Invisible armies
Description
This program explores the relationship between the immune system and history. Smallpox and measles were crowd diseases prevalent in the teaming cities of the ancient Near East. Malaria and yellow fever were infections endemic to Africa. The program traces the decimation of Native Americans by measles, small pox and cholera as well as the rampage of syphilis and gonorrhea in Hawaii after Captain Cook landed. The slave trade was also affected by disease. Slave ships were conduits for the exchange of germs between the crew and human cargo. Certainly the ambitions of European colonizers were curtailed by tropical illnesses until the discovery of quinine allowed them to go into areas they had previously feared to tread. Today, the Yanomami of Brazil are being decimated by white man s diseases, while in Los Angeles, measles rages through the Hispanic population.
Runtime
53 min
Subjects
Genre
Date of Publication
1994
Database
Alexander Street
https://www.remote.uwosh.edu/login?url=http://www.aspresolver.com/aspresolver.asp?HLTH;1652572