dangerous-and-on-the-rise.html
#GermTheory #TerrainTheory #science #PublicHealth #antivax #AntiScience
-
How Regulation Came to Be: Pasteurization (17th in series)
I’m re-pubishing this series with permission of the author. Could have made a good book.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/3/25/1076932/-How-regulation-came-to-be-Pasteurization
#HowRegulationCameToBe #Regulation #History #Pateurization #FoodSafety #LouisPasteur #Science #GermTheory #Winemaking #Sanitation #Tuberculosis #Cholera #Chicago #Milk #DairyFarms #USPublicHealthService
