Yesterday's Plague, Tomorrow's Pandemic?
A History of Disease Throughout the Ages
by
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This book examines the effect that a number of important infectious diseases have had on the history of the human race. The diseases discussed have been chosen for several reasons. They are not only important historically, but have been caused by a variety of different disease-causing entities including viruses, bacteria, protozoa and metazoa. They also describe diseases spread by a number of different mechanisms including person-to-person infection, droplet infection, diseases spread by fomites and those spread by vector transmission. The diseases considered also range over a considerable time span from malaria that has probably afflicted the human race and its ancestors for millions of years, to “modern” diseases such as bird flu and HIV/AIDS. As such, this book brings together numerous aspects of science and history.
The first chapter consists of a background dealing with a number of subjects such as microbial nomenclature and epidemiological aspects such as the carrier state. It also considers a number of the practical problems that arise when studying diseases in history.
An account of the ”History of Medicine” as practised by numerous cultures of antiquity is given in the second chapter followed by a description of their amalgamation and evolution into modern medical practices.
The chapter on the “History of Microbiology” includes the Greek theories of a rational, physical explanation for diseases as opposed to supernatural ones, and also includes the Roman ideas of disease-causing entities as postulated by writers such as Lucretius. The passage and evolution of these theories through Arab medicine into the modern day are discussed. Modern concepts of chemotherapy are explained and the potential of micro-organisms for biological warfare is considered.
Chapter four deals with the biology of micro-organisms and their division onto medically important groups.
The evolution of urban man and the co-evolution of crowd diseases are described in the next two chapters. This includes the influence of human migration, agriculture, farming and trade and also covers the concept of the species barrier and the importance of parasitism. An examination of the work of Malthus is included.
The history of the immunisation process and the work of Jenner, Pasteur and Koch are discussed and modern problems of vaccination such as the MMR vaccine are considered.
Epidemics of antiquity are described with considerable emphasis on the account of The Plague of Athens by Thucydides.
Chapter nine will no doubt be controversial. It initially describes the historical effects of The Plague of Justinian and the Black Death. The question is then asked whether the Black Death was bubonic plague and the conclusion is reached that it was not, but that it was more probably caused by a haemorrhagic virus.
Smallpox is one of the great killers of all time, although paradoxically it is the one disease that has been eliminated. The Antonine Plague is thought to have been a major factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire and it also played an important role in the colonisation of the Americas. The work of Jenner and the development of the vaccination process are described.
Leprosy and tuberculosis are combined in the same chapter as they are caused by bacteria from the same genus. Tuberculosis is currently an extremely important disease in the urban environment and is increasing in incidence due to the rise in HIV.
The year 1493 saw the advent of syphilis in Europe, a sexually transmitted infection described as the most xenophobic disease of all time. It was also the first bacterial disease to be treated successfully using a synthetic drug.
Chapter fifteen deals with a currently important problem, influenza, another of the great killer infections. The world wide death toll of the 1918 epidemic may have surpassed that of the Black Death. The recent pandemic of Mexican (swine) flu is discussed, as is the danger posed by bird flu. Also mentioned is the greatest health fiasco of all time, the 1976 flu pandemic that never was, which probably altered the course of the American election of that year.
Malaria is one of the most widespread diseases and has infected humans and our ancestors for so long that it has had a major influence on the genetic makeup of those populations affected. The discovery and history of quinine (Jesuit's bark) and the development of anti-malarial drugs is described. The chapter concludes with a short section on another protozoal disease, trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness).
Yellow fever is an important viral disease and the control of this and malaria were essential in the building of the Panama Canal, described in chapter seventeen.
Chapter eighteen deals with one of the latest scourges to attack humans, HIV and AIDS. The discovery of HIV and its unique method of attacking humans are discussed including the the problem of genetic resistance to the problem. The politics of AIDS treatment and the controversial question of whether the West should supply anti-retro viral drugs to those countries afflicted by high levels of AIDS is considered.
Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is the only metazoan disease discussed, but its importance is that it produces a debilitated population easily infected by more dangerous adversaries.
The last chapter looks at the influence of a number of factors on human disease and asks the question, “Could society withstand the impact of a major pandemic producing a mortality on the scale of the Black Death?” The conclusions may upset some people.
Although this book links various aspects of science with history, the science concepts are explained by an author with considerable teaching experience in such a manner as to make them easily understandable to the non-scientist.
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About the Book
Numerous deadly diseases have had a marked influence on the history of the human race. This book attempts to bring together various aspects of medical science such as virology and bacteriology and link them to history.
It starts by examining a number of basic microbiological concepts and follows this with discussions of the historical development of medicine and microbiology. This is followed by an account of different disease-causing micro-organisms including a section on pathogenic metazoa such as worms.
The genetic and social evolution of urban humans is closely linked to the evolution of many epidemic diseases and these are discussed in detail. Chapter 7 brings these two subjects together with an account of the human immune system, the human response to disease and the history and development of immunisation processes.
There is a brief chapter on the diseases of antiquity focusing on The Plague of Athens in the fifth century BC.
Many readers will find the chapter on the Black Death controversial as it asks the question, “Was this pandemic Bubonic Plague”?
A series of chapters dealing with specific diseases follows. These include smallpox that initiated the vaccination process, cholera that led to our modern understanding of sanitation and water purification and tuberculosis that led to pasteurisation.
The final chapter asks a number of questions and attempts to answer them. These include, “Will there be further pandemics in the 21st century, is it possible to predict their identity and what effect will they have on the human species”?
The author's intention is to make this book accessible to non-scientists, and scientific concepts have been explained as simply as possible. Further reading has also been selected with the intention of it being easily available in non-specialist libraries.
About the Author
Dr R. Kinsey Dart was awarded a degree in Microbiology from the University of Wales (Cardiff) in 1963 and received his doctorate from the same University in 1966. Kinsey spent two years as assistant lecturer at the University of Hull and then went to Canada for two years as a post-doctoral fellow at The Research Council of Alberta. He returned to the UK as a Research Council Fellow and in 1971 he was appointed as lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at Loughborough University. He remained there until he retired as senior lecturer in 2004.
Whilst at Loughborough, Kinsey lectured mainly on the degree and MSc courses in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, being responsible for the biochemistry, much of the bacteriology and genetics aspects of the courses. He also supervised a number of doctoral students.
Kinsey has always had a keen amateur interest in history and since his retirement he has fostered this interest. He is fascinated by the influence that various diseases have had on historical events, and realised the omission and lack of interest that many historians give to this aspect of the subject. As a microbiologist, he is ideally placed to rectify this omission and this book is an attempt to do so. Since his retirement he has been invited to give talks to the University of the Third Age and local history groups on some of the diseases mentioned in this book and their influence on history.
This is his fourth book, the first three being scientific texts. He has also published several review articles and some seventy scientific papers.