Diseases and Human Evolution

Contents

CONTENTS Preface xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 The Meaning of Disease 2 Approaches to Understanding Disease 5 • Coming Together 6 Germs, Genes, Geography, and Human Behavior 7 Concluding Comments 8 CHAPTER 2 The War between Microbes and Men 9 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 12 • The War Zone 19 Immunity throughout the Life Cycle 24 Concluding Comments 24 CHAPTER 3 Early Humans and Their Diseases 27 Wanderlust 27 • Evolutionary Hitchhikers 28 Herpes 30 • Roving Parasites and Opportunistic Microbes 33 Insect Carriers of Disease 34 • Hitchhiking Insects 35 Ingestion of Parasites 37 • Trichinosis 39 • Tapeworms (Cestodes) 40 Noninfectious Disease and Dental Disease 41 Paleolithic Times 42 Concluding Comments 43 CHAPTER 4 The Seeds of Change 45 Prologue 45 • The Best of Times 47 • Changing Times 48 Changes in Disease Patterns 51 • Rodent-borne Diseases 52 Insect-borne Diseases 54 • Togetherness in a Crowded Village 57 Intestinal Roundworms (Nematodes) 58 • Hookworms 61 Noninfectious Disease and Dental Disease 62 Concluding Comments 63 CHAPTER 5 Mosquitoes, Malaria, and Gene Wars 67 Shifting Paradigms 67 • The Vectors of Malaria 69 Evolution of Malaria 74 The Lives of the Plasmodia Parasites of Malaria 76 The Disease Complex 80 • Endemic versus Epidemic Malaria 85 Surviving the New Order through Genetics 86 Concluding Comments 96 CHAPTER 6 Invitation to a Minute Worm: The Schistosomes 99 Background Check 99 • The Onerous Guest 100 The African Invitation 105 • The Asian Invitation 110 Concluding Comments 112 CHAPTER 7 Braving New Worlds: Invisible Enemies of Settlers 115 Paradise Found and Lost 115 Avoiding Africa’s Fly Belts and the Sleeping Sickness 117 Making Room for Chagas’ Disease in the New World 122 Leishmaniases: Old and New World 125 • Flying Worms (Filariae) 130 Concluding Comments 134 CHAPTER 8 Domesticated Animals and Disease 137 Man’s Best Friend 138 • Dogs and Rabies 139 • Cat Fanciers 140 Cats and Toxoplasmosis 141 • Taking Stock 143 Goats and Brucellosis 147 • Bringing the Cows Home, and Anthrax 150 No News Is Good News in the New World 153 Concluding Comments 154 CHAPTER 9 Cows, Mycobacteria, and Tuberculosis 157 Mycobacteria 157 • Cows and the Mycobacteria of Tuberculosis 158 Tuberculosis: The Human Disease 160 Disease from Environmental Mycobacteria 166 The Ancient Trail of Tuberculosis 167 Concluding Comments 171 CHAPTER 10 The Moral Disease: Leprosy 173 What Makes a Leper? 173 • The Culprit of Leprosy 174 Different Sores for Different Folks 176 • The History of Leprosy 180 Concluding Comments 182 CHAPTER 11 The Coming of Civilization 185 The Lands of Plenty 186 • Opportunity Knocks 188 Evolution of Childhood Diseases 190 Concluding Comments 200 CHAPTER 12 Syphilis: The Great Change Artist 201 The Agent 201 • The Many Faces of Syphilis 203 The Yaws Version 204 • The Pinta Version 205 Nonvenereal Syphilis 206 • Venereal Syphilis 207 Different Scenes, Different Patterns of Sores 207 • Congenital Syphilis 211 Changeovers 212 • The Great Historical Pretense and the Facts 213 Concluding Comments 217 CHAPTER 13 Memories of Smallpox 221 The Virus 221 • The Disease 223 • The Trail of Smallpox 226 Desperate Measures 230 • Cowpox 233 • The Hybrid Virus 233 Concluding Comments 234 CHAPTER 14 Pestilence, Plague, and Rats 237 Rats Take Over the World 238 • Rat Fleas and Yersinia pestis 241 The Disease 243 • Origin and Spread: The Great Rat Migrations 244 Concluding Comments 248 CHAPTER 15 Of Lice and Men: Plus Ticks, Mites, and Chiggers 251 Lice and Men at War 251 • Wild Flea-borne Typhus 253 Human (Louse-borne) Typhus 255 • Brill-Zinsser Disease 257 History of Typhus 258 • Trench Fever 261 Ticks, Mites, Chiggers, and Spotted Fevers 262 Concluding Comments 267 CHAPTER 16 Marching to a New World Order: European Expansion and the Industrial Revolution 269 Medieval Prologue 269 • The Great Paradigm Shift 271 The Great Leap Forward 273 Concluding Comments 276 CHAPTER 17 Easy Route to Fame and Gripe: Cholera, the Salmonella Gang, and Other Prominent Gut Bugs 279 The Story of Cholera 280 • The Salmonella Gang 287 Other Prominent Gut Bugs 293 Concluding Comments 297 CHAPTER 18 Transoceanic Hitchhikers: Yellow Fever and Its Dengue Cousin 299 Yellow Fever 300 The Yellow Fever Viral Impact on the Human Host 303 Yellow Fever Epilogue 305 • Dengue Fever 306 Primary Infection of Dengue Fever 307 Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever 309 Concluding Comments 310 CHAPTER 19 Food for Thought: The Mystery Diseases 313 Food Choices and Availability 314 The Mystery Diseases: For Lack of Certain Nutrients 316 The Land of All You Can Eat 331 Concluding Comments 334 CHAPTER 20 The Globalization of...