∞ generated and posted on 2022.01.23 ∞
Idea that certain illnesses may be caused by microorganisms.
| The Germ Theory of Disease literally is the idea that germs, that is, microorganisms, are the cause of many diseases, which collectively we describe as infectious diseases. |
Though once not appreciated, today this idea is universally accepted. See also infectious disease.
From "When will genomics cure cancer?" :
…the germ theory of disease. There was a sweep of progress from the fundamental understanding around 1870 that microbes caused infectious diseases, to the widespread availability after World War II of cheap penicillin that saved millions of lives. That took about 75 years. …halfway through that cycle—something like the situation around 1915, when early, highly imperfect antibiotics were first introduced.