Nor did the virulence of the attacks targeting her augur well.
He was also passionately attached to the Palestinian cause, and the virulence of his attacks on Israel attracted considerable controversy.
The virulence of the attacks was reminiscent of criticism last year by European governments that imposed sanctions on Austria after the inclusion of the far-right party of Jörg Haider in the government in Vienna.
But perhaps the virulence of the attack suggests a certain self-defence.
First, to pinpoint the bacterial source of virulence factors that attack human cells, the researchers attached tiny gold beads to antibodies against one such factor, an enzyme called SpeB, and examined the bacteria under an electron microscope.
His biographer, Hans Trefousse, suggested that another reason for Stevens's virulence was an attack of disease in the late 1820s that cost him his hair (he thereafter wore wigs, often ill-fitting), and "the unwelcome illness may well have contributed to his unreasonable fanaticism concerning the Masons".
The proteins encoded by virulence genes often attack or antagonize normal cellular anti-viral programs facilitating the invasion and ultimate destruction of the infected cell.
Firstly, the occurrence of infection is probably determined by the interplay between numerous factors that affect the balance between host defenses and the virulence of the attacking bacteria, and the presence of contamination is only one of them.
And the best satire kicks against the strong, not the weak – given the volume and virulence of the establishment attacks being directed at him, Corbyn clearly falls (in satire terms at least) into the latter category.
But in truth, it is difficult to find plausible explanations for the virulence of last week's attacks, except in the envy, hatred and moral confusion of those who plotted and perpetrated them.
