In The World Right Now There Are Over 7 Billion Human Beings

Infections can be spread through many things, these include; food borne infection, person to person, water borne infection, airborne infection, insect borne infection and fomites.

The pandemic struck the world and infected 1/3 of earth’s human population, killing over 50 million humans. The world’s top doctors have never witnessed anything of this killing magnitude besides the bubonic plague of 1348 but the transmissibility is of nothing they’ve ever seen in their lifetime or of recorded history. People abruptly became aware of the importance of health, and need of medicine and cleanliness.

Infectious epidemics and pandemics have happened all through mankind's history. “They remain the prime cause of death worldwide and will not be conquered during our lifetimes.” The flu of 1918 was one of the deadliest epidemics in history. “It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.” No one knew how the virus spread, there were no antibiotics to fight it, and no flu shots to prevent it. In the final year of World War I, it struck terror in the hearts of people all across Europe and left more death in its wake than the combined military actions of the combatants. “It killed more Americans in a few months than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the

Throughout history the human race has been faced with one key factor that no one civilization has even been able to beat, not the might of the Roman-Byzantine Empire, nor the combined efforts of the entirety of Europe and their scholars could defeat this recurring foe. Pandemics, from the Greek ‘pan’ meaning all, and ‘demos’ meaning people (Harper Etymonline.com), are these indiscriminate killers whom care not for your social standing be it wealth, fame, or glory. Humans have contested with disease ever since the infantile stages of the species, but the ability of it to spread was severely inhibited by the fact that humans stayed in small groups of 10-30 people at most, giving the virus or disease severely hampered virulence. It was not till humans began gathering in larger, more permanent settlements such as the early Classical cities of Athens, Ramses, and Rome, that the issue of sanitation and disease came into effect. This has not to say that our issues with sanitation and disease prevention have stopped, rather have they been brought forward into the limelight, many nations around the world today have issues with age old diseases and give rise to extremely deadly new viruses of their own. To fully understand the effect of pandemics in history, then one must consider three major plagues of our recorded history, the first pandemic ‘Plague of Athens’, the pivotal ‘Plague of Justinian’, and the infamous ‘Black Death’

The spread of infection requires three elements. The first is; A source of infecting microorganisms: This could be an exogenous infection which arises from microorganisms external to the individual and do not exist as normal flora. They usually have a preferred portal of entry like the gastrointestinal for Salmonella. Another source is endogenous infections which can occur when part of the client’s flora becomes altered and an overgrowth results e.g. Yeasts infection. Second requirement is means of transmission for the microorganism, which also explains the three primary modes of pathogen transmission. For example, vertical transmission is when a pathogen is

Although populations in ancient societies suffered attacks, invasions, starvation, and persecution, there was a more efficient killer that exterminated countless people. The most dreaded killers in the ancient world were disease, infections and epidemics. In many major wars the main peril was not gunfire, nor assault, but the easily communicable diseases that rapidly wiped out whole divisions of closely quartered soldiers. Until the time of Hippocrates, in the struggle between life and death, it was, more often than not, death that prevailed when a malady was involved. In the modern world, although illness is still a concern, advances in thought and technique have led to the highest birth rates in recorded history. No longer is a fever a

However, disease on the epidemic scale did not appear till certain conditions existed, conditions created namely by the Agricultural Revolution. As communities became more sedentary and developed a more stable means of food production through the domestication of animals and irrigation processes, populations were able to increase at exponential rates, one of the fundamental prerequisites for an epidemic outbreak. An increased population translated into closer living conditions, less sanitary means of waste disposal due to sheer volume, and typically, poorer nutrition, making people more susceptible to a breakdown of the immune system. A higher population, in comparison to that of their hunting and gathering predecessors, meant a greater chance for contracting an illness. Equally important, the Agricultural Revolution demanded the domestication of animals. In living in close proximity to cattle, hogs, and other useful livestock, a phenomenon known as species cross-over took place. This species cross-over refers to the mutation of diseases typically found in livestock to a new form that seeks out a human host. The most classic and devastating example is small pox, a highly fatal disease that causes sores to form on the body and known in cattle as cowpox (Ponting, 225-226). This, coupled with irrigation, providing a host for water-born diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis, sheds a bit of light on the magnitude of the influence of the Agricultural

Currently, one of the major problems in the world is the rapid change of our climate. Years of research and studies have linked climate change to the spreading and occurrence of many infectious diseases. Vectors and pathogens that were not able to spread to certain countries before because temperatures were too low for them to survive in are now being able to habituate these parts of the world because of how much warmer our planet is becoming. This is concerning to us because infectious diseases can increase death rates. Therefore, if our planet continues to get warmer, the more infectious diseases will spread, and the more humans will die. This research paper attempts to provide a better understanding on how diseases are spreading more

Hospital acquired infections are spread by numerous routes including contact, intravenous routes, air, water, oral routes, and through surgery. The most common types of infections in hospitals include urinary tract infections (32%),

Every listing of the infectious diseases is easy to read because it is elucidated under different subcategories that give a clear understanding of the disease. These subcategories include Identification, mode of transmission, infectious agent and occurrence, incubation period, risk factor and resistance. 2. Current diagnosis & treatment in infectious diseases. New York: Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill, Medical Pub.

“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus” Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg once said. Throughout history, this statement has proved to be true. In fourteenth century Europe, the Bubonic Plague killed off almost half of the European population. During the first interactions between Columbus and the natives, Smallpox eradicated entire Native tribes. And in the time of the Industrial Revolution, cholera outbreaks have left millions dead. Since their outbreaks, many of these deadly viruses have been met with cures, saving millions of lives to come. However, for almost 3,500 years, one incurable virus had been attacking humanity: the poliovirus.1P

“Only yesterday mankind lived in fear of the scourges of smallpox, cholera, and plague………….. Today we are concerned with a different kind of hazard that lurks in our environment—a hazard we ourselves have introduced into our world as our modern way of life has evolved.”

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.

Because improvements in nutrition and sanitation have been made, many epidemics have ended. As longevity of life increases, chronic diseases have taken the place of infectious disease as the leading cause of death. The different modes of transmission, disease development, and disease spectrum are all important factors to consider when studying the transmission of communicable diseases. It is also important to know about emerging infectious diseases. It is important to be aware of these diseases so that signs of these symptoms can be easily recognizable to provide the best patient care.

When reflecting on the history of the human species, it is said that the narrative of mankind and infectious diseases are intertwined. For centuries, humans have been exposed to a seemingly infinite amount of contagions. Many viruses, bacteria, and fungi have plagued human beings for ages and have eradicated populations thousands at a time. Through medical innovations and the advancement of scientific knowledge, humans have been able to combat disease and disease-carrying vectors. Through proper hygiene, antibiotics and vaccinations humans have been able to control and eliminate many viruses and bacteria. It would seem that with the growing amount of medical knowledge, that infections would be less common, but this is not the case.