Introduction When explorers started exploring the New World they were excited and thrilled to start their new life and a new beginning. People started traveling to come to the new world and leave the old world behind them. Little did travelers know, however, when they arrived in the New World they brought the diseases from the old world they were exposed to in the Old World with them. Smallpox, typhus, cholera, and the measles were only the main ones that people brought with them. Nobody knew how to cure them, what caused it, and there was no way to get vaccinations or medicine for them like there is today. When people caught something they simply had to try to fight it off and most of the time it led to death unfortunately. The Indians relatively …show more content…
quickly got exposed to these diseases and it wasn’t long until their population drastically went down because of it. Their immune systems weren’t strong and as soon as they came in contact by air or touch of a disease there was no way to stop it. Historical Review When the crusades came from Europe to explore America, they brought along smallpox. After being infected, it takes around twelve days for the symptoms to appear such as a fever, headache, fatigue, vomiting, and body aches. Spots start to appear on the arms, hands, feet, and torso. The spots look like chicken pox, however, they soon turn into blisters filled with puss. In about nine days the blisters will scab over and fall off, but in severe cases the person could become blind from the blisters spreading. Usually the blisters covered the body rapidly and since there was no vaccination at the time, whoever came down with it died. The disease was so deadly that during the Seven Years War Lord Jeffrey Amherst purposely gave infected smallpox blankets to the Native Americans to make the population they would have to fight smaller. Since people from England had already been exposed to smallpox their bodies were capable of fighting it off and usually didn’t even show signs of it. They decided to use it to their advantage during the war. (Smallpox) In 1798, Edward Jenner made the first vaccination ever to be made. Jenner did research and discovered that cowpox and smallpox were very similar and found that the smallpox actually came from cows. He realized that dairymaids rarely got smallpox from being around the cows. He thought if you inject a human with a cowpox lesion it could possibly immune the human from smallpox. At first he injected prisoners and orphans. The experiment was successful and rapidly spread to save many people. (Riedel) Ship fever, jail fever, camp fever, no matter which one you pick, it will all lead back to the disease called typhus.
Typhus hit the European population during the Thirty Years war and came to the New World with explorers and soldiers. Typhus usually spread in crowded areas where people were living and where people were not showering often, so during war it often spreaded throughout the soldiers. Typhus was carried by louse and once the louse bit the human with a fever it would just start transporting louse into every person it could fine, so multiple soldiers would get bit by the louse and all come down with typhus around the same time. They would get a fever, start to have a headache and chills, and their body would come covered in red, scaly, dry and chapped rash. As their headache got worse, they would start to have seizures, some went into comas, and most of the time the soldiers who came down with it died. (Typhus) Typhus is treated with antibiotics such as Doxycycline, Tetracycine, and Chloramphenicol. Patients of age 60 or higher have the highest risk of death. Without treatment 10-60% of patients with epidemic typhus die. Less than 2% of untreated patients with murine typhus die. Antibiotics will nearly cure all patients. (Typhus …show more content…
Medline) Measles were also brought to the new world from travelers.
It started from a virus and spread throughout the air from when people coughed, sneezed, and breathed. Once people got infected by the virus they would get a fever usually in about two weeks and start coughing, which was followed by a rash. When the rash occurred their fever would get worse. They had a sore throat, red eyes, a runny nose, a bad cough, ear infections would sometimes occur, and diarrhea would occur sometimes as well. Usually children got measles because people would become immune to the disease as they grew up. Eventually so many people were immune to it less cases occurred. However, it wasn’t until the vaccination was made when it was fully treatable. (Measles) Even when people receive the vaccination it is important to remember to get revaccinated. In Orange County, there has been 21 cases of the measles in the year of 2014. This is the reason why people need to remember to get revaccinated. The first vaccination should happen at 12 months and second vaccination should happen around five or six.
(do,anh)
Conclusion
A disease brought to the new world from the old world corresponds with history because it came from the people that make up America. Smallpox, typhus, measles and many more diseases were once the main factor of people dying. Thanks to scientist, doctors, nurses, and the patients that either caught the diseases or were experimented on, we are able to get treatment and vaccinations for the almost, if not all of the diseases that were brought to new world from travelers looking to start a new life. People in that time frame were restarting life, having better job opportunities, and having the mind set of, “My life is finally going to start to get better.” When they caught the disease it was like all that hard work is for nothing now because they are most likely going to die. I feel like most of them had to die with a little bit of depression because they were working so hard to be successful and as soon as any disease started taking over the body it was like that person was already dead because they could not even move. It is very important that we continue to educate students on diseases brought to the new world because if we do not then people will forget to get vaccinated. When people forget to get vaccinated, they are more likely to come down with a disease. History would start to repeat itself and our population would start declining rapidly. Since we know the treatment, it would not decline as fast as it did before the vaccination, however, if it started to spread I believe it could very well take out a population as fast, if not faster than before, because we have more people now to spread it more quickly. During the process of research, I learned that smallpox caused people to be blind and that people could catch the disease just form talking to each other, typhus was mainly spread in the army due to the lack of sanitation and because they were usually confined in close quarters, and that measles is still having outbreaks today, however, the outbreaks are extremely down compared to when it first arrived in the new world. All of these diseases have changed the world one way or another and deserve to be recognized through history, so that people can continue to live healthy and free of deadly diseases.
References
Do, Anh. "Orange County Confirms 21 Cases of Measles." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
"Measles History." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 03 Nov. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
Communicable diseases are one of the major concerns in public health, as it poses a significant threat to the population. The study of epidemiology allows nurses to understand the cause of the disease and helps determine the levels of prevention to be implemented in order to limit the spread of the disease (Lundy & Janes, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to: a) use an epidemiological model to identify the organism involved in the case study, as well as its pathology, etiology, diagnosis, and prognosis; b) describe the distribution of health events within Schenectady; c) identify the determinants affecting morbidity and mortality; d) determine the deterrents that exists within the affected population; e) calculate the outbreak’s incubation period; f) identify the individuals affected during endemic levels; g) provide a list of foods that were most susceptible to mass contamination; and h) determine the people involved in the food borne outbreak and analyze the possible cause of this occurrence.
Human mobility, in terms of European transcontinental exploration and colonization, began to truly flourish after the 1400s. This travel, inspired by financial motives and justified by religious goals, resulted in the European dominance and decimation of countless cultures in both the Americas and Eurasia. While at first glance it seems as though this dominance was achieved through mainly military means - European militias, like Spanish conquistadors, rolling over native tribes with their technologically advanced weapons - the reality is significantly more complex. The Europeans, most likely unknowingly, employed another, equally deadly weapon during their exploits. With their travel, they brought with them the infectious diseases of their homelands, exposing the defenseless natives to foreign malady that their bodies had no hope of developing immunities against. Because of the nature of disease and their limited knowledge about its modes of infection, the Europeans were able to dispense highly contagious and mortal illnesses while limiting their contraction of any native ones to the new territories. In short, they were able to kill without being killed. In this way, the travel of disease in conjunction with the travel of humans in a search for exotic commodities was able to limit or even halt the development of some cultures while allowing others to flourish at exponential rates.
Soldiers faced diseases like measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, camp itch, mumps, typhoid and dysentery. However, diarrhea killed more soldiers than any other illness. There were many reasons that diseases were so common for the causes of death for soldiers. Reasons include the fact that there were poor physicals before entering the army, ignorance of medical information, lack of camp hygiene, insects that carried disease, lack of clothing and shoes, troops were crowded and in close quarters and inadequate food and water.
The outburst spread of diseases in a population causes people to panic and become hopeless. The main reason diseases spread is due to unsanitary living styles. Also when a disease first begins, it is really hard to find a cure right away. A very deadly, infectious disease known as Typhus spread during the Holocaust. Typhus is caused by rickettsia and is spread by lice and flees.
Disease was always something on the emigrants mind when traveling the Oregon trail, because they never knew when a friend or themselves would succumb to it. According to the Frontier trails, an estimated 50,000 people died from disease (Underwood). The emigrants of the oregon trail had to live through the fact knowing disease could strike at any time and claim another victim. It was hard for the colonists to deal with disease, they had a hard time telling which one it was and often required loads of work to help heal them. According to the National Parks Service, the most common disease were cholera, dysentery, mountain fever, measles, food poisoning, smallpox, and pneumonia (Death and Danger along the Trails). As one can see, the colonists had a hard time figuring out what beast they were fighting, and how to fight it, which is why they ost so many lives. As one can see, the colonists had a hard time figuring out what beast they were fighting, and how to fight it, which is why they lost so many
The outbreak of diseases ravages the Native population. Due to geographic regions and limitations, the Natives never suffered from such strong illnesses as smallpox, measles and the black plague. Some of the European colonies gave the Natives diseased infested animals and clothing. The English and the Natives did cooperate with each other due to it being in the best of their interests. Their mutual trust would later erode due to the English going back to their old habits and started to steal from the Natives.
“As European adventurers traversed the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they initiated the “Columbian Exchange” of plants, animals, and diseases.”(P. 26). The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. The exchange of plants, animals, diseases and more modernized technology, beginning after Columbus landing in the Americas in 1492. It lasted through the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, sheep and pigs were introduced to the Americas. The Americas introduced to Europe many new crops such as potatoes, beans, squash, and maize. In time Native people learned to raise European livestock and European and Africans planted American crops. This was the positive effect of the encounter and it was largely responsible for the doubling of the world’s population in the next three hundred years. There were also many negative effects to the “Columbian Exchange” A major consequence was the spread of disease in the New World. Diseases carried by Europeans and Africans devastated the population of the Americas. As Europeans traveled through the Americas epidemics came with them. Typhus, diphtheria, malaria, influenza, cholera, and smallpox killed many of the native people. One example was
With no treatment half of patients who enter the second phase die within ten to fourteen days. Similar to yellow fever, malaria was transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, causing symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and vomiting. Difficult to recognize at first malaria continues to cause yellowing of the skin, seizures, and even death; these symptoms normally begin after ten to fifteen days after being contracted. Malaria was brought over to early America through slavery and killed millions of people between the seventeenth and twentieth century. Throughout the growth and expansion of America there was been several disease outbreaks both endemic and epidemic such as small pox, measles, yellow fever, and malaria. Starting with the Colombian exchange and slavery these diseases were brought to the new world and spread like wildfires that devastated populations both native and nonnative. Most commonly known for the death toll on the native Americans these diseases were so costly due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate
In crowded conditions, the rate of infection is even more rapid. The diseases brought over to America were mainly spread by the respiratory method. The pathogenesis of infection is through the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Throughout Europe during the 15th century, food and water were contaminated with fecal matter and by unsanitary habits ( i.e. the lack of bathing). The traumatic route of infection is through insect and animal bites.
While the Europeans were traveling to the New World, they often brought domesticated animals with them for sources of food and livestock. When animals and humans are living in close quarters together, it is very likely for exposure to germs to occur. New diseases were brought over by foreigners looking for fame and gold that killed off many of the natives in the new lands. The natives did not stand a chance against these new threats because of a lack of knowledge and supplies to cure themselves. Once the Europeans established diseases as they made land in the New World, their journey had only become easier as their competition were being wiped out from the rapid spread.
That all changed, however, when European explorers, Spanish conquistadors in particular, unknowingly brought the deadly disease of smallpox into Latin America. A recollection of days before the Spanish by an Indian of the Yucatan from the book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel shows just how disease free natives were before the Spanish arrival: “There was then no sickness; they had no aching bones; they had then no high fever; they had then no smallpox; they had then no burning chest; they had then no abdominal pain; they had then no consumption; they had then no headache. At that time, the course of humanity was orderly. The foreigners made it otherwise when they arrived here.” Then, after the Spanish came to the New World and spread smallpox to the natives, over 95% of them were killed.
Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them. This triggered the largest population decline in all recorded history. Fifty percent of the Native American population had died of disease within twenty years. Soon after, Native Americans began to question their religion and doubted the ability of shamen to heal. This was the first step towards the destruction of Native cultures. The Native Americans had never experienced anything like these deadly diseases before and they came to believe that Europeans had the power to kill or give life.
When early Europeans arrived in the United States more than 500 years ago, they were surprised to see Native Americans recovering from illnesses and injuries that they considered fatal. In many ways, the Indians' herbal remedies were far superior to those known to the new immigrants. But, for the Native Americans, they had no remedies for the "diseases of civilization," or white man's diseases, such as measles and small pox, which would wipe out thousands of them over the next few centuries. Not
In 1978, the U.S. Public Health Service started vaccinating for measles. All school age children were vaccinated. Two years later the measles virus occurring went down 99 percent. Now days, measles is very rare and all children are vaccinated for it. Measles Measles is a highly contagious disease.
Vaccinations are not as dangerous as people make them seem, but not getting vaccinated is. Frances Childs states that “as the number of children who have not been immunized increases, so, too, does the likelihood of measles spreading”. Immunizations work by injecting a small amount of the virus into the patient (both children and adults). The patient’s immune system then builds up antibodies to fight against the virus, thus building immunity against the disease much more effectively. Vaccinations have a 90-100 percent chance of success.