Zymotic disease

Zymotic diseases (from the greek word zumoun meaning "ferment"), a 19th century medical term for acute infectious diseases,^[1] especially chief fevers and contagious diseases (e.g. typhus and typhoid fevers, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, erysipelas, cholera, whooping-cough, diphtheria, &c.).^[2]

Zyme or microzyme was the name of the organism presumed to be the cause of the disease. It was in British official use from 1839.^[3] However, the term had become obsolete before 1911, the date of the original version of the text below:

As originally employed by Dr W. Farr, of the British Registrar-General's department, the term included the diseases which were "epidemic, endemic and contagious," and were regarded as owing their origin to the presence of a morbific principle in the system, acting in a manner analogous to, although not identical with, the process of fermentation. A large number of diseases were accordingly included under this designation. The term, however, came to be restricted in medical nomenclature to the chief fevers and contagious diseases (e.g. typhus and typhoid fevers, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, erysipelas, cholera, whooping-cough, diphtheria, &c.). The science of bacteriology has displaced the old fermentation theory, and the term has practically dropped out of use.^[4]

This term was used extensively in the English Bills of Mortality as a cause of death from 1842, and ceased to be used in the early 1900s. Robert Newstead used this term in a 1908 publication in the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, to describe the contribution of house flies (Musca domestica) towards the spread of infectious diseases.

Antoine Béchamp proposed that microzymas, not cells, were a fundamental building block of life, surviving the death of the organism, and coalescing to form blood clots and bacteria. His ideas did not gain acceptance.^[5]

Bechamp (late 19th century) discovered tiny organisms he called "microzymas" which are present in all things - animal, vegetable, and mineral, whether living or dead ^[when?]. Depending upon the condition of the host, these microzymas could assume various forms. Bad bacteria and viruses were simply the forms assumed by the microzymas when there was a condition of disease^[vague]. In a diseased body, the microzymas became pathological bacteria and viruses. In a healthy body, microzymas formed healthy cells. When a plant or animal died, the microzymas lived on.^{[clarification needed]}

References

^ Kennedy, Evor (1869). Hospitalism and Zymotic Disease (2nd ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Zymotic Diseases" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Marjorie Cruickshank (1 January 1981). Children and Industry: Child Health and Welfare in the North-west Textile Towns During the Nineteenth Century. Manchester University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7190-0809-2. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Zymotic Diseases" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Hess, David J. (1997). Can bacteria cause cancer?: alternative medicine confronts big science. NYU Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 0-8147-3561-4.

[1] Kennedy, Evor (1869). Hospitalism and Zymotic Disease (2nd ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

[2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Zymotic Diseases" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[3] Marjorie Cruickshank (1 January 1981). Children and Industry: Child Health and Welfare in the North-west Textile Towns During the Nineteenth Century. Manchester University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7190-0809-2. Retrieved 23 June 2013.

[4] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Zymotic Diseases" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[hess-5] Hess, David J. (1997). Can bacteria cause cancer?: alternative medicine confronts big science. NYU Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 0-8147-3561-4.

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