Our Debt to Disease
Cultural and Genetic Consequences of Epidemic Infectious Diseases
David P. ClarkDepartment of Microbiology,Southern Illinois University
A result of ancient epidemics that experts have only recently come to understand is the accumulation of alterations in the human genome. Through the millennia, a never-ending stream of hostile microbes has attacked and decimated human populations. Each time a human population is devastated by infectious disease, genetic selection takes place. People carrying genetic alterations that confer resistance, even if only partially, have a greater chance of survival. Consequently, their descendents will make up a greater proportion of the surviving population.
The result of constant epidemics is that, ...
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