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Originally Posted by Outlaw 1963
This is wild as hell. I knew about ticks spreading that one disease called Lyme disease. Some folks died from it, too. But I didn't know fleas and lice spread shit LOL. It seems like it would be a hygiene problem. I say that because lice are attracted to people who don't wash up. Do y'all remember that bed bug scare a few years back? I'm in Ohio and it was on the news at the time that there was a bed bug problem in some areas.
So basically the insects that feed off of the animals, give it to the animals, which in turn infect people. Then it would make sense to me to eliminate the main cause of it. The start of it.
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Well, the diseases that are often carried by insects such as mosquitos/other external parasites, and flies or by animals such as rats and mice, in my experience, we've always referred to this as vectors. Sometimes multiple vectors are involved, such as (as mentioned above) in the spread of the Bubonic Plague by fleas carried by rats or typhus fever by ticks carried by rodents. I wouldn't say "eliminate", but controlling vectors usually limits the spread of a disease far more effectively than treating infected humans. In my experience as a vet, with my patients, insects and their relatives, the ticks and mites, are the most common vectors. Fleas also carry/transmit tapeworms.
However, other animals may act as vectors, as in the spread of rabies by bats and squirrels, or of West Nile virus by migrating birds. Plague and typhus normally rely on fleas and ticks to distribute them, although, under some circumstances, they can spread from person to person. Other diseases are obliged to spend part of their life cycles in a second host.
With the "hygiene" part of your post, you are partly correct. Hygiene/cleanliness does play a part, because infectious agents can also be taken in with food or drink. Poor hygiene may result in food or drinking water being contaminated with human and/or animal waste. Typically, such infections affect the gastrointestinal tract and include the many types of protozoa, bacteria and viruses that number diarrhea among their symptoms. I see it quite often with some of my patients that are outdoor pets. Parasites.
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Originally Posted by Phrozen Sands
The thing that gets me, and maybe you or CG can answer this question, but what happened to the Bubonic Plague? Why aren't people affected by it today? A lot of the old diseases have seemed to "disappear", but the newer diseases are still doing damage. No, not like the Bubonic Plague, but still keeping numbers.
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Well, over the long-term, novel diseases may adapt to humans or may go extinct. Adaption does not imply that the disease becomes mild -- merely that it gains the ability to survive and multiply in humans. The level of virulence acquired depends on the mode of transmission and how plentiful, crowded (and as said above), unhygienic the human hosts are.