6/ We have written an article on history. Started by trying to figure out where 5 micron error for droplet / aerosol boundary came from, since physics tells us it is ~100 um. E.g. see this video of 50 micron particles, ain't falling to the ground quickly:https://twitter.com/MicroLevitator/status/1283556047471378432 …
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7/ But as we investigated the origins of the 5 micron error, we learned a lot more about the history of infectious disease transmission, which is the root of the resistance and delays of
@WHO and@CDCGov. As we'll see, the creation of the@CDCgov is deeply embedded in the errors!1 reply 63 retweets 459 likesShow this thread -
8/ Our preprint on the history can be read here. Written by
@katierandall,@EThomasEwing,@linseymarr, Lydia Bourouiba and yours truly. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3829873 …2 replies 79 retweets 423 likesShow this thread -
9/ We need to go back to the origins of theories about the transmission of diseases. Hippocrates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates …) in ancient Greece proposed that diseases were transmitted through the air. [I think doctors still do the Hippocratic Oath: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath …]
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The Hippocratic text "On the Nature of Man" reads: "Whenever many men are attacked by one disease at the same time, the cause should be assigned to that which is most common, and which we all use most. This it is which we breathe in."https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hippocrates_cos-nature_man/1931/pb_LCL150.25.xml …
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11/ Throughout much of human history, belief persisted that diseases were transported through the air. Coming from putrid matter, traveling long distances (e.g. a person infected by the flu in Boston could infect someone in UK) This was miasma theory:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory …
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12/ The idea of person-to-person transmission, which now seems obvious (e.g. we get COVID-19, the flu, or tuberculosis from another person) wasn't seriously considered till Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro proposed it in 1546:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Fracastoro …
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13/ The debate ensued for centuries between the miasmatists and the contagionists. https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-234/lecture-13 …
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14/ A middle ground was devised, "Contingent Contagionism"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingent_contagionism …
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15/ CC was "a qualified way of rejecting application of term "contagious disease" for a particular infection. E.g. it could be stated that cholera, or typhus, was not contagious in a "healthy atmosphere", but might be contagious in an "impure atmosphere"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingent_contagionism …
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