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Epidemics of America

Diseases have ravaged human populations for thousands of years, bringing down kings and kingdoms. How have epidemics affected life in the United States?

Smallpox

The biggest killer introduced to the Americas by Europeans after the 1500’s

dropped the population of Native Americans from 100 million to just 5-10 million

Caused by the variola virus

Symptoms: high fevers, body aches and a rash

The rash evolves from fluid-filled bumps, to scabs, to pitted scars

Most commonly spread through direct contact with an infected person’s skin or body fluids

Can be airborne

In 1796, a vaccine for smallpox was created, but the disease continued to spread

In 1967, the virus killed 2 million people globally

1967 – The World Health Organization led a campaign to eliminate smallpox through mass vaccinations

1977 – The last case of naturally-occurring smallpox

Spanish Influenza

AKA “Great Influenza” or “Flu of 1918”

An estimated 675,000 Americans died in a matter of months

The flu reached pandemic proportions

Globally, it is estimated that between 50 million and 100 million people died

Caused by the H1N1 avian influenza A virus

Scientists believe that the disease jumped from birds to humans in the American Midwest

Symptoms: fever, nausea, aches, diarrhea and black spots on the cheeks

Patient lungs would fill with liquid.

Those who died effectively drowned in their own mucus

Today, as many as 59% of people may have immunity to H1N1

passed from those who survived the pandemic

Typhoid Fever

Caused by Rickettsia prowazekii, a microbe that lives in the intestine

Symptoms: headache, loss of appetite, malaise and sudden increase in temperature

Develops into fever, chills and nausea

Can result in gangrene, pneumonia, kidney failure and eventually cardiac failure

Typhoid was common before the public sewage system

100 out of every 100,000 people contracted typhoid in 1920

Dropped to 33.8/100,000 in 1950 with improved sanitation

Typhoid Mary:

The most famous outbreak of typhoid occurred in New York City in the early 1900’s

A chef named Mary Mallon was infected with typhoid but showed no symptoms

She is presumed to have infected dozens of people

Public health forced her into isolation twice

She died after 30 years on New York’s North Brother Island

Malaria

Records of malaria date back more than 4,000 years

Caused when infected mosquitoes pass Plasmodium microbes to humans

Microbes grow inside red blood cells, destroying them in the process

Symptoms: fever, chills, sweating, headache and muscle pains

During the American Civil War, 1,316,000 soldiers reportedly contracted malaria

10,000 died

During WWI, malaria immobilized British, German and French forces for 3 years

Almost 60,000 US soldiers died of malaria in Africa and the South Pacific during WWII

After WWII, the US attempted to put an end to malaria

The pesticide DDT, now banned, was introduced to lower mosquito population

Malaria has been eradicated in the United States

Polio

Reached a peak in 1952

over 58,000 cases were reported

3,145 deaths

Caused by poliovirus poliomyelitis, which attacks the nervous system

Symptoms: fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness and limb pain

Roughly 1 in 200 cases lead to paralysis

There is no cure for polio

The vaccine was perfected in the 1950’s

The U.S. has been polio-free since 1979

Famous people who survived polio: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, actor Alan Alda, singer Joni Mitchell, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Tuberculosis

Evidence of tuberculosis has been found in Egyptian mummies

Caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis

TB is airborne

Symptoms: chest pain, weakness, weight loss, fever, night sweats and fits of coughing blood

TB was a constant problem in Colonial America

At the end of the 19th century, 10% of all US deaths were attributed to TB

1944 – an antibiotic was developed for TB

TB continues to globally infect an estimated 8 million people, annually

Kills 2 million annually

Callout: Patients with HIV/AIDS have weakened immune systems, making them more susceptible to tuberculosis

As HIV has spread, TB has had a resurgence

HIV/AIDS

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

HIV/AIDS was first documented in 1981

First appeared as a rare lung infection and weakened immune system

HIV is passed through bodily fluids, including: blood transfusions, use of needles, sexual contact or from a pregnant woman to her child

HIV opens the body to opportunistic infections that would normally not cause problems

AIDS is the final stage of HIV

Sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. among people 25-44

HIV has no official cure

There have been 14 cases of people being effectively cured through rigorous treatment, bone marrow transplants or other methods

Callout: Globally, almost 70 million people have been infected with HIV and almost 35 million have died

Sources:

http://www.executivehm.com/news/the-worst-us-epidemics-in-modern-history/

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-worst-epidemics.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/osels/scientific_edu/ss1978/lesson1/section11.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23276-more-hiv-cured-first-a-baby-now-14-adults.html#.UieGzBahA7c

http://www.who.int/gho/hiv/en/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/typhoid-mary-villain-or-victim.html

http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/news/216287-fifty-nine-percent-of-americans-may-be-immune-to-h1n1/