This theory to explain transmission of infectious diseases is based on the findings of Koch, Ross, Finlay, Simond and others, who showed thacit bacterial or viral organisms have to be transmitted directly from patient to patient by oral uptake or by bites of blood sucking insects respectively. At the beginning of the era of microbiology it was hard to convince medical authorities (Pettenkofer among others) that their old fashioned Miasma-theory is wrong or covers only a few cases.
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Further Reading
Grüntzig J, Mehlhorn H (2010a) Expeditions into the empire of plaques. Düsseldorf University Press, Düsseldorf
Grüntzig J, Mehlhorn H (2010b) Robert Koch, Seuchenjäger und Nobelpreisträger. Springer Spektrum, Heidelberg
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Mehlhorn, H. (2015). Contagious Theory. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_4143-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_4143-1
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