Ancient Diseases Flashcards
Where does the nature of a disease come from?
It gets it name from historical events/situations
and is usually identified in a lab
Epidemic VS Endemic
Epidemic- when an infectious disease spreads rapidly over a geographical area.
it can come from new pathogens that are combined with disease-causing agents and a lot of people who have never seen that disease
an endemic is the amount of a disease present in a community
what is a pathogen?
an organism that causes a disease unto it’s host
Fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasites
What is Malaria?
it is a disease caused by the anopheles mosquito that carries parasites. it is transmitted when the mosquito transfers blood among people.
brought up from south africa on trade routes
5 types:
plasmodium falciparum
plasmodium vivax
plasmodium malarae
plasmodium ovale
plasmodium knowlesi
What was the plague of Athens?
Ancient Greece, broke out during the Peloponnesian War, a war against the Spartans
400 BCE
came from Ethiopia and lasted 2 years in Greece
Led by Pericles - Athenian leader
Who was Hippocrates?
he was a Greek healer who helped write 7 of the 70 Hippocratic Corpus, books that had new ideas about disease nature - shifting from supernatural to natural
included detailed descriptions of symptoms
Hippocratic oath - do not harm
Who was Galen?
He was a Greek physician who used animal dissections to better understand the human body
he introduced the idea of using the 4 humours to restore the body to health
What was the great famine?
occurred during 1315 when the European population grew but the economy did not
many people abandoned their farms, so food became a shortage
weather changes occurred, no salt could be found to preserve food
Epizootics VS zoonoses
it is a disease that spreads among animals, killing off the main tool to farmland. this causes famine
ex: the great bovine pestilence, rinderpest, sheep murane
zoonoses is a disease that can be transmitted from animal to humans
what is sapronoses
a disease that is from a non living environment, crops, fungus
it can translate over to humans if they consume it
what was the plague of Justinian?
a pandemic arose in the Byzantine Empire, killing 25% of people over 25 years.
it was brought here by trade routes bringing rats and fleas from Africa and Asia
mid 500’s CE
first recorded plague
caused by the same pathogen responsible for the black death, yersinia pestis
spread by fleas
re occured every 3-4 years, for the next 225 years
Paleogenetics
the extraction of ADNA using ancient bones and teeth
PCR - polymerase chain reactions - make a shit ton of DNA samples to look at
primary sources like visual and textual evidence can help find information about a disease
Immunocytochemistry - the ethical issues behind paleogenetics
Who was Asclepius?
he was a Greek doctor who was worshiped as a god/hero known for his knowledge in medicine
In myth, he was known as the son of apollo, and was killed by Zeus because he was a threat to the human race by healing them to live forever
He was taught by the centaur Chiron
who was Thucydides?
He was a general who took notes and journaled in the Peloponnesian war
he noted that the epidemic came from Ethiopia and lasted 2 years in Greece
What was the Antonine plague?
occurred in ancient Rome where the plague spread among trade routes built by Alexander the Great
battle ended when the plague hit, killing all soldiers
late 100’s CE
killed 1/3 of the population, lasting 15 years
