Germs, Genes, & Civilization · How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today by Clark, David P. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Preface Chapter 1: Introduction: our debt to disease

Epidemics select genetic alterations Every cloud has a silver lining: our debt to disease Crowding and culling The message of this book

Chapter 2: Where did our diseases come from?

Africa: homeland of mankind and malaria Many human diseases originated in animals Are new diseases virulent to start with? Diseases from rodents Leprosy is a relatively new disease What goes around comes around

Chapter 3: Transmission, overcrowding, and virulence

Virulence and the spread of disease Infectious and noninfectious disease Many diseases become milder with time Development of genetic resistance to disease Hunting and gathering How do microorganisms become dangerous?

Chapter 4: Water, sewers, and empires

Introduction: the importance of biology Irrigation helps agriculture but spreads germs The class system, water, and infection The origin of diarrheal diseases Cholera comes from the Indian subcontinent Cholera and the water supply The rise and fall of the Indus Valley civilization Cities are vulnerable to waterborne diseases Cholera, typhoid, and cystic fibrosis How did disease affect the rise of Rome? How much did malaria contribute to the fall of Rome? Uncivilized humans and unidentified diseases Bubonic plague makes an appearance

Chapter 5: Meat and vegetables

Eating is hazardous to your health Hygiene in the home Cannibalism is hazardous to your health Mad cow disease in England The political response Mad cow disease in humans Fungal diseases and death in the countryside Fungal diseases and cereal crops Religious mania induced by fungi Catastrophes caused by fungi Human disease follows malnutrition Coffee or tea? Opportunistic fungal pathogens Friend or enemy

Chapter 6: Pestilence and warfare

Who kills more? Spread of disease by the military Is it better to besiege or to be besieged? Disease promotes imperial expansion Protozoa help keep Africa black Is bigger really better? Disease versus enemy action Typhus, warrior germ of the temperate zone Jails, workhouses, and concentration camps Germ warfare Psychology, cost, and convenience Anthrax as a biological weapon Amateurs with biological weapons are rarely effective Which agents are used in germ warfare? World War I and II Germ warfare against rabbits Germ warfare is unreliable Genetic engineering of diseases

Chapter 7: Venereal disease and sexual behavior

Venereal disease is embarrassing Promiscuity, propaganda, and perception The arrival of syphilis in Europe Relation between venereal and skin infections AIDS is an atypical venereal disease Origin of AIDS among African apes and monkeys Worldwide incidence and spread of AIDS The Church, morality, and venereal infections Moral and religious responses to AIDS Public health and AIDS Inherited resistance to AIDS The ancient history of venereal disease

Chapter 8: Religion and tradition: health below or heaven above?

Religion and health care Belief and expectation Roman religion and epidemics Infectious disease and early religious practices Worms and serpents Sumerians, Egyptians, and ancient Greece Hygiene and religious purity Protecting the living from the dead Diverting evil spirits into animals Cheaper rituals for the poor Vampires, werewolves, and garlic Divine retribution versus individual justice The rise of Christianity Coptic Christianity and malaria Messianic Taoism during the collapse of Han China Buddhism and smallpox in first-millennium Japan The European Middle Ages and the Black Death The Great Plague of London Loss of Christian faith in industrial Europe Cleanliness is next to godliness

Chapter 9: Manpower and slavery

Legacy of the last Ice Age The New World before contact Indigenous American infections Lack of domesticated animals in America The first epidemic in the Caribbean Epidemics sweep the American mainland The religious implications Deliberate use of germ warfare Slavery and African diseases Exposure of islands to mainland diseases Cholera and good intentions The issue of biological isolation Spotted fevers and rickettsias The origins of typhus are uncertain What about the Vikings?

Chapter 10: Urbanization and democracy

Cities as population sinks Viral diseases in the city Bacterial diseases in the city The Black Death Climatic changes: the “Little Ice Age” The Black Death frees labor in Europe Death rates and freedom in Europe The Black Death and religion The White Plague: tuberculosis The rise of modern hygiene The collapse of the European empires Resistant people? How clean is too clean? Where are we now?

Chapter 11: Emerging diseases and the future

Pandemics and demographic collapse The various types of emerging diseases Changes in knowledge Changes in the agent of disease Changes in the human population Changes in contact between victims and germs The supposed re-emergence of tuberculosis Diseases are constantly emerging How dangerous are novel viruses? Transmission of emerging viruses Efficient transmission and genuine threats The history and future of influenza The great influenza epidemic of 1918–1919 Disease and the changing climate Technology-borne diseases Emergence of antibiotic resistance Disease and the food supply Overpopulation and microbial evolution Predicting the future Future emerging diseases Gloom and doom or a happy ending?