History of Human Disease / human disease books
Humans
have always had to deal with disease. Skeletons more than 12,000
years old show evidence of tuberculosis and other diseases. The
9400-year-old mummified remains of Spirit Cave man, found in Nevada
in 1940, indicate that he suffered from back problems and tooth
abscesses. The remains of Ramses V, ruler of Egypt around 1150 bc,
show that his face was disfigured by smallpox scars.
Disease has had a dramatic impact on human history. For most of
the 250,000 years that humans have been on the earth, disease has
played a central role in limiting population growth. As ways to
combat disease were discovered, people lived longer and had more
children, who lived long enough to have children of their own. The
human population slowly increased and then exploded. By 1804 the
human population reached 1 billion. Just over 100 years later, in
1927, after the advent of the first vaccines and the recognition
of the importance of sanitation and safe water supplies, the population
had doubled to 2 billion. By 1974 it had doubled again to 4 billion.
Since then, recognition that the earth's environment has a limited
capacity to support an ever-increasing population has led to concerted
efforts to limit population growth. Nevertheless, as the 20th century
neared its end, the population had reached 6 billion. It is expected
to rise to more than 8 billion by 2021.
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