Theory of Sapronous Infections: the History of Development and Ways of Improvement in the System of Medical and Biological Sciences

Abstract

The article represents the history of studies of human diseases caused by faсultative parasites of humans, animals and plants, attributed by microbiologist V.I. Terskych in 1958 to the third class of infections named sapronoses. The concept of sapronous pathogens ecology is one of priorities of Russian medicine. Since that time, facts and generalizations have been accumulated in the world and national science, allowing to revise the initial concept of sapronous infections of biota — from prokaryotes, plants and invertebrates to warm-blooded animals and humans. To decide the controversial issues of the sapronoses theory, epidemiological terminology and systematics of infectious pathology, it is necessary to integrate the knowledge and systemic participation of specialists in medicine and biology in studying this problem. The results of this cooperation will make it possible to clarify and form a unified theoretical concept of the population pathology of the biota based on the ecological approach and general biological regularities of life existence in the world.

Keywords

• overview
• sapronoses
• history of study
• ecology of pathogens
• cyanobacteria and their mats
• protists
• symbiosis
• problems and ways of integrating epidemiology