Test Race‑Pathogen IQ Claims

Any claim that a pathogen explains a racial IQ gap should be judged by two simple empirical checks: (1) the pathogen×race interaction in representative datasets must be large enough to account for the whole gap; and (2) the gap should largely vanish among seronegative (uninfected) subgroups. Applying those checks to NHANES III shows HSV‑1 fails both tests. — This provides a clear, replicable standard journalists, researchers and policymakers can use to screen and debunk speculative race‑linked disease explanations before they enter public narratives.