Over the course of this past semester, I have learned a plethora about infectious diseases that are present in our global society. As an international studies major, I haven’t taken many science classes, and I wanted to use this last semester here at VMI to expand my boundaries and learn about topics that I have not previously studied. I believe that the assignments that I completed in this class over the past semester have taught me much about epidemics and society and my knowledge about this topic has evolved and matured greatly over the past few months.

Plagues over the course of our history as humans have greatly affected society as a whole, from wars, to medicine, to religion, and especially science. Perhaps the most prolific plague was the Black Plague that occurred in medieval times. This particular plague is so notorious in part due to the massive amount of lives that were lost, but also because of the massive societal changes that were brought about as a result of it.

The Black Plague had a heavy impact on society as a whole for many reasons. The social hierarchy was strongly affected, as many people in every social class were killed off by the plague. This allowed for a greater amount of social mobility, and people were not nearly as entrenched in their past levels of social standing as they were before the plague. Following the plague, farmers were able to own their own land and were not forced to be subservient to noble elites. This also meant that people in the upper classes had to start doing manual labor for themselves. People in the upper classes now had to farm for themselves, a practice that they were not used to and were definitely not good at. As a result, the people in the lower social class levels started to rise in standing, creating a new society that was more egalitarian and much less fractured. Although tragic, this was a positive outcome that was created by the plague.

Before the plague, people had an inordinate amount of faith in the church and religion as a whole. The plague brought about a period of great enlightenment because people began to see the flaws in blindly following every single practice that the church put forth on its agenda. This is due to the fact that at the peak of the plague, when every third person was dying as a result of the disease spreading around, religious elites were hiding away when the general public needed them the most. Citizens were imploring with priests around Europe, trying to get a final prayer in for their loved ones, but were constantly turned away, as the clergy was fearful of their own health repercussions if they interacted with infected people. The public took notice of the church’s shortcomings here, and started to lose faith in the church as a whole, which prompted society to look elsewhere for answers.

Perhaps the plague’s greatest benefit to society was the increased emphasis on science and medicine following the end of all the death. It was obvious that the church was not a reliable source of answers at this point, and that people had to take matters into their own hands. Although it was tragic to see the large amount of death that occurred, medical professionals were able to perform autopsies, opening up the bodies of deceased civilians to find out more about human anatomy. With a greater knowledge of the inside of the human body, it was much easier to figure out how the body actually works, and therefore figure out how to prevent and treat various diseases.

The plague also brought about the first development of preventative measures in disease control. People around the world were desperate to avoid being affected by the plague. As a result, they began to get creative in how they were trying to prevent this disease. Humans began injecting themselves with small scabs found on sick people, as well as sniffing the scabs up their noses. Some people even turned this practice into a social gathering, hosting parties to keep themselves healthy where everyone would inject themselves with the scabs from a sick person.

Societies have had a huge effect on infectious diseases as a whole. For starters, humans were never really meant to be sedentary people. In our early times, we were hunter gatherers, always on the move, in search of now sources of food. As agriculture developed along with the domestication of animals, we as a society learned that we no longer had to be constantly on the move, but could finally settle down and create larger families in one place. This allowed for the easier spread of disease. When humans were constantly migrating, it was hard for disease to take a strong foothold, as the vectors just simply weren’t present. In a sedentary lifestyle, people are not nearly as mobile, and it is much easier for disease to be passed from person to person. This is due to the fact that people interact with each other much more in a sedentary society, allowing for more possible circumstances for the disease to be carried on. In addition to this, the presence of agriculture provides an excellent place for diseases to thrive. This is continued today in cities where people are pressed up on top of each other without much space to even breathe. Infectious diseases live in harmony in these cities, as they are able to bounce from host to host with relative ease.

I have learned so much in this course, and I am very glad that I decided to learn about a new topic such as infectious diseases. I’m not sure how much of this knowledge I can carry over into my professional work. However, I know that it has changed my own personal mindset, as I am now much more health conscious than I was before taking this course.