In medicine, pathogenesis refers to the origins and development (genesis or γένεσις) of a disease (pathos or πάθος), with a particular focus on the way that pathogens infect our cells and the effect this has on our bodies. In the pages that follow, we will explore how viruses, bacteria and other microbes impact aggregations of bodies—that is, the body politic, body economic and body social. This is history from deep below. Rather than thousands or millions of “little” humans working together to change the world, we will explore the role that billions or trillions of microscopic viruses and
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