"But applied to widespread infectious outbreaks, the MAHA prescription is still deeply flawed. Being generally healthy doesn’t guarantee survival, or even better outcomes against infectious diseases—especially when an entire population encounters a pathogen against which it has no immunity."
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/11/nih-pandemic-miasma/684979/
#PublicHealth #HHS #NIH #preparedness #GermTheory #miasma #MAHA #vaccines #immunizations #diet #nutrition #food #exercise #prevention
From “bad air” 🌫️ to microbes 🦠 — the 19th century’s germ theory of disease redefined medicine and public health.
Before germ theory, doctors didn’t believe in microscopic killers.
Then a few brave scientists changed everything.
How 19th-century medicine went from incense to infection control 🦠
#Brewminate #HistoryOfMedicine #GermTheory #MedicalEthics #TodayInHistory
What illness and death were like before germ theory.
RFK, Jr. touts nutrition and alternate therapies, but this nineteenth-century family tried everything available to save their daughter, putting her through dangerous and painful treatments. What they needed were antibiotics.
"RFK Jr. calls vaccines and antibiotics “patented poisons,” but these are the cures for which Celestia and countless others prayed."
https://nursingclio.org/2025/07/21/dying-before-germ-theory/
Some people I know were aware that #GermTheory deniers were on the rise. We saw them. We tried to warn.
But the scrappy #scicomm folks didn't have any pull.
So here we are. Consequences.
"Sam and Mark Bailey deny germ theory"
https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360735211/baileys-and-their-crusade-against-modern-medicine
“We have a #healthsecretary who isn’t just #anti-vaccine — he reportedly doesn’t accept the #germtheory of #disease, preferring the “ #miasmatheory” that was discredited by #LouisPasteur in the 19th century.” open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Why Big Tech Turned Against De...
#RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of #health science: #GermTheory
In his 2021 book vilifying Anthony Fauci, #RFKJr lays out support for an alternate theory.
It's important to note here that our understanding of #Kennedy's disbelief in #germ theory isn't based on speculation or deduction; it's based on Kennedy's own words. He wrote an entire section on it in his 2021 book vilifying Fauci. The section is titled "Miasma vs. Germ Theory," in the chapter "The White Man's Burden."
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-stance-is-rooted-in-a-disbelief-in-germ-theory/
Germ-Theory Skeptic Goes Swimming in Poop Water, Celsius Founder Gets 12 Years - HTTAY 124 Matt
We have a health secretary running a huge part of the federal government who literally does not believe in #GermTheory of disease. Here he is breaking federal law by bathing, with grandchildren, in a sewage-contaminated creek.
#RFKjr is a dangerous idiot.
"Swimming in Rock Creek has been banned since 1971 due to pollution from runoff and numerous sewer outfalls. While there are ongoing efforts to clean up the waterways, it is not currently safe. ...
This past Mother’s Day, Kennedy’s belief that germs are overrated was on full display as the head of our country’s public health apparatus promoted swimming in shit."
~ Walter Einenkel
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, posted photos on Sunday of himself and his grandchildren swimming in a contaminated Washington creek where swimming is not allowed because it is used for sewer runoff.”
~ Chris Cameron
And MAGA is loving this, since: Rugged! Self-reliance! Immune systems! This is performative politics of cruel social Darwinism, suggesting that those who fall sick are weak and deserve their fate.
#RFKJr #healthcare #GermTheory
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/us/politics/rfk-jr-rock-creek-bacteria.html
“RFK Jr. Took His Grandkids for a Dip in a Sewage-Contaminated Creek For Mother’s Day”
Lets just give this guy a #DarwinAward and call it a day.
Germ theory denialism is a fringe conspiracy theory and allowing someone who subscribes to this idea to run a modern healthcare organization of any size is unconscionable and yet, here we are. The Republicans have made RFK Jr., a germ theory denialist (and antivaxxer!), the leader of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services.
This is like putting a flat earther in charge of NASA! For all I know they've done that already.
Out of Trump's entire cast of rejected supervillains from a movie about HYDRA, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is the most obviously delusional bullshitter; and yet owing to both his position, and the absolutely unhinged shit he processes to believe about health and medicine, he might legitimately be the most dangerous reactionary in the whole fascist cabinet. We've already talked about Kennedy's anti-science, anti-vax conspiracy beliefs, and his ablest, eugenicist attacks on autistic people; as a recent Ars Technical article drawn from RFK Jr's own book points out however, Kennedy is also a self-admitted germ theory denialist. No, really; this guy is on the wrong side of a biology debate settled in the 19th Century.
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory
"The trouble is that now that Kennedy is the country's top health official, his warped ideas are contributing to the rise of a dystopian reality. Federal health agencies are spiraling into chaos, and critical public health services for Americans have been brutally slashed, dismantled, or knee-capped—from infectious disease responses, the lead poisoning team, and Meals on Wheels to maternal health programs and anti-smoking initiatives, just to name a few. The health of the nation is at stake; the struggle to understand what goes on in Kennedy's head is vital.
While we may never have definitive answers on his cognitive situation, one thing is plain: Kennedy's thoughts and actions make a lot more sense when you realize he doesn't believe in a foundational scientific principle: germ theory."
Okay so this isn't the most important thing to take from this article, but I'd just like to start with the fact that Kennedy is such a hack that he keeps calling his beliefs about health and disease "miasma theory" (an even older, and more discredited idea about "vapors" causing disease) but the beliefs he's describing actually align with (the still discredited) "terrain theory." This fraud-ass woo-peddling not even a doctor freak is busting out old-timey medical woo from the 1800's and he can't even be arsed to get the name of the hokum he's peddling right? At some point it really doesn't matter if Kennedy is a true believer in objectively wrong pseudo-science or an assclown grifter, but based on him using the term "miasma theory" to describe a completely different bullshit idea, I'm leaning towards assclown grifter.
Given that Kennedy has made himself a sort of anti-Big Pharma prophet in the larger fascist right by deflecting (justified) American anger towards the for-profit pharmaceutical industry, into unhelpful conspiracy channels and the arms of "wellness gurus" who're closely aligned with right wing politics, it doesn't really matter what RFK Jr believes in his heart. His objectives however, couldn't be any clearer if you read why he rejects germ theory.
"Kennedy contrasts his erroneous take on miasma theory with germ theory, which he derides as a tool of the pharmaceutical industry and pushy scientists to justify selling modern medicines. The abandonment of miasma theory, Kennedy bemoans, realigned health and medical institutions to "the pharmaceutical paradigm that emphasized targeting particular germs with specific drugs rather than fortifying the immune system through healthy living, clean water, and good nutrition."
According to Kennedy, germ theory gained popularity, not because of the undisputed evidence supporting it, but by "mimicking the traditional explanation for disease—demon possession—giving it a leg up over miasma."
To this day, Kennedy writes, a "$1 trillion pharmaceutical industry pushing patented pills, powders, pricks, potions, and poisons, and the powerful professions of virology and vaccinology led by 'Little Napoleon' himself, Anthony Fauci, fortify the century-old predominance of germ theory."
In all, the chapter provides a clear explanation of why Kennedy relentlessly attacks evidence-based medicines; vilifies the pharmaceutical industry; suggests HIV doesn't cause AIDS and antidepressants are behind mass shootings; believes that vaccines are harmful, not protective; claims 5G wireless networks cause cancer; suggests chemicals in water are changing children's gender identities; and is quick to promote supplements to prevent and treat diseases, such as recently recommending vitamin A for measles and falsely claiming children who die from the viral infection are malnourished."
Folks, have I mentioned that this man is literally not a doctor, or scientist, but he's in charge of the entire health apparatus of the American government yet? Kennedy's ability to blur the line between crank, reactionary grifter, and eugenicist ideologue puts him on par with your average crypto-fascist Youtuber; the problem is that we're locked in with him, forced to watch his channel because he's running HHS.
#Fascism #RFKJr #HHS #GermTheory #ConspiracyTheories #Fraud #PublicHealth
"While underlying medical conditions certainly affect people’s health, Mole notes that 'the evidence against terrain theory is obvious and all around us.' But if you think germs are less important than overall health, things like the pasteurization of milk to kill E. coli, salmonella, and Listeria bacteria—which Kennedy opposes—are unnecessary."
"This would explain Kennedy’s assertion—refuted by doctors—that the children who died of measles were malnourished. As medical blogger Kristen Panthagani, MD/PhD, explains: Kennedy’s way of thinking is 'the belief that infections don't pose a risk to healthy people who have optimized their immune system.'”
"While Kennedy appears to believe germs exist, he also claims to believe in the older theory of disease called 'miasma theory,' although as [Beth] Mole points out, he misunderstands that theory—the idea that diseases are caused by poisonous vapors—and really appears to believe in another old idea: 'terrain theory.' Terrain theory maintains that diseases are signs that the internal 'terrain' of the body is out of whack."
"In 2025, the top health official in the United States, a man without degrees in either medicine or public health, appears to be rejecting germ theory and reshaping the nation’s medical system around his own dedication to a theory that was outdated well over a century ago."
~ Heather Cox Richardson
Germ theory is just a theory after all, like gravity or evolution.
😑
