Month: March 2017

The potato was the staple food of Ireland, and arrived from South America during the 16th century. It contained vitamins fiber and carbohydrates which allowed this one plant to feed an entire country. Additionally, it was well-suited to Ireland’s damp climate and a large amount of people could be fed on an extremely small amount of land. This combination of factors caused a population explosion, however the population was very much dependent on the potato crop. In fact, the average consumption was fourteen pounds of potatoes a day. The dependence of the impoverished Irish population on the potato caused it … Continue reading Artifact 5: Irish Potato Blight

Smallpox has been described as one of the most devastating diseases in human history because of its ease of transmission and fatality combined with its disfiguring symptoms. The disease is very easy to transmit because it is contagious before it is symptomatic. Therefore, people can spread the disease before they realize that they have it. This allowed the disease to infect entire populations and made it seem almost inescapable. Living during a small pox epidemic was very much a game of chance. Exposure to the disease was practically certain, and for much of the time that the disease was active the … Continue reading Artifact 4: Smallpox and Vaccines

When dealing with a disease that is debilitating or potentially fatal, the rights of the population must take precedence over the rights of the individual while preserving the rights of the individual whenever possible. For example, individuals should be allowed to choose whether or not to get vaccinated, but those who choose not to get vaccinated should be prevented from attending public schools where they may spread diseases to those who cannot be vaccinated. In this situation, the individual right to not be vaccinated is protected while the population’s right to not be infected with a preventable disease takes priority. … Continue reading Artifact 3: Ethics and Infectious Diseases