Science & Medicine: Diseases

Weeks ago I was lamenting how we, the people, are creating diseases, some well known like AIDS, and others yet named or identified.   This week Jim Robbins (the New York Times) lays it out clearly in his article, "The Ecology of Disease."

Malaria Life Cycle

HIV/AIDS life cycle

When I worked with colleagues on malaria, while others worked on T. cruzi, leprosy and later HIV, among others, we all looked at the same patterns.  We each elected to explore a different path, but in the end no path led any of us to a vaccine for any of the infectious diseases, not malaria, and not AIDS, not one parasite, or infectious disease, has a cure; none have a vaccine to eradicate it or even stem its tide.

Yes, we have drugs, but often these prove ineffective and occasionally, dangerous.

The eco-system is in now in peril, and that perilous journey is the path we, the people, are navigating.

Rain too much.
Rain too little.
Sudden change in plant life.
Introduction of a new nematode.
Disappearance of that mammal. 
Insufficient predators for deer.
No space for the bear, black or brown.

The list is endless.

We are not.