Disease has shaped history in ways most wars never could, there has been no higher death tolls on the planet like pathogens are capable of producing. Nothing has put fear and chaos into the human race like plagues have done. Many people during outbreaks lose all hope in survival after witnessing their loved ones die horrific deaths. Some believe these onsets are caused by sin and eventually lose their faith. The artifact assignments I have produced have been key in my understanding the effect diseases has had on society. Each artifact explored a different pathogen and how it attacks the human body, culture, and spirit revealing its adverse effects on history.
Each major epidemic has left its mark on cultures and can be felt for generations. There have been several diseases that have caused cultural norms to change due to the nature of the disease. For example, the Ebola virus has drastically changed the culture in the African Continent particularly with the burial practices of the dead. I researched extensively on Ebola for my emerging diseases project and have learned about how devastating the disease is. Traditionally, the dead are washed and touched extensively out of love and respect. The Ebola virus is highly contagious and survives in a dead body after death for several days which would infect anyone who came in contact with it. To effectively dispose of human remains infected with ebola, the body must be handled with full personal protective equipment (PPE) and be cremated or buried in a sealed biohazardous wrapping to keep anything in the ground or anyone from becoming infected from the remains. The culture practices of handling the remains will eventually die off as more and more become infected with ebola. It was described by one of the African women in the PBS video that, “Ebola is spread through love” the close contact loved ones do for their sick family infects them.
Artifact 1 was crucial to my initial understanding of how disease is spread and even why it spreads. More than 70% of all emerging diseases are zoonotic in nature and are extremely deadly to humans. The more civilization cuts into forests and jungles the more we become exposed to animals that carrier these deadly zoonotic diseases. As I explained in the first artifact,
“In the prehistoric era, early humans were hunter gatherers where they migrated exclusively having little to no contact with any other group of humans. The groups had a low birth rate and which created little to no diversity. Even in the event of disease breaking out, it would not travel far because the group of infected would die off before they came in contact with other humans. According to the powerpoint between 8000 BCE to 1750 CE the population increased 160 times to 800 million. Once the agricultural revolution began, humans began to settle due to the availability of food sources. More food meant more humans and due to a lack of sanitation or healthy habits humans, animals and all of their feces were all in close proximity of each other. Disease was easily transferred to a human host from an animal and even easier from human to human. This type of epidemics recurred throughout history and it happened everywhere in the world. In the prosperous egyptian civilization mummies provided evidence of smallpox infections. The Black death that swept through Europe was Yersinia pestis. Influenza took hold of the United States in the early 1900’s claiming millions of lives. The industrial revolution brought the biggest population boom in history and continue the human race to a rate of exponential growth. With more humans, there are more ways for a pathogen to continue to spread itself and with a increasingly interconnected world it has become that much easier”.

Globalization was a major factor in the spread of disease; the interconnected world is what makes it possible for these pathogens thrive. The influenza outbreak in the 1900’s is a similar example of changes in societal culture. Women shortened the length of their dresses to stop from dragging germs around. No one felt safe because there was no way to be safe during this outbreak. There wasn’t a good enough understanding on germ transmission.
Many ponder how society would react if a modern plague were to breakout that has similar mortality rates as the Black Death or even if an existing pathogen like Smallpox were to. In artifact 2 “Plague” I explained how Yersinia Pestis is the organism responsible for the Black Death was transmitted from fleas that rats carried. Originating in China, it spread along the silk road and made it way aboard ships and into ports all over Europe. The only medicinal answer for illness in this time period were mismas and sins. The poor sanitation, high density populations, and lack of understanding of germs made the perfect setting for the disease to spread like wildfire. No one was safe, millions fell victim to the horrible disease. There was complete hysteria, there was a loss of hope and even their faith in their gods. In artifact 2 I explained,
“Yersinia pestis still thrives today and is biologically identical to the original outbreaks during the Justinian Plague. The pathogen transmits in three ways: Boobonic which is where the disease attacks the lymph nodes, systemic is the disease in the blood stream, and mnemonic which is the transmission of the disease through droplets in the respiratory system. Much like during the age of the black death, a epidemic as come up from China. Infected fleas with plague arrived on the West Coast of the United States and started a outbreak in Los Angeles. Although the outbreak was contained, the disease has made itself into the animal population throughout the West Coast where it still produces cases of Plague. The biggest cause of current cases in the U.S. is due to common house pets becoming infected by a rodet and then transmitting it to the owner. The best treatment against the plague is early recognition to begin treatment”.

Even though in modern society there is a better understanding of germs, illness, and pathogens, I believe there would be a similar response if up to half of the Earth’s population was lost to a pathogen. History has shown how easily the human spirit and can shocked. The epidemics of TB, HIV/AIDs, Ebola, Zika, Yersinia Pestis, and Smallpox have all shown how culture suffers during these times. There is also a new enemy involved with a modern epidemic, the world is much closer together in terms of travel and even more densely populated. Civilization is moving more and more into untamed natural environments where new disease lay dormant. If we were to release a deadly disease from the environment, there will be no shortage of hosts for a virus to spread to more than half of the world’s 7 billion person population. And with world travel becoming faster and and more efficient and the human population growing at an exponential rate, the perfect conditions are being set. Nature wants to survive as much as a human does; these pathogens will find ways to mutate and spread in order to ensure its survival.
Plagues have more of a effect on history than wars have, it’s clear to see when just comparing the death toll of an outbreak as opposed to a hostile conflict. The Black Death killed more people than all of human history’s worlds combined. They have shaped the way we think, interact, and operate as societies and will continue to. While modern medicine makes many feel safe in the world today, globalization will ensure a disease spreads before any type of response by the CDC or WHO could do to stop it. The Earth goes through cycles of change throughout its lifetime and no matter how much humanity believes their civilized world cannot be touched, we’re in for a rude awakening.