The link between microbial cells and human disease emerged from the answer to a question that had preoccupied scientists and philosophers for centuries: What is the cause of rot? Rot wasn’t just a scientific problem but also a theological one. In some Christian doctrines, the bodies of saints and kings were supposedly spared putrefaction, especially as they awaited the intermediate state between death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. Yet when the decomposition rates of saints and sinners seemed no different, there was a theological reckoning to be had: whatever caused putrefaction
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