I have come to learn a lot while taking the Epidemics and Society class taught by the beautiful Dr. Hinks. We have covered a variety of topics and diseases and how society and culture reacted to them as well as how the diseases affected humanity. We began with the introduction of our ancestors and their base knowledge (or lack thereof) of disease and infection. Beginning in Africa, the earliest evidence of our ancestors, I learned how we evolved from a hunter-gatherer, nomadic arrangement to staying into one place becoming settlers. The previous nomadic life of our ancestors exposed them to infectious diseases and vectors of parasites. This began zoonosis and the emergence of zoonotic diseases – that is, animal infections being transmitted to humans. However, since they were nomadic, they were not exposed to rotting meat or feces and exposure to parasites were limited. Groups were so small and isolated that “crowd” diseases requiring human-to-human contact transmission were not possible or severely limited. As time passed, so did the human population. Technological advancements such as tool making, the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution led to an increase in humans becoming stagnant and settling down. As such, this led to an increase in a sedentary lifestyle. This allowed for better and more transmissions of disease.
I have also come to observe how societies were affected by epidemics. The greatest example of society, and arguable the world, being changed by epidemics was the arrival of plagues. There were three pandemic waves of plague. The first came under Emperor Justinian in 542 A.D. This was aptly named “The Justinian Plague”. This wave was spread via fleas and rats to human hosts. Soldiers also brought back the disease from conquering wars under the empire. The second plague was more deadly and infamous. Called “The Black Death”, it killed approximately 20-30% of the Eurasian population very quickly. People would collect mounds of rotting cadavers into mass graves. It killed people so quickly that they were not able to dispose of the bodies fast enough. Besides killing millions, there were several other variables and factors that changed because of this plague. Some of the variables being religion, societal views on certain ethnic groups such as Jews, and caused mass hysteria/panic and war. The final wave of plague that changed humanity came in China in 1855 and spread to Hong Kong by 1896.
We have also learned on that societies can affect epidemics as well. Beginning again with transitioning from a nomadic lifestyle to settlers, we as humans have affected the environment around us and subsequently epidemics and how they spread. For example, humans clustering together and staying in one place allowed for “crowd” diseases to emerge. Another example is the Irish potato blight. This was an incident occurring in the 1840s. By then, half of the Irish population was entirely dependent upon the potato as a main food source and crop. However, a Phytophthora infestation ravaged the potato crops, destroying them. This caused the “Great Famine” or the Irish Potato Blight. As a result of the ensuing famine, around a million people were killed either through starvation or disease (because when people are malnourished, they are vulnerable to infections). Many of the infections that ravaged the populace were measles, diarrhea, tuberculosis, whooping cough, intestinal parasites and cholera. This entire incident further affected disease and epidemics due to the resulting mass emigration to other countries – mainly the United States.
As immigration to the United States increased, so did disease. The mass immigration from Ireland and other countries in the 1800s caused an ever-increasing lack of space in local residents in cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. High population density and poor sanitary conditions in these crowded tenements (with rooms housing as much as 10 or more people at a time) allowed for the swift spread of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis, an extremely infectious and fatal disease, spreads through contact with infected or infected articles of clothing and objects. It usually affects the victim’s lungs causing a bad cough, pain in the chest and coughing up blood.
Perhaps the most influential thing I learned in this class how today’s societies play a role on promoting and affecting epidemics in the modern times. While some diseases are re-emerging such as plague, cholera, and tuberculosis, there are afflictions considered “21st century” concerns such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Human papilloma virus (HPV), Ebola, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The most prominent of these is HIV. HIV is a deadly epidemic that has most recently began to spread across the world. It weakens a person’s immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. If left untreated, HIV evolves in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. It is transmitted through sexual activity, contact with bodily fluids or sharing needle/syringes. Thought to have come from certain species of chimpanzees, it is considered a 21st century plague because it has most recently become an epidemic and threatens to turn into a pandemic. It is also a 21st century concern because of the ways of transmission are taboo and relative to modern times- the two highest/most common being homosexuality/anal sex and drug abuse. The rise of homosexuality and acceptance of the LGBTQ community has allowed for this virus to be more prominent.
Being a computer science major, I did not know what to expect coming into a class meant for biology majors. I have traded coding and computers for lab coats, research and caution about the future. It is interesting to learn about disease and how it spreads, but it has been invaluable to learn how to prevent it and how deadly some diseases in the world are. This has caused me to look at life differently i.e. more through the eyes of caution, as we do not know how vulnerable we really are. From the beginnings of our ancestors and their struggle, to the modern day medicine we possess that combats disease, my eyes have been opened to how far we have come and how far we have yet to go to understand and eradicate disease forever – if possible.