THE EVOLUTION OF DISEASE
Humans have traveled far and
accomplished much since the dawn of time. Technology has made many things
obsolete and the exponential knowledge we are gaining from daily research have
undoubtedly made humans evolutionarily light years ahead of any other species.
But how, we should ask ourselves, are we still so susceptible to disease?
The answer is simple.
Disease, like us, evolves. This blog is my attempt at a photo-essay, where I
will make somewhat of a collage of few of the thousands of news articles that
chronicle how fast disease is evolving, and what our efforts have been so far
in understanding and harnessing the problem.
"I believe that some day, viruses and other biological therapies could truly transform our approach for treating cancer”
Prof John Bell, University of Ottawa
"It turns out that this ancient Yersinia pestis strain is very close to the common ancestor of all modern strains that can infect humans,"
"This, they said, meant it might be possible one day to treat this defect in a real patient, although the drug used was not currently suitable for children due to side-effects."
"In evolution we have great adaptation, but there is sometimes a tradeoff."Meghan Cotter, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
"These are really real risks that are out there. None of these diseases are completely eradicated."
"Twenty-one percent of the trait is due to genetic factors,”
Dr. John Kriesel, University of Utah School of Medicine
“We are going to be re-evaluating W.H.O.’s clinical recommendations on contraceptive use,”
Mary Lyn Gaffield, WHO
