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Islam in Guyana

Islam is the third largest religion in Guyana, after Christianity and Hinduism, respectively. According to the 2012 census, 7% of the country’s population is Muslim. However, a Pew Research survey from 2010 estimates that 6.4% of the country is Muslim. Islam was first introduced to Guyana via enslaved people from West Africa, but was suppressed on plantations until Muslims from British India were brought to the country as indentured labour. The current President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali is the first Muslim president.

The Islamic holidays of Eid al-Adha and Mawlid are national holidays in Guyana and Hosay (Ashura), Eid al-Fitr, Shab-e-Barat, Chaand Raat, Islamic New Year, and the month of Ramadan are also widely celebrated.

History
As with most South American countries, Islam spread to Guyana through the transatlantic slave trade. Mandingo and Fulani Muslims were enslaved and brought from West Africa to work on Guyana's sugar plantations. However, the oppressive conditions of slavery in the colony led the practice of Islam to essentially disappear until 1838 when 240,000 South Asians were brought from modern-day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Records from the time show that while overwhelming majority of these servants were Hindu, a significant minority were Muslim.

Muslim Indo-Guyanese maintained their religious identity in spite of separation from their homeland by establishing mosques, Islamic organizations, and after World War 2, seeking international support aimed at creating "a political space for colonial Muslims". By 1890, there were 29 mosques in Guyana, and 50 by 1920. Some of the earliest organizations include Queenstown Jama Masjid (founded 1895), the Young Men's Muslim Literary Society (1926) and the United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman (1949).

After Guyana's independence from the British in 1966, Guyana established diplomatic relations with Arab countries such as Egypt, Iraq and Libya who opened embassies in the capital of Georgetown. Some Muslim youths went to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya to study Islamic theology and the Arabic language. In 1996, President Cheddi Jagan of Guyana toured Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon and appointed a Middle Eastern envoy. In the same year, Guyana officially became a permanent observer in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In 1998, Guyana became the 56th full member state of the OIC. In August 2020, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali became president of Guyana and first practising Muslim head of state in South America.

Demographics
According to the 2012 census, approximately 6.8 percent of the population is Muslim (a total of 50,572 people). Almost all of the Muslims are of Indian descent, however there are a few Afro-Guyanese converts. The Muslim population is declining due to emigration.

Geographical distribution
Essequibo Islands-West Demerara has the highest share of Muslims with nearly 12%, followed by East Berbice-Corentyne with 10% and Mahaica-Berbice with 9%.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
The first Ahmadiyya missionary to Guyana arrived in 1908. A community was established in the country in the 1960s and has several mosques across the country including Georgetown, Rosignol, New Amsterdam and Sisters Village. This reform movement, founded in India in the late nineteenth century, also has converts of the Afro-Guyanese community.

Interfaith cooperation
According to Guyanese-American professor Raymond Chickrie, Hindus and Muslims in Guyana have always had "a cordial relationship among themselves. It would seem that these two groups had come to a mutual understanding of respecting each other's space while culturally and even linguistically identifying with each other."

Among the Indo-Guyanese community, there is a tacit agreement to refrain from proselytizing between Muslims and Hindus. Guyanese Hindustani, Hindi, and Urdu is popular among Indo-Guyanese Muslims who watch films and listen to music from Bollywood. Political antagonism between Indo-Guyanese Muslims and Hindus is virtually non-existent, in contrast to India or other Indian diasporic communities such as Fiji. Intermarriage is perceived as a "tolerated deviance" rather than facing outright condemnation, as both are seen as being from the same Indian culture. However, marriage between people of the same religion and ethnicity is still preferred among Indo-Guyanese. In smaller villages, Hindus and Muslims come together to participate in each other's ceremonies.

Central Islamic Organization of Guyana
The Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) is the largest Islamic group in Guyana. They are involved in relief work and orphan sponsorships.

Guyana Islamic Trust
The Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT) is a multi-faceted, nonprofit organization which has been established since 1978. The GIT has dedicated itself to the process of bringing about intellectual, moral and spiritual improvement to individuals, families and communities in Guyana. Their goal is education, since they believe "ignorance is the root cause of the intolerance, racism, immorality and criminality that pervades our society and our world." The Guyana Islamic Trust manages its grass root work through fourteen Administrative Districts. Some of GIT's works include organizing classes, social activities, and youth programs, as well as partnering with Jamaats, and da’wah to Non-Muslims.

The National Islamic Sisters Association (NISA) is the women's arm of the GIT and focuses on women's faith-based and social needs.

Guyana United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman
The Guyana United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman (GUSIA) was founded in June 1973. It manages the Shaheed Girls’ Orphanage in Oleander Gardens and boys’ Orphanage in Kitty.

Guyana Islamic Institute
The Guyana Islamic Institute is an Islamic centre of learning established in 1986 for teaching Arabic Language, Qur'anic Sciences and Islamic Studies.

National United Halaal Authority of Guyana (NUHA)
The National United Halaal Authority of Guyana was established in 2011. This organisation is dedicated to the inspection and certification of Halal products and food establishments in Guyana.

Mosques

 * Queenstown Mosque

Notable Guyanese Muslims

 * Hamilton Green, first and only Muslim Prime Minister of Guyana, as well as the first and only Muslim head of government in the Western Hemisphere
 * Abdur Rahman Slade Hopkinson, writer
 * Nezam Hafiz, cricketer for the United States and a victim killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks
 * Assad Fudadin, cricketer for the West Indies
 * Khaleel Mohammed, scholar and professor
 * Irfaan Ali, current President of Guyana, first Muslim president
 * Shabir Ally, imam and Islamic scholar
 * Ryhaan Shah, writer

title: Islam in Guyana


text:
The Saturday Press (Minneapolis)

The Saturday Press was the name of a newspaper, established in 1927 by Jay M. Near and Howard A. Guilford, and published in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The newspaper was run by Jay Near, who was an allegedly anti-Semitic, anti-labor and anti-Communist small-time editor. Daniel B. Moskowitz describes it as having "traded in sensationalism, filling columns with a mishmash of pioneering exposes of public corruption and totally unsubstantiated calumny."

Floyd B. Olson, the future governor of Minnesota, brought a suit against Near and Guilford because their newspaper had an overly anti-Semitic tone, which Olsen claimed was a violation of the Public Nuisance Law, also known as the Minnesota Gag Law, of 1925. The scandal sheet published countless exposes until it was shut down in 1927 by the Gag Law. In 1931, the historic U.S. Supreme Court case Near v. Minnesota struck the statute as unconstitutional. Prior restraint laws have never fared well in courts since, including the case of the Pentagon Papers. The paper re-appeared from 1932 to 1936, when Jay Near died in relative obscurity.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Saturday Press (Minneapolis)


text: Category:Horizontal branch stars

title: Category:Horizontal branch stars


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James Bond uncollected short stories

In the 1950s and 1960s, Ian Fleming, creator of the fictional secret agent, James Bond, wrote a number of short stories featuring his creation that appeared in the collections For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights. Since 1997, several more short stories featuring Bond or set within the official James Bond universe have been published by authors who continued chronicling the world of Fleming's creation. The majority of these stories have, as of 2008, never been collected in book form, unlike the Fleming works. There are five exceptions: "Blast from the Past", "Midsummer Night's Doom" and "Live at Five" by Raymond Benson, "Your Deal, Mr. Bond" by Phillip and Robert King, and "Bond Strikes Camp" by Cyril Connolly which are discussed below.

Raymond Benson short stories
In the late 1990s, Raymond Benson, who at the time was the official novelist of the James Bond literary franchise, became the first author since Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, to write officially sanctioned short stories featuring the superspy.

Just before his sudden departure from writing Bond novels at the start of 2003, Benson had indicated his intention to write more short pieces and publish a short story collection along the lines of Fleming's For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights. This, however, has yet to occur.

To date these three stories remain the only pieces of James Bond literature that have never officially been published in Great Britain. Additionally, between 2001 and 2002, Benson wrote a fourth short story he planned to title "The Heart of Erzulie", but it was never published.

"Blast from the Past"
First publication: Playboy, January 1997 issue. In publication order, this follows COLD and precedes Zero Minus Ten. Benson has stated that Playboy cut a third of the story for space reasons.

The first Bond story published by Benson, "Blast from the Past" is a direct sequel to Fleming's You Only Live Twice and appears to exist outside the timeline of either Benson's or John Gardner's other Bond stories.

Bond receives a message, apparently from his son James Suzuki (Suzuki's mother is Kissy Suzuki from You Only Live Twice, now dead from ovarian cancer) asking him to come to New York City on an urgent matter. When Bond arrives, he finds his son murdered, having been poisoned with fugu. With the aid of an SIS agent, Bond learns that Irma Bunt, Ernst Stavro Blofeld's henchwoman, killed James Suzuki as revenge for Blofeld's death (again in You Only Live Twice). Bond ultimately kills Bunt, but his victory is hollow; he must live with having lost his son, and with the knowledge that he was never a real father to him.

The name of Bond's son, James Suzuki, is taken from the John Pearson faux biography, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007.

"Blast from the Past" is included in the 2008 omnibus release, The Union Trilogy, which includes three additional Benson Bond novels. This makes "Blast from the Past" the first non-Fleming short story to be published in book form.

"Midsummer Night's Doom"
First publication: Playboy, January 1999 issue. In publication order, this follows The Facts of Death and precedes High Time to Kill.

"Midsummer Night's Doom" is a special story commissioned to help celebrate Playboy's 45th anniversary. By Benson's own admission, the short story is a joke piece.

In the story, Bond is assigned to attend a party at Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California where Ministry of Defence secrets are expected to be sold to a representative of the Russian Mafia.

While there, Bond meets Hefner, who is aware of his mission and who actually provides Bond with several gadgets a la Q. Bond also has time to enjoy a quick romance with real-life Playmate Lisa Dergan, flirt with other Playmates including Victoria Zdrok, and rub elbows with the likes of actor Robert Culp and singer Mel Tormé.

Dergan has the distinction of being the first real person ever to be awarded the status of Bond Girl. (Several other Playmates are referenced by name in this story, but Dergan is clearly Bond's girl of choice on this adventure.) However, Benson stated in a letter to Playboy that Zdrok was also a Bond Girl in the story.

Some sources give this story the erroneous title "A Midsummer Night's Doom", since the title is a play on William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. "Midsummer's Night's Doom" is included in the 2010 omnibus release, Choice of Weapons, which includes three additional Benson Bond novels.

"Live at Five"
First publication: TV Guide (American edition), 13–19 November 1999. In publication order, this follows the novelization of The World is Not Enough and precedes Doubleshot.

Published the week The World Is Not Enough arrived in cinemas in America, "Live at Five" is the shortest of all James Bond stories, even shorter than Fleming's previous record-holder "007 in New York". Running only a few thousand words, if that, it is a brief episode that sees Bond, en route to a date with a female TV news reporter, recalling how he once helped a Russian figure skating champion defect in full view of TV cameras. The reporter, Janet Davies, becomes the second real person to be a Bond girl, seen daily on Chicago's local ABC station Channel 7 WLS.

"Live at Five" was finally reprinted in the 2010 omnibus release, Choice of Weapons, which includes three additional Benson Bond novels.

"The Heart of Erzulie" (unpublished)
A fourth short story, titled "The Heart of Erzulie", was written by Raymond Benson in-between Never Dream of Dying and The Man with the Red Tattoo, but it was never published because Ian Fleming Publications felt it was "too much of a Fleming pastiche." Benson, himself, acknowledges that it was little more than a time-killer in the interim between the two book projects. The story has since been published in Benson's 2015 e-book anthology 12+1--Twelve Short Thrillers and a Play with all references to James Bond removed.

Samantha Weinberg/Kate Westbrook short stories
In 2006, two additional short stories were written and published by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym "Kate Westbrook". These stories are part of The Moneypenny Diaries series, an officially licensed spin-off from the Bond novels series focusing on the character of Miss Moneypenny. In September 2020, both stories were republished as a free ebook titled The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Chapters.

"For Your Eyes Only, James"
First publication: Tatler (November 2006).

Set in September 1956, the story tells of a weekend Bond and Moneypenny share at Royale-les-Eaux.

"Moneypenny's First Date with Bond"
First publication: The Spectator, 11 November 2006.

This story, set just after Bond's assignment to the 00 Section and before the events of Casino Royale, tells of Bond and Moneypenny's first meeting.

"A Hard Man to Kill"
The original Young Bond short story "A Hard Man to Kill" written by Charlie Higson, is included in the companion book, Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier, which was released by Puffin Books on 29 October 2009. An extract from the story appears in the paperback edition of By Royal Command. It is the longest James Bond short story yet written.

"William Boyd Interviews James Bond"
First publication: The Guardian, 28 September 2013 issue.

Written to promote the recent publication of Boyd's Bond novel Solo, the story sees Boyd time-travel back to 1969 to interview James Bond.

Boyd walks through 1960s London to Bond's flat, meets his new housekeeper, Donalda, a character introduced in Solo, and then Bond himself. The two share a drink and then go out for a meal, where Boyd accidentally alludes to his time of origin. The two men part after a friendly warning from Bond to not ask too many questions about him.

The Guardian also published a Q&A by Boyd from this same fictional interview.

Unauthorised works
Several stories and one short story collection published without sanction from Glidrose/IFP warrant mention.

"Some Are Born Great"
"Some Are Born Great" was first published in the 3 September 1959 issue of Nursery World, later reprinted in the spring 1960 issue of Jonathan Cape's in-house magazine Now & Then, and then reprinted again in 2012 by Cinema Retro's Movie Classics. The credited author—J.M. Harwood—is the screenwriter Johanna Harwood, who subsequently co-wrote the first two James Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia With Love. The story (which is less than a page in length) details an intense card game with Bond facing off against an unseen opponent, only to reveal in the end that it's a game of "Snap" and this is a prepubescent Bond playing against a nanny.

"Bond Strikes Camp"
Cyril Connolly's short story "Bond Strikes Camp" first appeared in the April 1963 issue of The London Magazine. Although a parody, the story clearly mentions Bond by name and code number. An expensive, privately printed edition of 50 copies was made by the Shenval Press in 1963. Soon after, the story appeared in Connolly's miscellany collection Previous Convictions. Author, critic and Bond author Kingsley Amis compared the story unfavourably to The Harvard Lampoon spoof Bond novel Alligator by claiming that "Parodies have their laughter-value, but the laughter is partly affectionate, and the successful parodist is moved partly by wanting to write like his original by wishing he'd thought of doing so first. Mr Cyril Connolly no doubt doesn't wish this in regard to Mr Fleming; his 'Bond Strikes Camp', in which M orders Bond to dress up as a woman, ostensibly for purposes of espionage, and then tries to get him into bed, is much too far from the original, never catches the note, gets elementary details wrong. E.g. M is made to call Bond 'Bond'. This happened last in 1954 (Live and Let Die, ch. 2). Every Fleming fan knows it's either 'James' or '007'."

"Holmes Meets 007"
Donald Stanley wrote this short story - under 2000 words - first published in The San Francisco Examiner on 29 November 1964. The Beaune Press (San Francisco) subsequently published 247 copies of this seven page story in December 1967. There is no copy 222: this is instead numbered 221B. Copies 223 through to 247 are numbered I to XXV and were printed especially for the author's friends.

Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes' assistant, narrates the story. M and Bond visit Holmes and Watson at Holmes' Baker Street address. Holmes' deductive abilities impress M, who wishes Bond had the same talent. Bond questions if such intuitive talents could hold up against a SMERSH assassin. Bond confronts Holmes about the latter's drug addiction and accuses Watson of being the source of Holmes' narcotics supplier. Once Holmes admits it, Bond aims his Walther PPF [sic] at Watson and announces that Watson is an impostor, and none other than Bond's arch-enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld - the man who killed Bond's wife Tracy. Holmes throughout the meeting has been fiddling his Stradivarius - much to everyone's annoyance - and brings it crashing down, knocking Bond's gun away. Holmes plunges a needle containing morphine into M's arm, quickly rendering him unconscious. Holmes reveals that M is none other than Professor Moriarty; Bond is nothing more than a "fairly ignorant tool" who had been unaware of his boss's treachery all this time.

"Toadstool"
The Harvard Lampoon, responsible for the Bond spoof Alligator, published another "J*mes B*nd" story. "Toadstool" appeared in PL*YB*Y, the 1966 Harvard Lampoon parody of Playboy magazine.

"License to Hug"
Will Self's story License to Hug appeared in the November 1995 issue of Esquire. Bond goes to Holland to kill an IRA hitman involved in drug smuggling. This story, part thriller, part satire on modern life, also mentions Bond by name and code number. Sorrell Kerbel notes that "Self proves just as adept at skewering by mimicry the stiff upper lip style and macho substance of Ian Fleming's James Bond books as he is at pillorying the brave new world of political correctness (with its very own thought police) in which the 'Therapeutic Hug and Stroke' is the weapon of choice."

"Your Deal, Mr. Bond"
The title piece of Phillip and Robert King's 2002 collection of bridge-related short stories, Your Deal, Mr. Bond, features a James Bond who is assigned by M to defeat a villain named Saladin. Bond impersonates real-life bridge expert Zia Mahmood in order to combat Saladin at the bridge table. The short story includes bridge game charts in a similar fashion to that used by Ian Fleming in Moonraker, in which Bond similarly plays a high-stakes game of bridge against that novel's villain. The book, despite being issued by a major publisher and containing undisguised references to the Bond characters, contains no reference to Ian Fleming Publications, suggesting the use of Bond, M and Miss Moneypenny is unofficial, and rendering this story likely apocryphal. Its placement in the Bond canon, therefore, is unknown. The story contains a cultural reference to Star Trek, however, which sets it outside of Fleming's timeline. It should not be confused with the 1987 John Gardner Bond novel, No Deals, Mr. Bond.

The authors also wrote the 1996 pastiche compilation Farewell, My Dummy, which featured bridge novellas, each one parodies a different author in turn: Jeffrey Archer, Jane Austen, Raymond Chandler, Arthur Conan Doyle and Victor Mollo.

Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond (short story collection)
On 1 January 2015, the original Ian Fleming novels and short stories entered the public domain in Canada and other countries in which the length of copyright remains at the Berne Convention minimum of the life of the author plus 50 years. As a result, it is now legal in those countries for the original writings of Ian Fleming to be republished, or adapted into other media, without permission of the Fleming estate or its agent, Ian Fleming Publications (formerly known as Gildrose Publications). It is also now legal in those countries for original material based on Bond and other characters and concepts introduced in Fleming's written works (though not those elements that are unique to Eon Production's Bond movies) to be published.

In late 2015, independent Canadian publishing house ChiZine Publications released Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond, an anthology of 19 Bond short stories written by various Canadian and non-Canadian authors including Jeffrey Ford, Charles Stross, A.M. Dellamonica, James Alan Gardner, Corey Redekop, Jacqueline Baker, Richard Lee Byers, Laird Barron, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Karl Schroeder, Claude Lalumiere, Robert Wiersema, and Ian Rogers. The stories examine different stages of the character's life from childhood to old age. The book's introduction states explicitly that due to copyright issues, it is not authorized for sale outside Canada. Thus, while the stories within have been collected, they remain unpublished officially outside Canada as of 2023.

title: James Bond uncollected short stories


text: User talk:66.75.144.124

title: User talk:66.75.144.124


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Talk:Germ theory of disease

Dr Ignaz Semmelweis
20 Jan 2008

Does Doctor Ignaz Semmelweis not deserve a mention here? See his wiki entry

Yes, that was going to be my point also. Surely he deserves a mention here. I am not a medical person; perhaps someone who is would like to write it up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.13.35 (talk) 21:44, 30 March 2008 (UTC) "Semmelweis' observations went against all established scientific medical opinion of the time." I copied that from the good doctor's wiki entry because it pertains to the controversy, below, as to what constitutes a theory. His wiki entry also notes that he called his peers murderers, was confined to a mental hospital, and likely beaten to death by a guard. Thankfully, we editors are not that extreme. Pawyilee (talk) 13:37, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Who...
8 oct 2008

Who, what, when, where and why. It's very simple.It is still unknown by everyone on earth. -Unknown

Inclusion of germ theory of sexuality
I question the inclusion of the section on germ theory of sexuality. I've not read of any scientific consensus on that point - indeed the article makes a mention of that. There are better examples of evidence for germ theory than this - we should devote time and space to them and relegate this section to a separate article or delete it entirely. The article mentions ulcers, yet spends relatively few words while this section is greatly overrepresented for the amount of backing it receives from the scientific community.@unknown@

Speculation
What's this for? I never heard this theory called "speculation" before:
 * The germ theory of disease, also called the pathogenic theory of disease, is speculation that instead of genetics being the proximal cause of many diseases that the environment plays a significant factor in the form of pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses.

Isn't it a scientific fact that germs can cause disease? I mean, if you drink water containing too much of a certain bacteria E. coli, don't you usually get sick?

Aren't there thousands of diseases which are known to medical science as being caused by bacteria or viruses? They check your blood for traces of these germs (or antibodies your body generates to fight them) when diagnosing the disease. I thought this was common knowledge. Uncle Ed 14:37, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Germ Theory isn't proven. That's why it has "theory" in it. The truth is, that even though we can speculate and observe and make educated guesses, we really haven't ever actually seen a germ cause a disease. Certainly there is cause to believe this theory and I certainly wouldn't want a doctor who completely threw it out the window. But you should not really take offense that it is called speculation. That's what it is. There's nothing wrong with that. The thing that makes science so revolutionary is that a good scientist (and I'll admit, there are plenty of bad scientists) is always the first to admit that he's just speculating. It's the best guess we have at the time. What else can you ask for? - Kuzain 05:32, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

 * That is rubbish. We have. See Robert Koch - Koch's postulates have been fullfilled for many diseases, including Helicobacter Pylori. Midgley 05:05, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Hey hey. Watch out on this one. You have to be careful with use of theory. A theory must be empirically proven (and all the evidence is leading to this with Germ Theory), but a hypothesis would be more accurate for Kuzain's point - something that has not been proven. See articles such as Evolution (but beware of the trolls) and Theory for further discussion on the subject. In the mean time, I am sure that theory is perfectly accurate in its usual semantic sense in this article. Ck l o stsw o rd|queta! 19:17, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

This is a debate on terminology primarily, and is largely couched in a question of how scientific method actually works. We cannot necessarily prove theories, but we can disprove explanations by showing predictions made by the theory that don't pan out. For this reason, scientific progress is based on observing a phenomenon, coming up with all possible explanations, and trying to disprove them till you have the one that seems to fit the best. Unless you can actually observe a process happening, the mechanism of that process remains theoretical. Thus ideas such as gravity remain a theory- we can observe massive bodies moving closer together and take that as our observation, but we can't observe the forces that make that happen. Our explanations for how this happnes are quite effective, but unless we observe actual gravitons, we can't consider the theory proved. For this reason, most scientific explanations must referred to as "theories." They are not proven, but all other explanations for the phenomenon have been disproven, making the theory as close to proven as possible. Calling it a theory recognizes that we could observe something later that changes our explanation. Many scientific theories seem to be so accurate that they end up being referred to as laws, but rigorously should be referred to as theories. Germ theory is one of these- few would debate that germs cause disease, but failing to recognize that it is a theory is a lazy use of scientific terms that twists the truth regarding the status of the explanation. A good basic on text on this is Stephen Jay Gould's article, "What is Science." I believe that article is in "Ever Since Darwin."

Fresh start
If nobody else fixes this, I'm going to blank the page and give it a fresh start. The germ theory of disease is not a "speculation". It is accepted medical fact. It applies to countless numbers of contagious diseases, notably typhoid fever (remember Typhoid Mary?); malaria (transmitted by mosquitoes in the tropics); several venereal diseases; tuberculosis, and a whole bunch of diseases that people get quarantined for. Uncle Ed 17:00, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Hi! Thanks for pushing for action on this. I'd agree this article is pretty weak. Personally I'd avoid blanking and push things forward through a series of edits, but I think the outcome would be the same. Would it be sufficient to remove everything except the history section and add a new intro? After further thought, the intro was too ugly to leave. I have replaced it with something hopefully uncontroversial. Ed, feel free to edit or replace as inspiration takes you. --William Pietri 16:27, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

 * "Speculation" connotes the idea that the theory is unsupported by evidence, so in that sense the word choice may be a little harsh. Essentially, however, a theory cannot be proven. Right now there's vast evidence supporting germ theory much like there's vast evidence supporting gravity, but that doesn't mean that later some other evidence won't disprove it. So in that sense, "speculation" confers the idea that germ theory doesn't have to be true, even if it currently appears to be the most logical explanation for the spread of disease.

 * I responded above, but I'll add to this as well. "Speculation" has certain connotations within our society, it's true but those connotations are often incorrect.  Germ Theory is speculation.  It is not fact and no scientist could say it was and still call himself a scientist. - Kuzain 05:33, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

'Disputed' tag
Maybe I'm missing something but why is this article tagged as disputed? There does not seem to be much to indicate in the main article or on this talk page. This is a pretty important topic and I'd like to see it fleshed out more and the dispute tag removed, but could someone indicate why it is there? Maybe someone who opposes something thats written now? Thanks -Sajendra 23:56, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

I would have to agree. If someone wants to argue about the sexuality bit, I might see- except it is simply stating that this is something which has been proposed to be explained by germ theory. Whether one agrees with it or not is not the point- the point is rather that it is a theory that people have consitered. Of course, I've never actually heard of this theory, and would be curious to see evidence of it as a genuine theory, and not someone's personal thoughts. Even the wikipedia article linked calls it a "speculative hypothesis." So far as I am concerned, a speculative hypothesis is NOT a theory. If it is a theory, I don't see a problem with mentioning it. If it is only speculative, I don't see why it ought to be mentioned in this article. -Broklynite 19:28, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I went ahead and removed the disputed tag since nobody actually seems to be disputing. I have a feeling perhaps they disagree with the sexuality bit, which I do find sketchy, but it does not seem that anyone disputes the germ theory of disease. -Sajendra 08:04, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Refined
"List of pathogenic / microorganism theories:
 * Peptic ulcers / highly suspected pathogenic cause: Helicobacter pylori
 * Cervical cancer / highly suspected pathogenic cause: Human papilloma virus
 * Schizophrenia / unknown, see pathogenic theory of schizophrenia

Physicist Gregory Cochran has advocated a number of pathogenic theories of disease including one for homosexuality, concluding that this is a "feasible hypothesis"; however, he does not assert that there is sufficient evidence to show that it is factually correct. As of 2005, no experiments or studies have yet been attempted. At present, it is a speculative hypothesis.

Need to mention: "Whatever Rossignol's challenge was, if we hear something about it we can then mention it - "need to mention" is talk page if ever anything was.
 * Rossignol's challenge to Pasteur

For the rest, the germ theory of disease is not a list of diseases with the germs that cause them, nor a list of diseases for which a germ is not known nor infection demonstrated. (as an aside: if there is an infectious agent in Schizophrenia it is more likely to be a meme complex than a viral or bacterial informational vector, I think)

As for physicists speculating on a hypothesis, leave it out... when an experiment is run lets look at it. If those thoughts belong anywhere in WP, it is as the smallest of footnotes in teh articles on those diseases, conditions and habits. The germ theory is not a big thing, it needs a short article, free of wild speculation WP:NOR about other things. Midgley 18:04, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Article needs
References, and I think still a little tightening up. Midgley 15:29, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice links that man. Midgley 20:36, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

History of science?
Should not this article have this "{ {histOfScience} }" ? --Extremophile 14:41, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It's not liked from there, but it is linked from History of biology, so I added that. -- Beland (talk) 20:19, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

Redi and some other troubles
This abiogenesis area is a bit troublesome. Although people like Pasteur did defend the germ theory of diesease, they also defended things that today are commonly put under the label of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, such as speculations on the origins of parasitic worms. Pasteur himself believed that parasitic worms were not a species of its own, but rather something formed from a person´s tissue, like a cancer that develops into an autonomous organism. That was called heterogenesis, commonly mistaken by abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, and despite of not being exactly so, it is still not germ theory of disease. Redi himself also did not discarded heterogenesis, even though he thought that maggots in meat came from eggs laid there, he did not applied the same logic with gall insects, which he thought that were really produced by the plant. Other possibility, since these things are commonly labeled as abiogenesis despite of their actual definitions, was that Pasteur defended xenogenesis of parasitic worms, which I do not really know of, but then that would be the "origin" by a parasitic by infection.

Additionally, I think that Redi being mentioned after Pasteur, introducing the paragraph with "talian physician Francesco Redi provided further proof against..." suggests that it occurred after Pasteur, since otherwise the article follows the history chronologically. I suggest to label it asking for review and sources...--Extremophile 14:05, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Varro, etc.
I think that the Varro quote ("there are bred certain minute creatures") is very weak as a reference to spontaneous generation. It reads better as an early germ hypothesis. And I'm adding a criticism section.Ethan Mitchell 23:09, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Alternative medicinal approaches
I'm interested in collecting alternative approaches to medical treatment. Obviously, germ theory is indisputable science. Basically, I refer to vitalism and the approach that disease be cured through the body's immune system defences being enhanced rather than through avoiding them or through using drugs. I think germ theory is a more important aspect of treatment (since vitalism is unscientific in assuming the body somehow has an inherant ability to fight every single form of disease and that health is somehow a default state), but that a vitalistic APPROACH holds promise as complementary view in promoting immune system enhancement. The human immune system risks not evolving to keep up with germs since natural selection is weakened by medicine. Things like vaccines I would actually hold to be vitalistic. While they are drugs, the drugs are not killing the organisms directly, but rather enhancing the body's natural ability to recognize (so they can kill) the organisms. Other approaches like nutrition and exercise are similarly vitalistic preventative measures. Tyciol 18:14, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
 * That doesn't really have anything to do with writing this encyclopedia article. -- Beland (talk) 20:15, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

Why was this blanked?
I have seen better pages, I have seen worse. Paul, in Saudi 16:25, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

This one could use a lot of work. Like ... sources? Buffon's role as a leading proponent of spontaneous generation? --Christofurio 14:07, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Fictitious Claims
The opening of this article claims that the germ theory of disease led to hygienic practices and the use of antibiotics. When I read the article on hygiene it clearly states several examples of strict codes of hygiene that were adhered to over long periods of time throughout large civilizations millenia prior to the germ theory of disease. Further, the article on antibiotics clearly states that the first deliberate use of antibiotics in medicine was by the Chinese 2500 years ago - again; long before the germ theory of disease. Either the claims in those two articles are fictitious or the claim in this article attributing these practices to germ theory is. Whatever the case, an expert on the issue should either clarify the claim here or remove it completely. I will mark it with a request for citation. Anon. 12 October 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.100.104.17 (talk) 15:45, 12 October 2007 (UTC) Science clearly has a more powerful explanation for this disease today, but the Homeric explanation may have been useful in its day. In Homer, plague can be controlled through appropriate worship of Apollo, which includes not simply ritual songs but important ritual acts that are remembered in the songs: washing, removal of all wastes, and burning of disease victims. In ancient times, these rituals could have been effective means to stop the spread of epidemics. (Medieval approaches, many centuries later, had forgotten not only Apollo but the basic ritual acts of plague control. The Pied Piper is supposed to remove rats through music alone.)" magic words in the Iliad
 * The claim is not fictitious, but historically accurate, if incomplete. I propose adding, "in Western medical practice" unless some other editor can word it better. Religious hysteria directed towards Jews caused a severe disruption among Western Christians with hygienic practices of the past. This included rejection of many so-called "pagan" practices, which were also hygienic in a folk-medicine, practical way, even if the underlying principles were misunderstood."Apollo is the immediate and unseen cause, the magical agent, linking Chryses' curse with the deaths of the Achaeans from pestilence. The deaths are not accidental or coincidental. There's an explanation, even though it involves an invisible agency in which imaginative belief is required. Explanation is critically important because it allows the possibility of cure.

See also Contemporary_reaction_to_Ignaz_Semmelweis, who was self-evidently correct about hygiene from our POV, but was self-deluded according to his contemporaries, who did wash their hands (which is sufficient in most cases,) but nothing like the ritualistic scrub surgeons employ today. I hope, however, someone can come up with something better than "in Western medical practice." Pawyilee (talk) 14:25, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Leeuwenhoek/Semmelweis
What's with this paragraph?

Microorganisms were first directly observed by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who is considered the father of microbiology. Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian obstetrician working at Vienna's Allgemeines Krankenhaus in 1847, when he noticed the dramatically high incidence of death from puerperal fever among women who delivered at the hospital with the help of the doctors and medical students. Births attended by the midwives were relatively safe. Investigating further, Semmelweis made the connection between puerperal fever and examinations of delivering women by doctors, and further realized that these physicians had usually come directly from autopsies. Asserting that puerperal fever was a contagious disease and that matter from autopsies were implicated in its development, Semmelweis made doctors wash their hands with water and lime before examining pregnant women, thereby reducing mortality from childbirth to less than 2% at his hospital. Nevertheless, he and his theories were viciously attacked by most of the Viennese medical establishment.

For one, the first sentence mentions Leeuwenhoek but the rest of the paragraph is about Semmelweis. This is very poor structure. Not only that, but the information regarding Semmelweis fails to clarify that its major contribution to the article is the fact that Semmelweis' work set precedents for that of Louis Pasteur - who is not only credited with "discovering" the germ theory of disease but is also shockingly absent from the article entirely. Anyone moderating might want to consider altering this.

--Chinagreenelvis (talk) 22:59, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Felix Platter: the founder of modern germ theory
"Nardi, as it happens, does not mention Fracastoro. His authority (apart from Lucretius himself) is Felix Platter. Platter, in his De Febribus (1597) ... had explicitly rejected arguments for the spontaneous generation of plague and syphilis, since these could not account for the fact that these were new diseases -- if they could be spontaneously generated they would have arisen over and over again. ... He thus carefully propounds the theory that these diseases are spread by seeds or germs [in Latin: "semen" -- wrongly understood not as "germs", but as "seminal fluid" after Platter and until Bassi] ... Platter is thus a proper germ theorist, the earliest known to me" (David Wootton, 2006: Bad Medicine - Doctors doing harm since Hippocrates, p. 127). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.2.161.4 (talk) 18:45, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

I removed tags
If there are specific statements that stand out as needing sources, please tag the specific text with citation needed, per WP:CHEAT. Biosthmors (talk) 18:25, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I left the tag for lede too short. --Harizotoh9 (talk) 08:58, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Varro
Per Varro, shouldn't he be listed as a precursor? --Florian Blaschke (talk) 15:13, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Smallpox vaccinations
In the 'pre-19th century' portion o this page, there is a long exposition on smallpox vaccinations and ayurvedic medicine. Its relevance to the topic of germ theory is questionable at best, because 'no one knew in those days exactly why the smallpox vaccine worked, or what really caused that (or any other) disease.' While interesting, the exposition is out of place, and should probably be amended to an end note. Myopia1 (talk) 04:37, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Germ "theory" of disease
Why is Germ theory still called a theory. It has been proven over and over again by infecting mice with pathogens that cause Tuberculosis, Typhoid, malaria, AIDS,... excreta. How is that different than proven fact.Spidersmilk (talk) 20:33, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

You might do well to read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory 2602:30A:2E1B:DF0:9192:7180:21D9:8D92 (talk) 08:13, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Delusions?
Dear writer,

This theory, I am afraid, could be classified as a delusion. Why? Years ago somebody gave me a scientific treatise about the delusion. Methodological it was solid "as a rock". The writer himself, surprised, formulating the way delusion was defined and used, asked himself if in this way the theory of relativity (Einstein) could be classified as a delusion. Thoughts enough.

145.129.136.48 (talk) 09:44, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Athanasius Kircher
I am wondering why Athanasius Kircher is not mentioned in the opening paragraphs, in the second paragraph along with the others named there?

I have read elsewhere in the field of bacteriology it was Athanasius Kircher who "first proposed that living beings enter and exist in the blood (a precursor of germ theory)." I don't know the date of this, I think I've seen 1671, but his conclusions about microorganisms causing disease, after he examined blood under microscope, date from before that, in the 1640s-1650s as you can read below, so...?

He is mentioned on this page but only briefly under the "Late Middle Ages", I think he deserves a more prominent mention, along with the other names in the opening paragraphs.

This is what you currently have for him under the section "Late Middle Ages":

"Microorganisms are said to have been first directly observed in the 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, an early pioneer in microbiology. Yet Athanasius Kircher may have done so prior. When Rome was struck by the bubonic plague in 1656, Kircher spent days on end caring for the sick. Searching for a cure, Kircher observed microorganisms under the microscope and invented the germ theory of disease, which he outlined in his Scrutinium pestis physico-medicum (Rome 1658).[19] Building on Leeuwenhoek's work, physician Nicolas Andry argued in 1700 that microorganisms he called "worms" were responsible for smallpox and other diseases.[20] "

On his own Wiki page it states:

"Kircher took a notably modern approach to the study of diseases, as early as 1646 using a microscope to investigate the blood of plague victims. In his Scrutinium Pestis of 1658, he noted the presence of "little worms" or "animalcules" in the blood and concluded that the disease was caused by microorganisms. The conclusion was correct, although it is likely that what he saw were in fact red or white blood cells and not the plague agent, Yersinia pestis. He also proposed hygienic measures to prevent the spread of disease, such as isolation, quarantine, burning clothes worn by the infected and wearing facemasks to prevent the inhalation of germs. " 80.42.179.230 (talk) 15:44, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

Well I thought I was signed in with my username, it appears I wasn't. How annoying. Didn't want to use my IP address. Any way to delete that? RydM (talk) 15:51, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

And Leeuwenhoek, also need to add more about him. RydM (talk) 01:40, 14 July 2019 (UTC)

Proposal to shorten the section on John Snow
I am proposing to shorten the section on John Snow because there is a detailed sub-article about his work and therefore it does not need to be treated in quite as much detail here. Do you agree? That image of the cholera cases in London is repeated at several Wikipedia articles... So I am also proposing to delete it from this one. EMsmile (talk) 11:39, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

Missing contributions
I came across the following comment by William Farr from 1840 recently, which notably cites Henle and Holland and others for precursor contributions to germ theory. Can somebody with expertise comment? Henle seems to have written something in German called "On Miasma and Contagia", and was Koch's mentor, but what exactly his contribution is I do not know.

The hypothesis that the causes of epidemics are generations of minute insects transmitted from one individual to another, through the medium of the atmosphere, has been ingeniously put by Dr. Holland, in his “Medical Notes and Reflections.” Henle, of Berlin, has supported the theory by new facts and analogies. The diffusion of contagion has a close analogy with fermentation; and Cagnard-Latour and Schwann have shewn that fermentation is the decomposition of organic fluids by minute vegetables of the lowest class. Putrefaction is a destruction of organic matter effected by infusoria, and not a mere decomposition into elements. One contagious disease, the muscardine of the silk-worm, is known to depend on the development of a vegetable parasite. The germs are innumerable, and spread with the greatest rapidity. In mixtures, certain genera of infusoria appear, and then give place to new genera. Individual cases of disease may be caused by one generation of parasites; an epidemic by successive generations. Each epidemic disease has its specific animal contagion, its specific genera of infusoria. Henle has proved the existence of this cause, and the truth of the theory in every way but one; he has never seen the epidemic infusoria. The omission is, no doubt, im portant; and the more so on the part of Henle, who is justly considered one of the best microscopic observers in Germany. The infusorial hypothesis does not satisfactorily explain the cause of epidemics; it accounts for them by the creation of animalcules, but does not shew why the animalcules are created at distant times in swarms. The phenomena of swarms of insects, of blight, and of infusorial gene ration, may suggest investigation; but in the present state of pathology, they cannot supply its place.—Pathologische Untersuchungen. Von Dr. Henle, Berlin, 1840.   British and Foreign Medical Review, April, 1840.

This seems to be correct. Henle published a lenghty essay in 1840 advocating the abandonment of miasma theory, as well as encouraging the investigation of alternative theories. Unfortunately the source I used in the swedish version of this article is indeed in Swedish. Fortunately it is also briefly mentioned in the preface of this microbiology textbook: Dr Bowser (talk) 13:25, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

Rewrite of the lead
As I said in my edit comment, the default is the scientific consensus. Germs cause disease. We know this thanks to microscopes. To caveat so heavily and so skeptically in the lead is to confuse the average reader in the name of pedantic nuance, if not in outright service of pseudomedical claims about beating anthrax with vitamin D or whatever. We don't do that here on wikipedia. We stick with the scientific consensus. Also humans are animals. Let's not repeatedly say "humans and animals." Also plants, bacteria, fungi and probably all other forms of life also suffer from pathogenic organisms. The lead is a brief summary of the concept, not to be weighed down with all the caveats that can be fleshed out in the body. DolyaIskrina (talk) 05:10, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

 * I restored the page to its previous version, explaining roughly the reasons for this in the edit comment. I can add that saying that the germ theory is the "currently accepted" one is not a "pedantic nuance" but a description of the current state of affairs.

 * The problems with this page are others: for instance, that the Oxford dictionary definition of 'germ' given in it doesn't fit viruses (and so it is also for prions and viroids) because they are neither microorganisms nor 'a portion of an organism capable of developing into a new organism or part of an organism' nor can they grow individually like any living microorganism.

 * Furthermore, within the same Oxford dictionary, the definition of prion partly contradicts what is said on this page, as it is written that 'it is BELIEVED to be the cause of diseases of the brain..., etc. indicating the purely hypothetical nature of the statement. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/prion). But these are rather problems of current science itself.

 * The existence of inconsistencies such as those cited fully justifies the assertion that the germ theory is the 'currently accepted' one, acceptance based moreover on the very 'scientific consensus' you invoke. It is not a matter of 'nuances' at all, but the above text perfectly describes the actual situation on the subject. This is another reason why it is particularly apt and balanced in the current state of affairs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fernanton (talk • contribs) 18:11, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Plural of virus
There were a couple of places where viruses was spelt virii. Virii is generally not used neologism. Certainly not used in the academic literature, in any case. I've used the "viruses" spelling to make it consistent with spelling elsewhere in the article.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/virus#English 61.68.130.120 (talk) 00:53, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Merge Germ theory's key 19th century figures
It feels inappropriate to have a separate article just listing individual people's stories - the truly important people should be listed here (as they already are with less detail at Germ theory of disease) and the details already covered in other articles should be pruned. * Pppery * it has begun... 19:39, 16 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Merge in reverse direction; I agree that there is duplication here, but the size of the other article (66k) suggests a merge into the section here would unbalance the page. Given that there is editorial interest in producing such semi-biographical content, I think that it's worth keeping - and if worth keeping, it's worth separating because of the amount of content. Consolidation should hence be to the separate article, Germ theory's key 19th century figures. A summary or excerpt can be left behind. Klbrain (talk) 18:21, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

Krimi
The word krimi in Sanskrit literally means worm and has nothing to do with microorganism and secondly the reference provided "Sukshmjeevanu in Vedas: The Forgotten Past of Microbiology in Indian Vedic Knowledge - PMC" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7810802/ describe krimi as both macroscopic as well as microscopic which is not true as the text of Charaka samahita and atharvaveda literally describe it as macroscopic organism.So it isn't considered as a credible source. Myuoh kaka roi (talk) 08:46, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

 * The text Atharvaveda doesn't talks anything related to microorganism.according to Kenneth Zysk
 * The idea that diseases are caused by demons and spirits was common in various ancient cultures so comparing it with microorganism is bit exaggerating. Myuoh kaka roi (talk) 09:19, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The idea that diseases are caused by demons and spirits was common in various ancient cultures so comparing it with microorganism is bit exaggerating. Myuoh kaka roi (talk) 09:19, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Germ theory of disease


text:
User talk:Zach Cohen

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title: User talk:Zach Cohen