Violation of the principles of common sense, complete disregard for Koch’s postulates and the rules of statistical accounting leads to grave mistakes and problems. For example, take the death rate due to pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Pneumonia of this etiology is a serious disease with a very high mortality rate, on average about 30%.

What if this microbe were discovered in 2020? Would “run away” and “the end of the world” be worse than now? Because the mortality rate from such pneumonia is the highest. Submitting panic reports from the field. There is nothing we can do. The bacterium rapidly acquires resistance and mutates. A person fades away right in front of his eyes, and even becomes covered with various skin rashes. Infection is very high.

All sick and infected would begin to be concentrated and placed next to each other in isolated rooms, trying to isolate the world from them. There would be increased cross-contamination. We would start looking for this Staphylococcus. And it is practically everywhere. Normally, it is present in small quantities even in the nasopharynx in absolutely healthy people. Those, of course, are all declared dangerous asymptomatic carriers. You can’t touch anything. There can also be Staphylococcus. Oh God! Staphylococcus is everywhere. Everyone rolls into polyethylene and is afraid. Everyone goes to quarantine and self-isolation. All get passes, etc. All hope for antibodies. And here is the main surprise. There is no specific immunity against Staphylococcus aureus, since Staphylococcus aureus is very variable. Plus, it develops antibiotic resistance very quickly. The plague of the 21st century is just that.

What is happening in reality? In reality, a very small number of people get sick with this type of pneumonia. Staphylococcus aureus is a conditionally pathogenic microorganism. Moreover, the diseases caused by them are very serious. But how can it be that pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus is extremely dangerous, and at the same time it is everywhere and mankind quite normally gets along with it?

The answer is simple. This is the result of evolution and the work of immunity. Immunity protects the body every second so that no foreign agent damages the body. In the overwhelming majority of cases, even non-specific immunity successfully suppresses Staphylococcus aureus and does not cause any harm to the body. Pneumonia can begin primarily due to health problems due to chronic diseases, impaired normal functioning of the immune system, etc. Or when faced with an extremely large amount of pathogen.

Despite the habit of working with Staphylococcus, in hospitals one should be very careful with such patients. For this, there are special infectious diseases departments, etc. All this requires prophylaxis, precautions, etc. This is in hospitals, with patients with clinical manifestations of the disease, according to the rules already understood about 100 years ago. This is not all over the world and not in the entourage of a zombie apocalypse. And this is exactly what is happening with us now.

The basic prerequisite for pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus is the general state of health of the patient, and not the presence of the pathogen in the world around us in the usual amount. I repeat, it is always around us. This is the world in which we live. There is the sun, sky, water and Staphylococcus. We were born on such a planet. And our species is such that without any masks and gloves it coexists with hundreds of pathogens on this planet. Moreover, illiteracy, excessive use of gloves and masks, seclusion at home, lack of physical activity, fear, stress and other “fight” measures decrease the ability of our immune system to resist environmental pathogens. And thus cause an additional increase in morbidity and mortality. Plus the factors of economic degradation, socio-political destabilization, disruption of health care systems, unacceptable distortions, etc. etc.

The fight becomes much more dangerous than what it is directed against. Regardless of the motives, such a struggle is in fact deeply illogical, immoral and harmful to people.

Further Reading

Staphylococcus aureus in Healthcare Settings. (https://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/staph.html)