Regarding Koch Postulates:
"The classical tests of whether or not a microorganism is the cause of infectious disease are known as Koch's postulates. They state: 1) the microorganism must be found in all cases of the disease; 2) it must be isolated from the host and grown in pure culture; 3) it must reproduce the original disease when introduced into a susceptible host; and 4) it must be found present in the experimental host so infected."
Koch himself stated that 1, 2, and 3 did not always apply:
"Koch abandoned the universalist requirement of the first postulate altogether when he discovered asymptomatic carriers of cholera[1] and, later, of typhoid fever. Asymptomatic or subclinical infection carriers are now known to be a common feature of many infectious diseases, especially viruses such as polio, herpes simplex, HIV and hepatitis C. As a specific example, all doctors and virologists agree that polio virus causes paralysis in just a few infected subjects, and the success of the polio vaccine in preventing disease supports the conviction that the polio virus is the causative agent.
The third postulate specifies "should", not "must", because as Koch himself proved in regard to both tuberculosis and cholera,[2] not all organisms exposed to an infectious agent will acquire the infection. Non infection may be due to: chance or to the host's immune system successfully repulsing the invading pathogen; acquired immunity, as from previous exposure or vaccination; or genetic immunity, as with the resistance to malaria conferred by possessing at least one sickle cell allele.
The second postulate may also be suspended for certain microorganisms which we cannot (at the present time) grow in pure culture, such as some viruses. In summary, a body of evidence that satisfies Koch's postulates is sufficient but not necessary to establish causation."
As far as HIV fulfilling Koch postulates:
pathmicro.med.sc.edu
"Even Luc Montagnier, the discoverer of HIV, has stated repeatedly that the virus cannot cause AIDS without contributing causes."
No, he does believe HIV is a causative factor, but he also has a theory that mycoplasmas can exacerbate the infection:
journals.lww.com |
