1. Epidemics and the Environment
It is caused by an infection of the intestine, and in many cases it can be very severe. It is characterized by lavish watery diarrhea, leg cramps and vomiting. Rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. The agent that causes cholera is the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which was discovered by Robert Koch in 1883. Without proper treatment, death can occur within hours. Even though, Cholera can be prevented very easily. In regions of the world with advanced water and sanitation systems, cholera is less widespread. In highly endemic areas, it is mainly a disease of young children. When cholera occurs in unprepared communities, the fatality rate can be up to 50%, usually because there are no facilities for treatment. The cholera epidemic of January 1991 started in South America and quickly spread to eleven countries.
The source of contamination is most commonly found in the excrement of an infected person. The disease can spread rapidly in areas with insufficient treatment of sewage and drinking water. The disease is not likely to spread from one person to another through casual contact with an infected person. Cholera can be successfully treated by the replacement of the salts and fluids lost through diarrhea. People can be treated with oral hydration. This is used throughout the world to treat diarrhea. Some treatment consists of packets containing the correct mixture of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, and glucose have been made widely available by the WHO. Most patients recover in three to six days. Antibiotics such as tetracyclines, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole can shorten the duration of the disease. Antibiotics diminish the discomfort of the illness, but they are not as effective as hydration. .
Severe cases also require fluid replacement. People who develop severe diarrhea and vomiting should seek medical attention immediately. Less than 1% of cholera patients die with hydration.
... polio or "infantile paralysis," is an acute viral infection caused by the poliovirus. In the past, because of the many cases and critical results from epidemics of polio, people feared the disease since it had left many patients paralyzed for life, and it sometimes killed people. In the 1950's, a vaccine ... for polio. The vaccine was uncertain and unreliable. At best, the immunity it gave was short-lived, probably five to eight weeks. In some epidemics of polio, the vaccine did not appear to have the desired effects. In some European countries, in 1953, there were 40 cases of polio ... ...
... Half of the victims that enter the second stage die within 10-14 days while the remainder recover without significant organ damage. Yellow fever epidemics have hit European seaports and many American towns and cities leaving behind devastating results. It probably originated in Africa and was transported via shipping ... to port cities in the New World, where from 1668 to 1893 it erupted in 135 major epidemics, leaving behind panic, fear, and widespread death. New Orleans, Louisiana, Memphis, and Philadelphia were among the hardest hit. In 1793, 1 of every ... died. In New Orleans, duri...
... of more than 800,000 Frenchmen were lost in the construction in addition to the thousands of lives lost in the jungle.1 French failures were mainly accredited to the disease epidemics, inadequate financing, poor engineering, the harsh jungle environment, and lack of political support. De Lessups, though a hero to the French people for his work in Egypt, was not a trained engineer ... workers fell victim to the bite of venomous species of animals that thrived in the jungle. The most tragic and shocking problems on the canal were the newly encountered disease epidemics in the jungles of P...
... "infantile paralysis," is an acute viral infection caused by the poliovirus (Schulelein ##-##). In the past, because of the many cases and critical results from epidemics of polio, people feared the disease since it had left many patients paralyzed for life, and it sometimes killed people (Daniel 23). In the 1950 ... vaccine was uncertain and unreliable. At best, the immunity it gave was short-lived, probably five to eight weeks (Bruno 80-81). In some epidemics of polio, the vaccine did not appear to have the desired effects. In some European countries, in 1953, there were 40 cases of pol...
... pharaoh Ramses V who died in 1156 BC, whose body has evidence of pustules, which is the scar the smallpox leaves. Historians also believe that smallpox was the cause of many epidemics (widespread occurrence of a disease in a community at a particular time) in history including the great plague of Athens in 430 BC and a plague carried to Italy by a Roman army returning from ... Africa in the 12th century as people started to trade, go on pilgrimages, and immigrate ("Smallpox" Encyclopedia Britannica). Even though historians think smallpox was the cause of many epidemics and endemics in h...
... whole project being brought down by the earthquakes. The region thus ever remained underdeveloped and couldn't match the other growing states. Epidemics Due to the high growth rate in the human population, there was a possibility of outbreak of a number of epidemics and diseases such as contagious diseases like cholera and typhoid that are contracted from the use and consumption of contaminated water ... people of the society lowering food production and supply. From such infections they were very vulnerable and could not face the enemy. Environmental degradation also promoted the outbr...
... . Therefore, anyone who can, should get vaccinated in order to deep the disease under control. Through vaccinations, diseases can be controlled from passing to other people and this can stop epidemics from occurring. If enough people in a population gets vaccinated against the same disease, the disease can become permanently eliminated which is a positive social implication of vaccinating (10). At the same ... need to remember to keep up the rate of vaccination, or the disease may come back. CDC states, that if we were to stop vaccinating, before long we would see epidemics of diseases t...
... and later the Black Death plague followed by the nineteenth to twentieth century plague, conveys that the disease was never fully gone during the Medieval period. There were Great European epidemics and famine and it is argued that the disasters were due to the climate downturn at the time. The plague came in three different forms: Bubonic, which is more widely ... as it heavily added to the long ongoing crises at the time and had huge consequences on famine, social and economical aspects of society at the time of these great epidemics. First, the Justinian plague entered Europe around ...