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Nathan Loyd 

Dr. Hinks 

Bio 

July 22, 2018 

Reflective Essay 

Epidemics of society, in this class I have been exposed to just a few of many infectious diseases in existence. As well as what contributes to the diseases starting and how people have been known to spread them to their peers. In this class we have learned and discussed 8 infectious disease that have broken out all over the world. How they started, what they affected, and the solution to the problem. We also talked about how the disease affected the society aspect of it, mostly how the community and the government reacted. This class has been understanding and has taught me a lot about the many roles a disease plays when an outbreak accrues. The artifacts really helped me learn about the disease from how they started, what they affected, and how and if they were cured. 

One of the first infectious diseases we discussed in class was the Black Death. The first thing we talk about when we are talking about a new disease is how it came to be a problem. So, with the Black Death it mostly started with rats; fleas that lived on these rats was the ultimate problem. These fleas infected the rats that later infected humans because back in that time rats usually lived among humans, so it was not that hard for the disease to get transferred  

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to people. From there it just took off, people quickly spread the disease unknowingly to their neighbors and before anyone knew it was too late. It was whipping out small communities in a blink of an eye. People were unsure what it was because back then they didn’t have much knowledge about diseases or basic biology. People tried to blame many different things, some said that it was God punishing them for their sins, some thought it was the end of the world, but many blamed the Jews for this epidemic So, as a result many Jews suffered for it. Once the disease hit people would try and leave to escape it and travel to another community, but many did not know that they were already carriers of it and was just spreading it as well as speeding up the process. Many people went crazy seeing all their peers die but the disease slowly calmed down resulting in people staying healthy and not having to worry about it to an extent. (Artifact 2) 

Not long after discussing the Black Death we moved our attention to Smallpox, we discussed how deadly it was and how it is still a very dangerous disease today. If you were so unlucky to catch that disease death was almost certain to follow. Smallpox was also a very easy disease to spread, any form of contact with an infectious person left you with a high risk for catching the disease yourself. The disease started like any common cold with a fever, cold chills but shortly after that a small rash would appear. The rash could appear anywhere on the body. One of the big problems people had was the rash would spread all over the body but once the rash reached the eyes blindness would be soon to follow. One of the issues we discussed in class that really stood out to me was people said the disease changed history because it killed many  

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kings, queens, and Amerindians. It just stands out that one disease could change the outlook on history so much. The slave trade spread Smallpox probably more than anything. Slaves would be in the early stages of Smallpox and they were traded and boarded on a ship to be sent to the new world. When they arrived at the new world it was just a playground for the disease to spread and the rest is history. The disease to still an ongoing epidemic, Smallpox has killed 300 million people in the 20th century alone. (Artifact 4) 

One of the final diseases we discussed in class was Cholera. Cholera was usually found in water and it is not really known for killing people but making people super sick. It is known for giving people bad diarrhea and vomiting. Cholera is usually found in water in rural villages and undeveloped communities because people would bathe and use the bathroom in the local rivers or whatever fresh water source was available which just gave them a higher risk for catching cholera. You cannot really spread Cholera from person to person but just by ingesting contaminated water. The good news about Cholera is that it is treatable, and you can also treat affected water as well as water to keep it from getting affected. John Snow, Henry Whitehead, and Filippo Pacini are the ones responsible for dissecting Cholera and helping cure the disease from people as well as water. The disease can appear anywhere you have bad drinking water. If a country experiences a natural disaster, then there is a chance that they could run into Cholera just because the drinking water is more likely to be contaminated. (Artifact 7) 

Overall, I have really enjoyed my time in Epidemics of society. I have advanced my knowledge of diseases from how they start, what they affect, and how or if they were cured. The artifacts really broke it down and help me better understand the diseases.  

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Overall this class has opened my eyes as well as many doors for exploring and studying diseases and developing a better understanding of how these diseases really work in the real world. I would like to think Dr. Hinks for a great semester and hope to take another class with her in the near future. 

Work cited: 

e-portfolio, Artifacts 2,4, and 7. 

Artifact 9: 

While taking this class I have understood a lot more about emerging diseases as well as re-emerging disease. Just like HIV for example, we covered HIV just recently and talked about how people in society contribute to the spread of the disease. As well as ways that people over look it and pretend that it is not there until it is too late. We also learned that the government can play a big role in its efforts to try and to fight these diseases. That is just a little insight of what this class teaches, every disease is close to being the same. 

When I say the same I mean in ways of how the disease start as well as how they get transferred from person to person. Cholera is another example of a disease that is caused by unsanitary water and then that water is consumed by humans which in return they received really bad vomiting and dearie. In this case though the government got involved as well as other people and together they found a way to treat the disease as well as the water that it was in, so people could once again drink the water. These are just two small examples but there are many more diseases out there they we are stilling learning about and I am curious about them, how they start, how to treat them, and how to make sure we can prevent an epidemic from starting. 

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With HIV still common in the U.S. it is hard to get a grasp on it because it is easily transferred to people the sex and open cuts on individuals. It is really hard to get a grip on it when the government is not willing to help. For example, when Ronald Reagon was in office he basically ignored the disease almost like it did not exist. Which is a difference because other countries made it priority in trying to treat as well as prevent it from spreading. Some of the prevention methods were just to supply free condoms to the public. Even though it does not sound like much that can go a long way to help prevent others from transferring the disease. I also guess that the attitudes towards the disease is that it is a very nasty disease and the ones that do not have it really don’t want or care about trying to help the ones that do have it. That could also fall under people having fear towards the disease that they do not want the disease of course so they try to stay clear from anyone who has it. As for the people that do have it they can be ashamed or embarrassed that they have it and do not anyone know that they have it to a certain point and they could very easily transfer the disease to another person. That could also fall under them having moral issues with the disease. Feeling like they are a failure to their religion so as a result they do not try to find help. For the reason that HIV is still a modern pandemic in my opinion is that there is not enough awareness about the disease. Like mention before, the government is not really doing their part to recognize that it is a problem and step in to try and make a difference in the country. As listed above those are some starting points to start at if we as a country want to start preventing the spread of HIV and hopefully not have to worry about it in the future. 

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When it comes to Cholera it was a dreaded disease to get, just from the severe vomiting and diarrhea. Cholera was usually found in water. This was usually found in rural locations, such as villages. Societal factors that contributed was that people most of the time dumped their waste into the local water supplies (most of the times rivers). They also used the same water to bathe in, which was just increasing them for the disease.  John Snow, Henry Whitehead, Filippo Pacini all took Cholera and basically dissected it and found a way to cure the water that was affected by the disease. They helped to not spread the disease to other locations and at least hold it to a specific location. I believe the reasons that Cholera has kept up with us to the 21st century is we still have poverty in the world and not every place gets their water treated for kill the diseases that live in them. Now for the reason for Haiti having Cholera is that Haiti was somewhat of a poverty and it did not help when a big earthquake hit them back in 2012. That hurt their water supplie even more. In 2010 Haiti had roughly 150 deaths due to Cholera. When the earthquake hit they lost 719,377 people to Cholera. The latest study done in October of 2017 Haiti is just now getting back the numbers that they were seeing in 2010 to about 150 deaths from Cholera. 

Work Cited: 

https://reliefweb.int/disaster/ep-2010-000210-hti 

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When it comes to Tuberculosis and ways to try and prevent the disease from coming on in my opinion falls under ways to prevent any disease from coming on. Just by taking care of yourself, staying clean, good living standards, and eating right. It’s when you neglect those standards is when you run the risk for catching an infectious disease like Tuberculosis. I understand in the world today that many people cannot help but live that way and in many ways hoping that new technology can help cure them from the disease. 

As when immigrants were coming over into the U.S. in the 19th century many of them were put into tenements which most of the time held many immigrants. With these people coming from different counties some were already carrying Tuberculosis and when they arrived and placed in these very tight living conditions it was just a playground for the disease. Then when it comes to HIV infections I think individuals get the disease and are not aware that they have it and they have sex with one person then they have sex and so on. The extremely resistant tuberculosis was most likely caused by the first drugs the patient took that made the disease go away for a period of time but then come back stronger and not affected by the same drugs. There is only one solution to the failure of diagnoses and proper treatment of Tuberculosis and that is a slow depressing death. 

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The potato famine began in the mid-1800’s and was one of the worst diseases to ever take over the Irish. For one reason or another in Ireland during that time the potato was the only food available. The potato famine all started when one single pant caught a disease and quickly spread throughout the other plants which were consumed by humans. It was a single-celled pathogen that affected the potato plants. The only way to try and avoid the disease was to migrate to other parts of the world. But the factors that played into causing this disease is that the potato was the only food to eat so when it got infected it wasn’t like people could just eating it and focuse their attention to somewhere else for food. 

The potato famine killed about 1 million people before it could be stopped. The population of Ireland quickly declined due to the potato famine, from people dyeing and people leaving to avoid it. There are ways for the disease to be killed off. One-way is to try and cure the plants so they don’t get the disease or kill the disease if a plant already has it. One negative result from that is the disease can adapt so the “cure” does not affect it. Another way is to just stop eating the potatoes and let the disease run its course and hopefully die out. There are down falls for trying to modify the plants, so they can be free from the disease. It could still make the plant deadly for a while to humans or anything that eats the plant. But hopefully in the long run for doing that is that humans can once again eat the plant and do not have to worry every time they try and enjoy a delicious potato. 

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Smallpox was a very deadly disease. At the same time, it was a very unforgiving disease the percentages of you surviving after receiving the disease was very low.  When Smallpox overcame an immunologically virgin communities the effects were devastating. It started simple with fever, chills and the host would start developing a rash. The rash would also appear anywhere on the body. If the rash worked its way up to the eyes then blindness would almost be certain to follow. When Smallpox was discovered with the Amerindians, native cultures changed forever. Mostly just because the destruction of the disease. It killed many people fast with no regret. For the cultures changing, Smallpox would find its way to leaders, kings, and queens. It would kill them before they were able to finishes out their work for the people or region that they were ruling. 

When it came down to slave trade and Smallpox it was the perfect recipe for disaster. Because slaves that would be in the early stages of Smallpox would be transferred to the new world and once they got there all they did was spread the disease rapidly. Then when the Civil War got underway the disease was already established in the country so when the soldiers were living with each other and traveling in tight spaces it was easy for the disease to spread. Resulting in one of the deadliest diseases on earth. It wasn’t until the 20th century until there was a cure for Smallpox. (Smallpox killed 300 million people in the 20th century alone.) 

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When it comes down to infectious diseases, doctors may often run into ethical issues. Epically if it is a new disease that has no cure. Trying to cure the diseases without harming the host. One example is an outbreak on small pox, a doctor gave a young child a disease that he could fight off and then followed up with a potentially lethal exposer to small pox. Trying to see if the one disease would fight off the small pox and keep the young boy safe. I didn’t find that too ethical because it was back in the early 1900’s and not many people knew much about infectious diseases so there probably was not much room for consent because the people didn’t know what was going on. 

Then when it comes to consent and communication for trails many can refer to the Tuskegee Syphilis study. This study took place with poor black people that thought they were getting treatment for the disease but, in reality were Genny pigs. Not much was known about Syphilis, so the government was seeing how much they could get away with by running weird and unethical test on these poor individuals. This incident was rationalized by the government saying that they were giving free treatment to poor black people that could not afford it as well as figured that if anyone found out during that time that not many people would care since black people were so discriminated against during that time. It was just so unethical because it was so many unknowing individuals that thought nothing was wrong but did not know that they were just being used and as a result many died from the disease. As far as being an unwillingness participate of a medical study especially syphilis could be blindness, bumps that do not go away and as an example from the Tuskegee study, DEATH!  

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I believe that a few factors played into contributing to the epidemic. Rats were the host of flies and the rats lives among people witch easily transferred the plague. Once people were sick and sometimes had died from the plague their relatives would take their furs and blankets for themselves. People would also have the plague unknowingly and would travel to other places and spread it faster. Once the plague took over people were having a tough time trying to figure out the reasoning for why this epidemic was occurring. With most people being uneducated and no understanding of basic biology they decided to blame the Jews. Even though the Jews didn’t have nothing to do with it many of them suffered. Another belief of the epidemic was the God was punishing them for all their sins. People tried to use fire and smoke to prevent the plague from traveling as well as practicing religion. The overall effect of the epidemic was the it made people go crazy and think that it was the end of the world. Many people still thought that the Jews were behind it. 

Plagues still occur in the U.S. today like that. They can easily be transferred by sexual contact, coughing, and through air. For sex, condoms are the number one way to prevent anything being transferred to the other partner. In other ways of prevention, the COC, FDA, and the government should be up to date on what is being spread as well as how to treat it. With the plague the re-emerged in Madagascar was probably caused by the same problem. By being transferred from animal to person and then person to person. If the plague reached epidemic levels, then it probably took a period to recover from it. There had to be isolation involved to try and keep the infected people away from the healthy ones as well as trying to keep people from traveling to different places to try and detainee the plague. 

When it comes to cultural/societal factors that contributed to the appearances of certain plagues in history, several human/societal errors come to light. The first would be that there was no sort of knowledge of simple hygiene, nor the knowledge of how dangerous it was to live with or beside animals. A great example of this dilemma would be the Black Death. People receiving this harsh and unforgiving disease from flies that found their host (rats, horses, cows, etc.) that lived particularly close to humans. That would be the cause of one of the deadliest plagues in history. 

In today’s time the public is more aware of plagues and can do a lot to prevent them. We now have public health departments that can warn the public of any infectious disease that can be lurking in the present time as well as ways to prevent getting the disease. They also look and make sure that the public water supply is not dangerous for the public. In all the health departments make their best efforts to inform the public of ways to stay safe and stay clear from infectious diseases.  Also, in today’s time a preventable measure to take to help reduce your chances of catching a disease is vaccines. That is just a small example of the modern ways of preventing infectious diseases. Advances in new technology is enhancing ways to find and cure more infectious diseases. An example is Ebola, a disease that we have never seen before but with an outbreak in Africa, we had a cure for it within 3 days. That’s the benefit of new technologies for fighting infectious diseases. One of the best challenges to come is staying up to date in infectious diseases and having the technology to discover new diseases that we do not have the cure for and make sure we can have a cure for them.