Man Thai

BI 234
Prof Patti Ayala

The rising thread of infectious diseases

Abstract

Before the rise of medical science, infectious diseases like the plague or small pox could wipe out
a large population at once. Physicians at the time made several attempts but the most they could do was
to bleed patients out, encourage masking, or make the patients comfortable but not at all cure the
diseases. After further advancement in microscopic and antibiotics, human race was faced with new
threats of antibiotic resistance. Certain strains of bacteria were once treated are no longer responding to
the same antibiotics because antibiotics resistant genes are constantly transferred and multiplied
between bacteria through combination and conjugation. This matter cannot be deemed to a single
source but rather the misuses of antibiotics (i.e. too commonly prescribed, not taken as directed,
commercially mixed with farm feed). Along with bacterial diseases, viral diseases are now more
prevalent all over the world. Examples of viral infections that called for global attention are HIVs and
Ebola. Microbes are very adaptable since they can rapidly evolve and reproduce. Hence the occurrence
of deforestation, urbanization, war, and poverty further exposes human to infectious diseases. Yet the
future of medical science is the only hope that can determine whether we can keep up with the race
with these organisms.