Brady Gannon
Epidemics and Society Reflective Essay
Over the last spring semester, in class we learned about the many epidemics and infectious diseases existing in the world we live in and how they affect not just our health, but also our environment and culture. Before taking this class, I never really thought about disease or how it altered the world around us besides the obvious health factors that the diseases caused. This class, the artifact assignments specifically, helped shed light to all of the moving parts that epidemics and infectious diseases can alter and change. The artifacts ranging from topics like the Black Death, to the Irish potato blight, to HIV and AIDS showed how disease shaped the course of history and also how society and human action changed the courses of infectious diseases as well.
When I think about how societies were changed by diseases the epidemic that first comes into mind is the plague. It is estimated that the Black Death claimed the lives of approximately one third of Europe’s population at the height of the outbreak. This was the cause of quite a few historical events, including in the Justinian plague outbreak, East and West Rome had plans to unite and come together, which would have potentially been a major diplomatic event for the time, but the plans were shattered when the plague came through and killed many of the leaders involved. (Artifact 3).
The plagues effects were not limited to political affairs, religion across Europe was taken to new heights with the increasingly high death toll caused by the Black Death. Religious fanatics (known as flagellants) claimed that this was mankind’s punishment from God for their sins and wrongdoings. They traveled the countryside whipping themselves and stoning people to death to accept the punishment for their vengeful God. Other religious fanatics looked for another scapegoat, many blamed the Jews for the plague and the Jewish people were treated very poorly, sometimes ostracized and even killed for their part in the deadly plagues. (Artifact 3)
Another disease that helped shape society was small pox and the epidemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people across centuries. Small pox was extremely deadly and contagious and is notable for killing off royal families, including Queen Mary, who died at age 32 due to small pox (Artifact 4). Although it was extremely deadly, there were survivors including Abraham Lincoln. Surviving, however, comes with a price. Small pox leaves the body scared in painful blisters.
Smallpox in North America was the origin of biological warfare. It was well known that the English settlers brought with them disease to North America when they discovered the new land. As a child, I always thought that the Native Americans accidentally got sick because they did not have the same immunities as the English invaders. The British soldiers knowingly gave blankets and other items out of a small pox infirmary as “gifts” to the Native Americans and one of the English soldiers is quoted saying “Out of our regard to them we gave them two Blankets and an Handkerchief out of the Small Pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect.” (Artifact 4).
The smallpox outbreak was certainly horrible but it did not come at a total loss, the first immunization and vaccine came from the smallpox epidemic. Lady Mary Montague, a wealthy poet, introduced the method of variolation, which was the earliest form of immunizations and vaccinations. She and her son were immune to small pox because they were inoculated with pus from a blister to develop antibodies. This process was perfected by Edward Jenner who is now regarded as the father of immunization, he noticed the milkmaids were immune to cowpox so through a similar way of thinking he tried it and was eventually successful. (Artifact 4)
Epidemics have the ability to drive and influence society, but that relationship works the other way around as well. There are instances where the actions and ideas of a culture or group of people can influence how a disease or an epidemic behaves. Coming back to smallpox, the spread was exacerbated by wars, trade routes, and slavery (Artifact 4) and could have been contained if not for these factors.
Early humankind were primal hunter-gatherers who lived off of the land and ate what they could catch or find in a hunt. As people evolved and got smarter, they learned to domesticate animals. Early man did not know about sanitation and the spread of disease so the areas where they kept these animals were a breeding ground for bacteria and diseases to find a vector to spread. (Artifact 1) In this era humans also introduced the single crop monoculture, which lead to malnourishment and more susceptibility to disease outbreaks.
Even today human’s actions are impacting the maintenance and spread of epidemic diseases all around the world. For instance, wars in the Middle East and airstrikes and attacks on health centers and hospitals in Yemen are denying thousands of innocent people healthcare and making them susceptible to even more disease and making that disease more prone to spread. (Artifact 1). Similarly, people who are prone to HIV/AIDS and refuse to seek medical attention are not helping in the control of this disease and making the impact of it that much worse. Which is why it is important to always seek medical care regardless of stigma. (Artifact 9) This class has opened my eyes to a new way of thinking, not just when it comes to diseases and society and the different effects, but also how everything in this world is interconnected.
