by Mike Stone

I am starting a series of posts under the heading ViroLIEgy 101 in order to provide relatively short (by my standards) and concise explanations of key concepts regarding both germ "theory" and virology. I'm providing an overview on topics that are essential to the conversation that people may be confused with and have difficulty understanding, or areas that seem to be controversial when engaging in discussions with those defending the germ "theory" of disease.

In this inaugural edition of ViroLIEgy 101, I am focusing on Koch's Postulates as they remain a sticking point for many. These criteria, developed and popularized by German bacteriologist Robert Koch during the late 1800s, are largely considered necessary to satisfy in order to prove that any microbe can cause disease. However, depending on who is asked or what source one turns to, there are ways in which those defending the germ "theory" have attempted to bypass these postulates using various excuses, such as claiming that the postulates are old and outdated, or that they refer only to bacteria rather than "viruses." Let's take a closer look at these postulates in order to see why they are just as relevant and essential today as they were when Robert Koch originally proposed them.