The suspected cause must be strongly associated with the disease.
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An association should exist between a microorganism and disease (i.e., the organism is identified or recovered from patients).
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The molecular version of this postulate states that an epidemiological association exists between presence of a trait and virulence, that a specific mutation be constructed to inhibit the function resulting in decrease
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in virulence, and finally that the mutation be complemented in trans with only the wild-type allele of the