Surely, maintaining a hunting and gathering lifestyle had its consequences – you did not get to return to your comfortable bed, located at the same place each time, to take lazy naps every day; you did not get to pet your luscious dog upon returning home from school; and you did not have the same stationary village to return to every day where you would play ding dong ditch. Rather, you had to be on the move all of the time, searching for water as well as food in the form of wild animals (Sedentary PPT, slide 9). Additionally, this on-the-move lifestyle made it difficult to rear children, thus limiting the number of children people typically had. However, such a lifestyle had its benefits. In regard to epidemics, such an on-the-move, spaced out, limited population society hindered the ability of infections to spread and plagues to develop.
Thus, when the agricultural revolution and domestication of animals set in, and people were thus able to remain sedentary/stationary, populations grew, and infections likewise were able to spread more rapidly. Domestic animals living with the villagers attracted numerous kinds of disease-carrying insects, and their feces did not help either. Moreover, people used the same water supply as the animals (Sedentary PPT, slide 21). The development of agriculture also led to many people consuming a limited diet focused on a single crop, which led to numerous infections (slide 20). All of these conditions led to the development of infections, but the widespread spread, and eventual development of plagues, was largely a result of the large, dense population that was continuing to grow. Such infections that required dense populations include smallpox, influenza, malaria, plague, etc. (slide 24).
Population density continues to be, and always will be, a factor that increases the development of infectious disease. However, factors that have only recently become problems include current technologies, human interventions, and societal issues. For example, climate change has led to considerable changes in human health as well as infectious diseases, specifically. Diseases transmissible from animals to humans can flourish when climates worsen animals’ ability to handle them (Globalization, Climate Change, and Human Health assignment). Moreover, climate change can aid mosquitos’ survival, thus leading to increased vulnerability to many diseases, to include Rift for example. With warming coastal waters has come increased coastal outbreaks of cholera (Globalization, Climate Change, and Human Health, p. 1340). Additionally, globalization through channels such as trade also increases transmission by increasing contact with foreign peoples and goods.
In regard to societal issues, incoming inequality and poor city infrastructure has led to a surge in incidences of disease, particularly among the poor (American Epidemic article). The less financially stable often have less access to quality health care, thus limiting their ability to detect and treat infections. Likewise, substance abuse has continued to rise in the United States over the years, as has the number of elderly, who are more vulnerable to disease. The crisis of anti-vaccination has also led to an increased spread of disease, as well.
Improper use of military technology has also sadly spread diseases around the globe (Diseases and Famine as Weapons of War article). In Yemen, for example, the bombing of water treatment facilities and medical facilities has led to the use of disease as a weapon, i.e. bioterrorism. Such activities are prohibited by numerous universal laws, including the Geneva Convention, but the behaviors still occur, nonetheless.
Thus, in all, numerous factors have played a role in the development and spread of plagues throughout history. Upon analyzing such factors, it is quickly apparent that many are controllable by society, at least to an extent. Simple sanitation, attention to climate change, and eradicating bioterrorism – a form of warfare that should not even be considered by governments, due not only to its illegality, but also its unethical nature – would lead to drastic changes in the spread of plagues.