Disease in history
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WampusCat
- Creature of the night
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From a page on the American Cancer Society's site about The History of Cancer
Ouch.Our oldest description of cancer (although the word cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to about 1600 B.C. It is called the Edwin Smith Papyrus, and is a copy of part of an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery. It describes 8 cases of tumors or ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterization, with a tool called the fire drill. The writing says about the disease, "There is no treatment."
Take my hand, my friend. We are here to walk one another home.
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What a great thread idea!! Thanks for breaking it off, Prim. And the title is fine! 
Since I started all this, I still have to go back to my original thesis that the article written about how the "absence" of cancer in Egytian mummies implies a healthier lifestyle for those lucky folks living 2000 years ago is just... junk. They had their own problems.
Even if people did live to be 70 in those glory days, as some obviously did, the median age for death was far younger than it is now. We are an aging society, on an unprecedented scale. Our healthcare system is going to feel the weight of all of us baby boomer types who are surviving to old age. And diseases of old age, as most cancers are, are going to appear to be striking in epidemic amounts. It's called an "apparent" epidemic.
Meanwhile, back in Haiti, they are estimating 970 dead, which is undoubtedly low, as many people have died in more rural areas, and are probably not associated with the official count. As of the last article I read, a great deal of wrath is being focused upon the Nepal peacekeepers, who are being accused of bringing in the disease.
Politics, folks, beautiful thing that it is... as has been mentioned, cholera thrives on conditions which are rampant in Haiti right now. It would have cropped up from somewhere. Let's sanitize the drinking water, folks, save a few (hundred) lives right NOW, and leave the politics for a later date.
Since I started all this, I still have to go back to my original thesis that the article written about how the "absence" of cancer in Egytian mummies implies a healthier lifestyle for those lucky folks living 2000 years ago is just... junk. They had their own problems.
Even if people did live to be 70 in those glory days, as some obviously did, the median age for death was far younger than it is now. We are an aging society, on an unprecedented scale. Our healthcare system is going to feel the weight of all of us baby boomer types who are surviving to old age. And diseases of old age, as most cancers are, are going to appear to be striking in epidemic amounts. It's called an "apparent" epidemic.
Meanwhile, back in Haiti, they are estimating 970 dead, which is undoubtedly low, as many people have died in more rural areas, and are probably not associated with the official count. As of the last article I read, a great deal of wrath is being focused upon the Nepal peacekeepers, who are being accused of bringing in the disease.
Politics, folks, beautiful thing that it is... as has been mentioned, cholera thrives on conditions which are rampant in Haiti right now. It would have cropped up from somewhere. Let's sanitize the drinking water, folks, save a few (hundred) lives right NOW, and leave the politics for a later date.
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
AND... (jeez I need to get off of this topic)
I would also add that the apparent increase in cancer cases is possibly because we can also better diagnose these today.
I have a friend who grew up in Vietnam (she's only a few years older than I am, so this is in the 60's), who said that people would just... die. They would get sick, and then they would die. She says it's difficult to figure out how to fill out those health history forms she runs into in the USA (any history in your family of cancer? heart disease? etc.) because she has no idea what her family members died of.
You can't compare modern epidemiology, with its far more powerful information gathering tools, to any era when data was not well documented. ALL diseases are going to look more prevalent when you know what they are.
The mummy article still has my hackles up. Can you tell?
Great point, Elsha!! (:love:) "Faults" in the genetic code probably do survive better now than they did.I think that the prevalence of cancer, as with many diseases, has increased so rapidly because we are able to treat it now.
I would also add that the apparent increase in cancer cases is possibly because we can also better diagnose these today.
I have a friend who grew up in Vietnam (she's only a few years older than I am, so this is in the 60's), who said that people would just... die. They would get sick, and then they would die. She says it's difficult to figure out how to fill out those health history forms she runs into in the USA (any history in your family of cancer? heart disease? etc.) because she has no idea what her family members died of.
You can't compare modern epidemiology, with its far more powerful information gathering tools, to any era when data was not well documented. ALL diseases are going to look more prevalent when you know what they are.
The mummy article still has my hackles up. Can you tell?
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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I think there's a lot of romanticizing of the old days when we all ate whole grains all day long and frolicked in the pure untouched environment of the natural Earth. When in fact those ancient cities were dirty, smoky, sewage-contaminated places for the most part, and clean, fresh food was rarely easy to come by, especially if you weren't rich. Clean water was almost impossible; hence the Egyptians' invention of beer, which built the Pyramids.
I'm not saying they had no advantages; outside the cities the world was certainly a cleaner and less crowded place. But outside the cities was also a dangerous place to live. Even farmers wanted to live close to nice high walls they could be safely inside when enemies came marauding.
I'm not saying they had no advantages; outside the cities the world was certainly a cleaner and less crowded place. But outside the cities was also a dangerous place to live. Even farmers wanted to live close to nice high walls they could be safely inside when enemies came marauding.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King