Study of ancient and modern plagues finds common features

biologynews.net ^ | November 21, 2008 | NA

[neverdem]

Emerging infections: a perpetual challenge.

[null and void]

ping

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping (historical epidemics) Thanks, nully!

[LucyT]

Thanks, SJ.

Pinging ye.

[Ciexyz]

ping

[Judith Anne]

Thank you for the ping. I wonder what the next pandemic will be, and when.

[Fiji Hill]

When it hit the US in 1832, Asiatic cholera, a waterborne disease, was thought to be airborne, so piles of coal and sulfur were set up around cities and then burned so as to create huge clouds of acrid smoke that would hinder the spread of the disease. Asiatic cholera was spread throughout the Midwest by soldiers sent to fight the Blackhawk War in 1832.

[JasonC]

They done extensive research and have concluded that plagues are contagious.

Sigh...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I wonder if it might have helped anyway. That is, when you burn sulfurous coal or sulfur, it produces sulfur dioxide, which when mixed with water, produces sulfuric acid, like acid rain. So open sources of water would become acidified.

This is important, because cholera prefers alkaline water.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=241529

[irv]

Here's the link to the PDF of the actual article. NIH is pretty good about that, unlike a lot of "journals" that charge an arm and a leg for every scrap.

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/about/directors/pdf/EmergingInfectionsLancetID.pdf

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link. How did you locate it? I expected to find something at PubMed to PubMedCentral, but they just had the link to full text at Lancet for money.

[Alia]

Informative, thought-provoking read. Thank you for the ping.

[MrPiper]

Hint, stay out of public Baths and Brothels.

[Cheburashka]

Stupid example. As the article says, the plague hit Athens 430-427 B.C. Athens finally lost the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C., twenty three years later. As for the Golden Age of Greece, Philip II and the Macedonians didn't move in and shut down the party for another century.

Little iffy on the cause and effect here guys.

[mewzilla]

I wanted to read the article, but the journal wants over 30 bucks for it :(

[AliVeritas]

I must get this full report.

[irv]

How did you locate it?

Dumb luck. When I saw it came out of NIH I was pretty sure it would be available through their website. They're pretty good about sharing info.

[neverdem]

Check comment# 10. It’s a 10 page pdf link.

[neverdem]

They done extensive research and have concluded that plagues are contagious.

Sigh...

It's a review article by one of the top infectious disease docs in the country.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks neverdem:

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Posted on 11/21/2008 11:11:34 PM PST by FocusNexus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2136425/posts