Almost everyone in the world knows about germ theory. And almost everyone in the world forgets that it still remains a theory.
Developed by the famous nineteenth-century French chemist Louis Pasteur, germ theory maintains that invisible living microorganisms found in the atmosphere, soil and water are the fundamental cause of all disease.
These microorganisms, in the form of bacteria, viruses and other infectious agents, infiltrate what Pasteur declared to be the “sterile environment” of the human body, proliferating and upsetting the internal environment, causing disease.
It is said that Pasteur never shook anyone's hand lest he become infected with germs. Today, people around the world are terrified of these invisible disease agents. There's even a word for it: mysophobia.
In 2020—as a direct result of the germ theory—the global market for antibacterial products was valued at approximately $27 billion, and it's forecast to grow more than 2.3 percent per year throughout the decade. Additionally, the vast majority of people around the world regard it as standard of care to be vaccinated against infectious diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, cholera and diphtheria.
Of course, since the Covid pandemic, vaccinations have become viewed as the one and only defense against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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