Throughout history, people, places, and society has changed rapidly, which has contributed to the appearance of emerging infectious diseases. These diseases often appear without warning and without a means of control because they are unpredictable. Humans, animals, and vectors of transmission are all interconnected more than they have ever been and this often times contributes to the flaring up of new diseases. As humans move around the globe like they began to do approximately 7 million years ago, they bring with them factors that are not accustomed to the region and cause massive changes to the ecosystem.
Society began with groups of hunters and gatherers that moved around often, had less children, and were not subjected to living near their own feces and waste products. These societies, therefore, were less susceptible to the transmission of disease because they were not living in the same conditions that they worked. Although they still acquired disease such as intestinal worms and the occasional animal-borne illness, they rarely had an effect on the entire group. By the time 8000 BCE came around, humans had evolved their society to stay located in one place and had begun to domesticate animals, which led to a whole new problem with regards to disease.
When humans began to settle in one location, they were able to have more offspring and domesticate animals for their personal use. The denser population led to more instances where animals could pass along their disease to humans. These animals would often times live within the homes of their owners and shared the same water supply. This led to the transmission of illness rapidly due to the lack of sanitation. Since sanitation didn’t particularly exist in these societies, humans lived around their own waste products, which attracted vectors and small rodents that could carry pathogens from human to human.
As populations grew, several diseases became prominent as a result of the societal change. These diseases include: smallpox, mumps, leprosy, measles, polio, HIV, Ebola, and Zika. Many of these diseases spawned from animals and were transferred to humans due to the close proximity of living. Although we have eradicated several of the diseases in the U.S., some still wreak havoc in third world nations due to the societal living standards. Much of the spread is attributed poor hygiene, animals living with humans, and poor sanitation. When people travel to these third world countries, they often times return carrying the diseases with them. Since transportation technology is much better now than it was just 50 years ago, these diseases can spread around the world in a matter of hours, which leads to many issues that were never before seen.
HR: The resources on canvas (Powerpoint: “The Price of Being Sedentary,” and Textbook). No unauthorized aid was used.