Plant-Associated Bacteria as Human Pathogens: Disciplinal Insularity, Ambilateral Harmfulness, Epistemological Primacy

Abstract

Editorials1 April 1979Plant-Associated Bacteria as Human Pathogens: Disciplinal Insularity, Ambilateral Harmfulness, Epistemological PrimacyMORTIMER P. STARR, PH.D.MORTIMER P. STARR, PH.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-90-4-708 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptMany factors are involved in the "emergence" of "new" infectious diseases in man, other animals, or plants. It occurred to me, while listening to the recitations at the International Symposium on Legionnaires' Disease (Atlanta, 13-15 November 1978), that not all categories of such factors had been explicitly considered. Space limitations preclude much more than a terse listing here, in no particular order or state of completeness, of some factors frequently noted as contributing to the "emergence" of "new" diseases: poverty, malnutrition, inadequate sanitation and medical care, "too much" medical care, ignorance, demography (ranging from the population explosion to "keeping people...