Throughout my time in this course, some of the information was review, but a lot of it, such as the specifics of diseases and how they affected individuals and society, was new to me. As a biology major, it is easy to focus on the pathogen as a singularity, but rarely do we start to […]
The importance of animals in the transmission of disease plays a much larger part than people realize. Not only does it explain an evolutionary, mutational leap in diseases, but it can help us understand how disease transmission works and potentially extinguish it. One example is malaria. The mosquito is the insect that spreads the disease. […]
Option Global HIV is a virus that began as far back as the 1800’s through a type of chimpanzee. It started in Africa and slowly spread around the world. It reached the United States around the 1970’s. The rate of the spread of HIV increased with men having sex with men. This social stigma […]
Part 1: The potato was an essential crop for the people in Ireland. It was a substantial source of nutrition, and was the backbone to every main meal. It was inexpensive, relatively easy to grow and harvest, and didn’t go rotten too quickly. When the potato blight came about (due to perfect weather conditions […]
Like most diseases that deliver the most damage and rack up the death counts, Cholera begins with a lack of basic sanitation in developing countries (originating in India): the lack of hand-washing and boiling of water, the crammed living conditions of individuals; particularly family members, and uncooked food. Trading and immigration helped spread the disease […]
Tuberculosis made its first big appearance during immigration in the 19th century. Tuberculosis is easy to spread; coughing, sneezing, and close proximity to the sick, are all ways TB is spread. Due to the poor living conditions and high mortality rate during ship immigration to begin with, the spread of TB skyrocketed on the way […]
Several ethical issues arise when dealing with infectious disease. For one, quarantining and administering vaccines to patients can be highly invasive, and therefore, mandating that everybody receive a vaccine can pose many problems. We see this problem arising today with parents not wanting to vaccinate their kids when introducing them into the public school systems. […]
Prompt 1 Smallpox was one of the most influential diseases of human history. It completely changed its course. From the beginning, it brought about the downfall of the Aztec Empire. When the Spaniards came ashore to Central America, they brought with them an alien virus. With no previous exposure to such a disease, smallpox […]
Help Received: Article https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/madagascar-is-battling-a-bubonic-plague-outbreak-180948137/ Historical Aspects The plague was a devastating epidemic that killed over half of the European population. However, there were factors back then that contributed to its spread and virulence that we would not even think of today. Hygiene was probably the biggest issue of them all. A disease can […]
Help Received: Power Point : “The Price of Being Sedentary” Previous homework assignments Textbook Historical: As cultures and societies have shifted and changed, so have the pathogens that follow them. Some pathogens disappear from groups due to the way they live. Some, like the plague, appear because certain lifestyles and cultures cater to them. […]