Over the course of this semester, I have learned that there is a deep connection between societies and their impact on the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases and epidemics. Many factors throughout history have contributed to this societal impact- poverty, urbanization, human-animal interactions, and sanitation, to name a few. However, I have found that […]
In 1981, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and subsequently Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), first appeared in the U. S., there were just 12 cases. By 1994, there were 400,000 cases and in 2014 there were approximately one million cases in the U. S. with almost 37 million cases world wide.1 Before 1981, HIV/AIDS was unheard of […]
Cholera is a water- and food-borne disease caused by Vibro cholerae.1 Within the past two centuries, there have been seven cholera epidemics throughout the world, causing millions of deaths.2 Most of the pandemics from the 19th into the 20th centuries have been the result of the classical biotype of cholera. The current pandemic (seventh), is resultant […]
One fourth of the world’s population is infected with Tuberculosis and over one million people worldwide died from it last year alone.1 Tuberculosis, also known as phthisis, tabes, or consumption, is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis.2 It is spread when droplets are sneezed or exhaled and primarily affects the lungs while also targeting the kidneys, […]
What was the Irish Potato Blight? Originating in South America, Spanish conquistadors brought the potato to Europe in the 1500s. Before the end of the century, Sir Walter Raleigh had introduced the potato to Ireland. By the 1700s, the country relied heavily on the crop as a food staple.1 Ireland’s cool, damp, and cloudy climate […]
Ethics: the prinicples of conduct governing and individual or group1 Whenever there is an outbreak of an infectious disease decisions must be made on how best to deal with it. If there is not much known about the disease, research on it may ensue– this may also be the case for older diseases that still […]
Smallpox Through History It is unknown just how long smallpox has taken its toll on the human population throughout history. Egyptian mummies from 1570 to 1085 A.D. have been found with the tell-tale sign of the disease, pouch-like pock marks on the skin- among these mummies was the ruler Pharaoh Ramsey the Fifth.1,2,3 Smallpox is thought […]
Yersinia pestis: The Plague Yersinia pestis is possibly the deadliest pathogen the world has ever seen. Y. pestis has caused three pandemics of plague throughout history and could very well cause more in the future. The first time plague emerged, under the name of Justinian Plague, it appeared in Constantinople of the Roman Empire during the rule of […]
Emerging infectious diseases are infections that have recently appeared within a population or those whose incidence or geographic range is rapidly increasing or threatens to increase in the near future1 Emerging and re-emerging diseases are an increasingly more important and pressing issue in the world today. Zoonotic infections are one source of these emerging and […]