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Retracted Study: Biblical Woman Had Flu, Not Demonic Possession

By Joseph Calamia | August 12, 2010 4:05 pm

Though it might work for The DaVinci Code, apparently citing the bible doesn’t fly in a scientific journal. Virology Journal apologized yesterday for publishing a paper titled “Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time,” which attempts to diagnosis “a woman with high fever cured by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yesterday, journal editor Robert F. Garry apologized for the paper’s publication and announced that Virology will retract the piece. The blog Retraction Watch, where we found this story, posted a response from the paper’s lead author, Ellis Hon:

“As an article for debate, there was no absolute right or wrong answer, and the article was only meant for thought provocation. Neither was it meant to be a debate on the concept of miracles. My only focus at the time of writing was ‘what had caused the fever and debilitation’ that was cured by Jesus.”

The piece, which appeared in the journal’s “Case Report” section, had a reference list including The Holy Bible (New King James Version) and the Fahrenheit temperature scale. The authors cite the cure’s speed and the woman’s quick recovery in making their diagnosis.

The Bible describes that when Jesus touched the woman, the fever retreated instantaneously. This implies that the disease was probably not a severe acute bacterial infection (such as septicemia) or subacute endocarditis that would not resolved instantaneously.

Playing it safe, the authors also note that other possibilities could include drug fever and poisoning, but demonic possession is definitely out:

One final consideration that one might have is whether the illness was inflicted by a demon or devil. The Bible always tells if an illness is caused by a demon or devil (Matthew 9:18-25, 12:22, 9:32-33; Mark 1:23-26, 5:1-15, 9:17-29; Luke 4:33-35, 8:27-35, 9:38-43, 11:14). The victims often had what sounded like a convulsion when the demon was cast out. In our index case, demonic influence is not stated, and the woman had no apparent convulsion or residual symptomatology.

Image: flickr / Dan Germain

CATEGORIZED UNDER: Where We Came From & Where We're Going, Worst Science Article of the Week

MORE ABOUT: flu, health & medicine, infectious diseases, jesus, religion

http://Untitledvanityproject.blogspot.com Rhacodactylus

Gotta love when someone who is writing for a scientific journal STARTS with the premise that Jesus could cure the sick and works from there.
Matt

Obviously the cast out demons, if this indeed was the flu, were viruses. And possession is not all that inaccurate when referring something that takes over your cells to make copies of itself.
http://www.pickmbts.com pickmbts

funny!!
http://www.catholiclab.net Ian

Interesting, but not funny. I wonder how it is that so much work on the Egyptian plagues has managed to be published in scientific journals (http://plaguescapes.blogspot.com/2009/11/references.html)
Tom Hennessy

I believe the atheists MUST be **investigated** because of their METHODS to **target and attack** medical journals.

“One of the blogs that brought the paper to notice was This Scientific Life, by Bob O’Hara.”
“Blag Hag: A large list of awesome female atheists
-5:24am 3 Jan 2010 … Bob O’Hara said… Grrlscientist is also an atheist and blogger. I think she’s awesome. But then I did marry her, so I might be biased.”

” Kam L.E. Hon from the Department of Paediatrics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was astonished” the article had produced such a negative response since it was only intended for thought provocation.”
“He said he would never to write this kind of article again.”

THAT smacks of cyberbullying.
In Scientific circles that is unlawful.
Imho.
Tom Hennessy

This is one of the comments which led to the removal of the article. If you will notice she uses her position at the University in her comment but fails to declare her ‘conflict of interest’ which is she is an activist atheist.

Comment by: Dr Rosemary Redfield, University of British Columbia
Title: This is not science.
Comment:
This paper in no way qualifies as science. It doesn’t even qualify even as a case report, because the authors have no personal experience of this case. They basically say that, if their assumption that the woman had influenza is correct, then their conclusion that she was cured is justified.
The citations are also disgraceful. The authors cite only the bible, a web page about temperature measurements, and themselves (seven times!).
If BioMed Central hopes to build a reputation as a home for serious science then they need to first withdraw this paper and then have some serious discussions with this journal’s editor.
Competing interests:
None.