From: CurtAdams@aol.com
Date: Tue Mar 12 2002 - 10:58:11 MST
In a message dated 3/12/02 7:53:05, pfallon@ptd.net writes:
>I agree that Koch's Postulates are a very good logical method, but I didn't
>say they were "rules of logic". I said they were the application of logic
>to
>the problem of determining whether a disease is caused by an infectious
>agent or not.
Of course, the originator of Koch's postulates actually knew better than
to insist they were always applied. He couldn't purify mycobacterium
tuberculosis to anything like current standards. He couldn't infect people
with it either. Nonetheless, he correctly realized he had found the
causative agent of tuberculosis, albeit with far less evidence than we
have for HIV -> AIDS.
Koch would be horrified at the claim that because we can only purify
HIV to moderate purity means it doesn't cause AIDS. Talk about a
nonsequitur.
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