Homestead mailing list

[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

tvoivozhd---we had a fool on the list a couple years back who said we 
ought to get rid of the CDC because for-profit hospitals which would 
perform all the functions of the CDC would magically take the CDC place 
and relieve taxpayers from paying for anything relating to public 
health.  Pandemic history periodically killing millions of people 
illustrate his profound lack of reasoning power so far as for-profits 
responding to non-profit objectives.


  
Say what you want! PRAVDA.Ru will hear you! ==
      
Front page / Science and Health / Science / Discoveries
Plague and flu change history of the world
01/27/2005 17:50

The history of humanity is inseparable from the history of

epidemics

Specialists distinguish outbursts of serious infectious

diseases into pandemics and epidemics. Millions of people

may die all over the world as a result of a pandemic,

whereas an epidemic is of a smaller scale.

Several large-scale pandemics have been registered in the

history of the human civilization. The majority of them

were of zoonotic character, when people caught diseases

from animals. Smallpox, diphtheria, flu and TB are the

diseases that carry a global danger.

A large number of people may die from illnesses, which are

usually not referred to as life-threatening. Flu is the

brightest example: the mutating ability of the flu virus

turns the disease into a more dangerous form every 40

years. The whole world was grieving in 1918, when it was

struck with the Spanish flu virus. This epidemic can be

categorized as one of the first epidemics of the

globalization epoch. The epidemic started prior to the end

of WWI. Wartime conditions were perfect for the fast

distribution of the virus. Millions of people were

suffering from the lack of water and healthy food,

soldiers were physically exhausted and the weather was

cold and windy. It took the virus mere weeks to strike

Germany, France, Italy and other countries of Central

Europe. When the war was over, soldiers took the virus to

America, Africa, Australia and Asia, as they were

returning to their homes. Spanish flu killed about 17

million people in India and 200 thousand in England. Every

fourth American had the virus during the epidemic, up to

675,000 of them died. The average life span in the States

dropped from 56 to 39 years as a result.

The history of humanity is inseparable from the history of

epidemics. It is generally believed that the smallpox

epidemic, which broke out in elite units of the Persian

army, allowed Greece to keep its independence and create

glorious culture. An identified disease killed a quarter

of Athens population in the year 430 B.C. The tragedy made

Athens lose its dominating positions in Ancient Greece for

a certain period of time. An outburst of Antonine Plague,

most likely smallpox, occurred in 165-180: about five

million people were killed with the disease. More than 5,

000 people were dying in Rome daily during a second

outburst of the disease in 255-266. As a result, the Roman

Empire had to suspend its aggressive crusades.

It is an open secret that plague exerted an intense

influence on the history of mankind. The first epidemic

known as Plague of Justinian took place in Byzantium in

the VI century. Plague killed about 100 million people in

50 years. Having started in Egypt, the epidemic reached

Constantinople, where it started killing 10,000 on a daily

basis. Several European regions, Italy for example, became

depopulated.

Bubonic plague, or black death hit the world in the XIV

century - it destroyed about one-third of the Asian and a

half of the European population. The epidemic caused

several well-known rebellions in Great Britain, France,

Italy and so on. When the epidemic was over, the

development of the civilization took a different turn.

Employees started receiving higher wages because of the

considerable reduction of the labor force, the role of

cities increased a lot and the development of bourgeoisie

commenced. Furthermore, considerable progress was achieved

in the field of medicine and hygiene.

The third epidemic of plague broke out at the end of the

XIX century. Rats were spreading the disease very fast as

they were traveling from one sea port to another. The

third epidemic of plague was over with a scientific

breakthrough. Scientists discovered the pathogenic

organism of the disease in 1894.

Epidemics affected people's religious preferences too.

When plague was raging on Cyprus in 250-271, a lot of

local population converted to Christianity. The smallpox

epidemic in Japan (VIII-IX centuries) eventually resulted

in the triumph of Buddhism. Xenophobia and brutality,

however, were much more common during epidemic years.

Infidels or people of other nationalities (Jews and

Gypsies in Europe) were usually declared "evil-doers" at

this point. It was originally believed that AIDS, for

example, was a solely homosexual disease, which was not

dangerous to heterosexual individuals. The first title

that was given to the greatest tragedy of the XX century

was: Gay Related Immune Deficiency.

The first epidemic, which can be considered as a side

effect of great geographical discoveries, was registered

at the end of the XV century. The syphilis pathogen found

itself in Europe after the discovery of America. Syphilis

became the most horrible sexually transmitted disease.

Syphilis raised the authority of religion in the society:

the disease was considered a punishment for sinners.

A large-scale epidemic of cholera took place in the XVIII

century. The XIX century was marked with a horrible yellow

fever epidemic. The epidemic of poliomyelitis struck the

world in 1916. The start of the Ebola Fever epidemic was

registered in the 1970s - the horrible disease was killing

90 percent of the infected people. The recent SARS

epidemic in 2003 resulted in an economic setback in Asian

countries and caused a considerable damage to the tourist

industry.

Experts of the World Health Organization believe that

outbursts of such diseases as Ebola and Lassa fevers, as

well as the Magdeburg virus, may pose a big threat to

humanity in the future. Now-defunct illnesses, such as

smallpox, may return to the world of humans again too.