Some alternatives for two old infectious disease notions

Jan 3, 2018, 7:10 PM

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Having the flue really badly, maybe this is the time to write a bit about infectious disease. Many decades ago, I learned a few things by original thinkers that made a lot of sense to me. However, the old notions happily seem to live on. Time to spread the word again.

I was honored to have been a student of Professor Van Gool of the Wilhelmina Gasthuis. He taught pathophysiology. This was decades before the Internet and, as so often with important old stuff, I don’t find his name or his philosophy online, while the most meaningless nonsense of today is covered in great detail.

Wikipedia has an entry Pathophysiology, but it only contains North-American ideas. It has no Dutch page, and since Van Gool had a colleague in Switzerland, I think, who did the same kind of thing, I looked in the German page, but that also doesn’t capture it. What was his novel vision?

The old idea was: at sickness the body dysfunctions.

His idea: at sickness the body functions differently.

In illness the machine is not broken but rather has different goals.

So when the body generates a fever and makes you feel exhausted, that’s what the body needs to do. To hamper the microbe’s proliferation and by making you too tired to move to reserve all your energy for the creation of anti-bodies.

I also learned that the flue with medical consultation takes a week and with not seeing the doctor seven days.

—-

Half a century ago, I read a few pages from a smart booklet that gave an alternative for an old idea.

The old idea was: an infectious disease is an attack on the body by an alien invading enemy. The enemy thinking of: we are good and evil enemies are out to get us.

His idea: an infectious disease is a welcome by the body of foreign DNA/RNA to see if this could be useful to incorporate.

We don’t get sick from plant-microbes. The pathogens that make us ill are very much in tune with us, and our body has a great affinity with them.

We see that many cells incorporated all kinds of foreign pieces of nuclear material and even cell inclusions with complete sets of DNA, like mitochondria that give animal cells energy and Chloroplasts that give all green plants their energy. Without these inclusions, none of these cells could survive. Little wonder then if the Evolution was scared to close the door on new potential additions.

However, we can safely say that this procedure of trial and error to find useful enrichment for the human cell is obsolete. If there is anything useful to add, we can very well insert it by medical science. So, I think that it’s high time that medical engineers start to block all microbes from a foothold in our cells.

The future is not that we’ll be able to conquer all infections with unbeatable antibiotics but rather that we change the cell mechanisms that have welcomed microbes for thousands of generations.

And then maybe, when our immune system doesn’t need to busy itself with building immunity against microbes, it can use all its energy to stop cancer cells early.

We’re going to a future without disease, than without aging and then without death. Just as the Sages predicted.

That is, if we also muster the psychological advancement of not killing each other anymore.

Just hang in there, and you may be part of the first generation that will never gets sick, never ages and never dies.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1