snearls17's blog | NOT just another VMI ePortfolio site.

snearls17's blog

NOT just another VMI ePortfolio site.

Troubles in Ireland – Artifact 5

The Irish Potato Blight Potatoes are just another luxury that the modern world could feasibly do without. But the world has not always been so. We did not always have access to every imaginable crop grown in every imaginable place. Around the 1850s, the Irish persisted also solely on potatoes as their food source. When…

Smallpox and Vaccines – Artifact 4

The Old World Smallpox has been called one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity, but in the modern world it doesn’t even exist. Living in the old world, almost everyone would be subject to a smallpox infection. Initial systems begin 7 to 17 days after exposure and begin with high fever, body aches,…

Ethics and Infectious Diseases – Artifact 3

In 1967, William Stewart, the Surgeon General of the United States of America said: “The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases. We have basically wiped out infection in the United States.” No doubt, the good Dr. Stewart wanted to be the guy that eradicated disease. Unfortunately, he could not have been…

Plague: Yesterday and Today – Artifact 2

Historical Aspects: By some accounts, the Black Death has claimed more lives than World War one and two combined. That represents a number that is very nearly incomprehensible. As rational human beings, we want to know why. Why was the bubonic plague so incredibly deadly at that stage in history? What could we have done better?…

The Sedentary Lifestyle – Artifact 1

Historical: We are not alone. Every day of our lives, from preconception to postmortem, we coexist with millions upon millions of microorganisms. Most of these live symbiotically with us, but a few have evolved in such a way as to spread more rapidly and, unfortunately, some make us sick. In ‘ye olden days’ such disease-causing…