Modern day diseases

There is something almost contradictory around the idea of man-made diseases. It could easily create images of mad scientists or evil terrorists creating the ultimate In biological weaponry. At this point the conspiracy theorist In all of us starts to wonder about the origin of any number of diseases and we look over our shoulders cautiously to see if Big Brother is standing there. However, between the conspiracies and the terror campaigns is a fascinating list of diseases that could fit the criteria.

Within these there has to be recognition that not all, If any, man-made diseases are created Intentionally and some are more the result f the progress of the species than of any dire plan. 10. Obesity Although It Is more than cause of disease rather than the disease Itself, It Is probably worth recognizing that obesity In the twenty-first century Is the product of a society that has removed, through changing work habits or the provision of convenience, the practices that previously kept it in check. In this way, man has made the basis off plethora of diseases.

In the last twenty years, obesity rates in the developed world have virtually doubled. This has had a profound effect on the number of number of people suffering Gall Bladder Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension and Displacement, as well as increasing a number of other health concerns. This has led to obesity being acknowledged as being virtually epidemic in its spread through and impact on the human race. There are those who are genetically disposed to obesity and for these people it remains a condition to be managed.

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But for the greater part of the Industrialized world, almost a third of all people are afflicted with a disease that is "caught" through inactivity, poor diet and a lack of awareness. The AIDS virus has been blamed on any number of Institutions, Just as It has on arioso species and continents. While many of us believe that Its eruption and the misery it has caused is similar to other dreadful epidemics, such as the Black Plague, that have afflicted the human race and whose origins have never been fully determined, there are also many who mount strong arguments for human intervention. Comate the human race. However, as it primarily attacked the homosexual community, the ravages of AIDS were mostly limited too minority. Yet it is this limitation that has raised so many questions. Was it a stroke of "luck" that AIDS began in the gay community? Or was it a planned assault on a sector of the community that offended the establishment? The circumstantial evidence has led theorists to consider the role of the American Government, the World Health Organization and even the Catholic Church as players in a diabolical scheme to rid the world of homosexuals.

But as any more substantial proof is not forthcoming, it is difficult to accept that any human could inflict such tragedy on another, let alone on millions. Whether through the volume of voices raised in protest or through the bizarre series of facts that seemed to have fallen into place to see it begin as it did, there is enough injector to consider that AIDS may have been a man-made disease.

While there is little, if any, evidence to suggest that Cardiovascular Disease is the product of direct or deliberate intervention by an individual or group of scientists, it must be considered that it incidence has risen dramatically in the light of modern living. This would suggest that, while not exactly man-made, the danger and spread of the disease is clearly attributable to man's cultural and social progress. Cardiovascular Disease was the cause of less than ten per cent of deaths at the start f the twentieth century, yet today has a role in at least thirty per cent of deaths.

Eight out of every ten of deaths from this disease today occur in the developed nations of the world. The causes of Cardiovascular Disease include smoking, high blood pressure, physical inactivity and poor diet. This would suggest that as we have become more prone to stress, as we have lost the need to work in ways that maintain physical effort and as we have been provided with convenient food sources as opposed to healthy ones, we have become more susceptible to this disease.

Man has made his life more pleasurable, convenient and comfortable, but has multitudinously made a disease that is growing in its prevalence Viruses can have a debilitating effect on susceptible organisms and when people are sick they have a tendency to look for someone to blame. While it is occasionally satisfying to growl at the dog or snarl at the cat when one isn't feeling well, the prospect of blaming a pig for a potentially fatal virus offers little comfort. On this basis, a number of broadly termed "scientifically-minded" people have decided that Swine Flu is a man-made disease.

There is a strained, but compelling logic to the argument. Swine Flu is believed to be he result of a combination of four previously identified viruses, a Swine Flu strain from Asia/Europe, North American swine flu, North American avian flu and human different species coming together by accident is incomprehensible, so there must have been human intervention. That is, bitterroot are at work. However, with the speed and ease with which people and animals now move around the world, it is quite possible that a virus could be carried enormous distances by multiple hosts.

The high rate of vaccination and immunization that occurs in the general population means that non-symptomatic arises are far more common than was once the case. The sad predicament of the pig in being susceptible to both human and bird diseases, not to mention his own collection of bugs, makes him an effective breeding ground for a huge gathering of virus component. The endpoint being a nasty virus, combining four previously known viruses, that comes from swine, that is the Swine Flu. As neat as this explanation is, the scientists can't realistically claim to have it all their own way.

Their scenario makes sense, but the probabilities behind it must give something to the "scientifically-minded". On this basis, the man-made versus quirk of nature argument remains a nil-all draw. Although the polio virus itself is on the brink of extinction worldwide and many governments have been considering the abolition of vaccination against the disease, US researchers were able to add it to the list of man-made diseases in 2002 by "building" the first synthetic virus based on the genome of the polio virus.

That is to say, while the rest of the world celebrated the defeat of a monster, scientists put time and effort into reviving it once again. While there may have been good reason to create the virus, such as studying it to covers the best means of defeating its like in future, the people responsible had a more simplistic motive for their work. The reason they did it was to prove that it can be done.

They also admitted that they had achieved the feat by following a recipe that "they downloaded from the internet" and were able to use gene sequences that they attained from a mail-order service. In answer to criticism that they had made the way clear for terrorists to create new and deadly viruses, the researchers explained that there are only a handful of people who would have the knowledge to carry out the task successfully. But they did advise that all governments should follow the lead of the World Health Organization and stockpile significant quantities of polio vaccine Just in case.

As broad as this topic is, by the very nature of the process through which vaccines are made and administered, they must be the most effective and impressive of man- made diseases. The earliest medical practitioners would probably have noticed that those who survived a virus, however nasty (the virus, not the people), were somehow didn't know how to use this knowledge. The Chinese had a revolting, but clever attempt at harnessing this process in their trudge against smallpox, but it wasn't until the sass's that the idea really found an audience in Europe.

Now the study and production of vaccines is continually being improved, but the basic procedure remains the same. Simplistically, a virus contains two parts, that which makes us sick and that which contains antigens that stimulate the immune response. By isolating the antigens a vaccine is able to be created that will tell our immune system to build up defenses against a particular virus. Then when the virus reaches us, we already have the defenses in place.

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