Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology: Current Research
Open Access

Insect-pathology

Insect pathology is a biological discipline that is unique in many ways. Pathology, the study of diseases and disorders, is an ancient pursuit at least with respect to human body, dating back almost 25 centuries to Hippocrates, father of Western medicine. Discovering what has gone awry in a body has been key to figuring out ways of fixing the problems in a wide range of organisms. Thus, there are veterinary pathologists and plant pathologists dedicated to identifying causes of diseases with the ultimate goal of opening a path to restoring their non-human animal and photosynthesizing organisms of interest, respectively, to good health. But insect pathologists are, for want of a better phrase, uniquely bipolar with respect to their subjects; whereas many share the goal with other kinds of pathologists of finding ways to right whatever has gone wrong, the vast majority of insect pathologists are dedicated to making things go wrong, notably by identifying disease-causing agents that will dispatch their subjects quickly, efficiently, and specifically.