Virology Journal

Controversy

On 21 July 2010, Virology Journal published an article entitled "Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time". According to Mark 1:29–33 and Matthew 8:14–15, the mother-in-law of Simon Peter "lay sick" with a febrile illness. Jesus then took her by the hand and the fever immediately left. This is also described in Luke 4:38–39. The authors rule out that the woman was possessed by demons, and conclude that she was struck with influenza as "the fever retreated instantaneously. This implies that the disease was probably not a severe acute bacterial infection (such as sepsis) or subacute endocarditis that would not resolved instantaneously" [sic].

This article created controversy amongst scientists, who decried the article from anywhere from "truly bizarre" to "garbage", as well as expressing puzzlement over how the article got published in the first place. The editor-in-chief of Virology Journal originally commented that the submission underwent standard peer review, and was recommended for acceptance after modification by both reviewers, but later apologized for the publication of the article and announced that it would be retracted. The article was retracted on 13 August 2010.

Ellis Hon, the paper's lead author, told RetractionWatch that he agreed to the retraction after the amount of negative publicity generated by the paper.