History of the concepts and causes of disease. Parallelism between medicine and phytopathology

Abstract

This essay opens a debate about how Medicine and Phytopathology have created, in a parallel manner, similar theories concerning causation of disease in order to give origin to the germ theory. A literature review to evidence the first application in plant pathology of principles analogous to Koch's postulates is presented. Additionally, the affinities between the two disciplines in their disease classification systems and the influence of the germ theory on antimicrobial therapy are described. The criteria of a necessary and a sufficient condition to validate the specific cause of an infectious disease are also discussed.