Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-177) and index.

"Since the dawn of the human race, medicine men and physicians have wondered about the cause of disease, especially what we call 'contagions,' numerous people ill with similar symptoms, all at t eh same time. Does humankind suffer these outbreaks at the hands of an angry god or evil spirit? A disturbance in the atmosphere, a miasma? Do we catch the illness from others or from some outside influence? As the restriction of our freedoms continues, more and more people are wondering whether this is true. Could a packet of RNA fragments, which cannot even be defined as a living organism, cause such havoc? Perhaps something else is involved--something that has upset the balance of nature and made us more susceptible to disease? Perhaps there is no 'coronavirus' at all; perhaps, as Pasteur said, 'the germ is nothing, the terrain is everything'"--Provided by publisher.