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Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today
book

Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

by Southern Illinois University David P. Clark - Department of Microbiology
May 2010
Beginner
304 pages
6h 13m
English
Pearson
Content preview from Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

3. Transmission, overcrowding, and virulence

Virulence and the spread of disease

How a disease spreads greatly affects its impact on human society. Diseases that spread efficiently will clearly infect more people. Less obvious, but no less important, its transfer mechanism determines how virulent a disease may become.

We must tackle two widespread misconceptions. Both generalizations are half true, and scientific investigations have only recently discovered their flaws. The first is the idea that because diseases adapt to their hosts, they will inevitably become milder if we just wait long enough. Thus, syphilis was extremely virulent when first introduced into Europe but nowadays is much milder. Similarly, childhood diseases such as measles ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780137068661Purchase book