Replies

This is pretty interesting actually. When you add in the current health scare going on. I wonder if these places with poor sanitation are the breeding ground for this super germs.

Londons sewer system (if it could have been called that) played a big role in the bubonic plague that killed so many people....

When you add in the current health scare going on. I wonder if these places with poor sanitation are the breeding ground for this super germs.

The main thing connecting them is the economic level of the areas that lack sanitation. Another characteristic of these areas (particularly in China) is that humans and domestic animals (chickens, pigs, goats, etc.) share the domicile. This close proximity of humans and animals has been pointed out as one of the main reasons that new flu strains tend to originate in Asia. So while the lack of sewage treatment is a health problem, it's probably not the cause of new diseases, but the conditions that foster new diseases are endemic and related to the overall "health" situation.

Londons sewer system (if it could have been called that) played a big role in the bubonic plague that killed so many people....

Probably, because bubonic plague is spread by rats.

In an interesting side note, the first "epidemiologic" study was of cholera; a doctor mapped cholera incidence and fingered a contaminated well in London.