(Newser)
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A medical journal has retracted an article about a miracle attributed to Jesus and apologized for publishing it. The paper in Virology Journal, titled ''Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time," speculated on the cause of a woman's fever cured by "our Lord Jesus Christ," using accounts in the Bible as its only supporting data, reports LiveScience. (The paper diagnosed the woman as having the flu, after ruling out bacterial illness and "demonic influence.")
"Virology Journal has always operated an exceptionally high standard of thorough peer review; this article has clearly not met these thresholds for balance and supporting data and as such, the article will be retracted," writes the editor. Fast Company notes that the retraction came only after a firestorm from science blogs. "Apart from being amusing, the whole story raises an interesting question," notes David Zax. "Has the Internet instituted its own form of peer-review, superior in some cases to the old-fashioned pair of anonymous scholars?"
