Germ theory aficionados, in contrast, blame disease on microscopic pathogens. Their approach to health is to identify the culpable germ and tailor a poison to kill it. Miasmists complain that those patented poisons may themselves further weaken the immune system, or simply open the damaged terrain to a competitive germ or cause chronic disease. They point out that the world is teeming with microbes—many of them beneficial—and nearly all of them harmless to a healthy, well-nourished immune system.
