Globalisation and disease

One of the major fears people have about globalisation is that it actually makes it very easy for disease to spread. The fact that humans could travel around the world in a day is something that is actually quite astonishing. Especially when the time in which your grandparents were born, flying was definitely not commercialised, let alone safe for the average traveler.

So how come nothing as big as the black death has actually come around and wiped out a significant portion of the population within the past hundred years? The last big one was the 1918 flu epidemic, which took up to 100 million lives with it. Hardly anything compared to the last 'major' pandemic, which was the one in 2009. That one took under 20,000 lives overall. One might say that we're actually winning the war against disease. Maybe the human body is actually becoming more resistant to disease than disease is becoming more virulent. Maybe the world's health care is just so much better than it used to be.

Perhaps the day where the next Spanish flu-like epidemic is right around the corner. Globalisation would have been a bad thing, helping to spread the disease like wildfire around the world, wiping out half the population. There would be a couple of silver linings. Firstly, those that are left probably won't have to worry about global warming as much since half the people creating the problem wouldn't be around any more. The other thing is that humans as a race would be better off, as the remaining population would be more resistant or immune to the disease. This of course assumes that the disease doesn't actually make you into a zombie. The only thing I know of that would make you immune from having your brains eaten out is a really strong helmet. This would be one situation where stackhats would make a massive comeback. I would curse my cousin for selling them at the garage sales.

On the other hand, maybe diseases have realised that killing the organism that keeps you alive isn't necessarily the best thing to do when you need it to survive as well. Or at least if you're going to kill them, at least give them some time to spread the disease before you do. The most successful disease these days is HIV/AIDS, which currently affects more than 34 million people worldwide. Its also actively spreading, so that number is probably growing. One of the problems with HIV is that it takes at least 3 weeks for it to be detected in the body. Some people don't find out they have HIV for years as their symptoms can be minor.

I think next time I'll write about something less morbid.