Monthly Archives: March 2018

The potato was an important and versatile crop for the country of Ireland between 1700 and 1840. It was a high yield crop producing healthy food with little labor needed. The Irish were “potato people” – they ate everything potatoes. They ate potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. By the 1840s, almost half of the Irish population was entirely dependent upon the potato. It was because of this dependency that the “Great Famine”, also known as the Irish Potato Blight, (which occurred between the years of 1845 and 1852) was able to kill (either through disease or starvation) about a million people. This was because when people are malnourished, they are vulnerable to infections. Many of the infections that ravaged the populace were measles, diarrhea, TB, whooping cough, intestinal parasites and cholera.

It is important to note that the severity of the blight was enhanced due to several other external factors. The first of these was the economic relationship between Irealnd and England. The population in Ireland was increasing and there were exploitations by landowners. There were also enforced exports of food crops to England, which led to further famine. Also, those who were not killed off due to the blight emigrated from Ireland. This dropped its population by 20-25%.

The exact cause of the blight was found to be Phytophthora infestans. Historical samples recently found of the virus suggest that sometime in 1842 or 1843, the ancestor of HERB-1 strain of P. infestans made it out of Mexico and North America and then to Europe. They theorize that it was contained within the potatoes that ships carried as food for their passengers.

HR: all sources provided on CANVAS, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

Smallpox is/was a serious infectious disease caused by the variola virus. Originating in the agricultural valleys of the great rivers in Africa and India, it was highly contagious and was responsible for killing millions of humans without regard for race, color, creed, character, religion or social status. Those infected with Smallpox had a fever and developed the “signature” symptom of a skin rash that developed into pustules that are extremely painful. This disease dates back to ancient times, from Roman times (known then as the Antonine plague) to the 20^th century. It has terrorized humanity up until it was eradicated by the year 1980. Smallpox was most notably responsible for the fall of the Aztec Empire and “aided” Hernan Cortes in conquering them. What led to the eradication to this disease? How did early humans deal with this terror?

Early “treatments” for Smallpox before the development of the vaccine were archaic. Many involved prayer and quack remedies. For example, in ancient Africa and Asia there were smallpox gods and goddesses that could be enlisted for protection. Another example is in 1314, Englishman John of Gaddesden suggested Smallpox victims could be helped by the color red, so those infected were dressed in red. Some of these bogus remedies continued up until the 1930s. Prior to the vaccine, there were other techniques to induce “inoculation” – or variolation (since the virus’s name dervied from the Latin word varus). The Chinese avoided contact with infected individuals and would have the person inhale power from the dried scabs shed by recovering patients or given powdered scabs to be inserted into their nostrils. In the East and Africa, material from a pustule was rubbed into a cut or scratch in the skin. Variolation was famously used by General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War prior to his taking of Boston. Today, prevention of smallpox is often assoicated with Edward Jenner’s method of turning a folktale into a reliable protection against Smallpox; that is, those who contracted cowpox developed mild reactions. After, neither cows nor humans developed any other symptoms. It is important to note that not everyone in that time wanted Jenner’s “vaccine” or methods for them or their children. After submitting his findings to the Royal Society, he came to find that his manuscript was rejected due to him being a lowly country doctor and not part of the scientific community. He faced reticule by popular press at the time and physicians rejected his ideas. However, he later gained great wealth, fame and respect for his findings. As a result of Jenner and his “vaccine”, controversy over vaccination rose.

Up until the 1900s, there were Anti-Vaccination Societies that believed the practice of vaccination to be dangerous and a violation of their rights and liberties. A good example is the “Milwaukee Riots’ in 1890. The city of Milwaukee pursued a strict policy of enforcement i.e. removing children suspected of being infected from their homes and placing them in the city’s isolation hospital. The residents fought back and protested, sometimes violently. The controversy did not end there. In 1901, a smallpox epidemic broke out in Boston. The Board of Health in the city established “virus squads” with orders that all inhabitants of the city must be vaccinated/re-vaccinated and forced to get the vaccine. In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that although the state could not pass laws requiring vaccination in order to protect an individual, it could do so to protect the public in the case of a dangerous-communicable disease. Despite having good intentions, health boards and the government violated civil liberties for the common good. There are pros and cons to compulsory vaccination – the pros to this compulsory vaccination being containment and prevention of an epidemic and saving lives. The cons being that not everyone wants these vaccinations and if they choose to not partake, it could lead to the spreading of the disease and fatalities. The problem (problem used loosely in this instance) is that people decide what happens to them and their bodies – something that is still a hot topic of debate in 2018 via abortion.

HR: Sources on canvas, WHO, CDC.gov, most of the information came from “The Power of Plagues” by Irwin W. Sherman

Ethics are defined as moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics play a major role when dealing with infectious diseases and epidemics. Such controversies include whom to quarantine and how, biases against certain groups due to fear and studies done with “shady” practices. When a disease (especially a lethal one such as HIV) begins to occur and spread rapidly, there is a backlash from human beings for obvious reasons. However, there have not been any severe actions taken like the ones seen in popular media such as the movie “I am Legend” or the video game “The Last of US”. A good example of an unethical issue/dilemma when dealing with infectious diseases was the Tuskegee syphillis experiment. The Tuskegee study was a clinical study to observe natural progression of untreated syphyllis in African-American men in Alabama while pretending to give free health care from the government. The participants were told they were being given treatment but in reality were receiving little to no treatment. Obviously, the participants did not know they were being ‘douped”. While it is true that some actions are necessary in the name of science to prevent and further study diseases, I personally believe what they did was not right. Finally, in the very “PC” (politically correct) world we live in today, if scientists keep “targeting” or doing studies on a particular group of race, religion or creed it will seriously hinder the medical field due to the backlash that will lead to an eventual stop to testing.

HR: resources on canvas, wikipedia