GGR329H5 Lecture Notes - Smallpox, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, African Trypanosomiasis
Document Summary
Key point: germs killed 90-95% of americas" population. This scourge of the human race, totally unknown hitherto in the new world . Stearn (the effect of smallpox on the destiny of the amerindian) 1. 15 m in north america (james mooney, 1910) 18 m north america more recent: europe at the time. First europeans would often have encountered depopulated areas. Other problems: small pox spreads, slowly, not very far (victim cannot move, different strains of small pox. Took several decades to have an impact: lethal gift of livestock. Diseases always have been biggest killers of people, often major reason for death. Evolutionary benefits from making us sick: genital sores. Microbes modify our bodies / behavior in order to spread microbes . How do microbes spread: wait for their host to be eaten by another host, salmonella bacteria in, eggs, meat, worms in meat, hitchhiking. In saliva of insect that bites old host.
