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home:pathogenesis:kochs_postulates [09.04.2011] – [Rethinking Koch] paulalberthome:pathogenesis:kochs_postulates [08.28.2012] – [Rethinking Koch] paulalbert
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 Another problem with the postulates - and perhaps its most significant liability - is that the rules fail to successfully account for [[home:pathogenesis:horizontal_gene|horizontal gene transfer]]. Horizontal gene transfer is a process in which organisms swap genetic material, a common biological process which blurs the distinction between one organism and the next. Recall that Koch postulated that one pathogen caused one disease. Another problem with the postulates - and perhaps its most significant liability - is that the rules fail to successfully account for [[home:pathogenesis:horizontal_gene|horizontal gene transfer]]. Horizontal gene transfer is a process in which organisms swap genetic material, a common biological process which blurs the distinction between one organism and the next. Recall that Koch postulated that one pathogen caused one disease.
 ===== Rethinking Koch ===== ===== Rethinking Koch =====
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 +<blockquote>Life has changed since the 1880s when Robert Koch elucidated his guidelines, later to be called Koch’s postulates, for determining whether a microorganism is the cause of a disease. The horse-drawn buggy bumping over dirt roads has been replaced by the computer-assisted automobile speeding along paved highways. It would be absurd to expect modern cars to abide by traffic rules and standards designed for horse-drawn carriages. Yet, many continue to hold Koch’s postulates as the unchanging standard for determining causation in medicine, despite a revolution in biotechnology and leaps in medical knowledge. Recent findings based on the application of new technologies, especially in the fields of microbiology and infectious disease, demand a renewed dialogue on proof of causation and revised guidelines for defining a causal relationship between a microbe and a disease.
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 +//**David N. Fredricks and David A. Relman**//(({{pubmed>long:8665474}}))
 +</blockquote>
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 Koch's contributions were substantial, but his ideas preceded any understanding of genetics or of horizontal gene transfer and made no provision for organisms that were not genetically distinct.   Koch's contributions were substantial, but his ideas preceded any understanding of genetics or of horizontal gene transfer and made no provision for organisms that were not genetically distinct.  
  
 The blind adherence to Koch's postulates precludes a more nuanced understanding of disease: it is in fact a group of genetically indistinct organisms, a [[home:pathogenesis:microbiota|metagenomic microbiota]], which may cause and drive chronic disease.  The blind adherence to Koch's postulates precludes a more nuanced understanding of disease: it is in fact a group of genetically indistinct organisms, a [[home:pathogenesis:microbiota|metagenomic microbiota]], which may cause and drive chronic disease. 
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 +In a 2005 //Lancet// paper, Brogden //et al.// point to the existence of dozens of polymicrobial diseases, caused by combinations of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.(({{pubmed>long:15652608}})) In these infections, the presence of one micro-organism generates a niche for other pathogenic micro-organisms to colonise, one micro-organism predisposes the host to colonisation by other micro-organisms, or two or more non-pathogenic micro-organisms together cause disease. This topic is discussed further in the article [[home:pathogenesis:successive_infection|Successive infection and variability in disease]].
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 {{tag> Pathogenesis Study_Design}} {{tag> Pathogenesis Study_Design}}
 ===== Notes and comments ===== ===== Notes and comments =====
-TECHEDIT+
   * Legacy content   * Legacy content
     * http://bacteriality.com/2007/08/28/horizontal-gene-transfer/     * http://bacteriality.com/2007/08/28/horizontal-gene-transfer/
home/pathogenesis/kochs_postulates.txt · Last modified: 09.14.2022 by 127.0.0.1
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