Is the world getting sicker? We're the most advanced that we've ever been when it comes to medical progression and yet there are times when it seems like we're no further along than we were a hundred years ago. That's not trying to dismiss the efforts and accomplishments of the medical field, but it's 2010 and our understanding of certain areas borders on being able to confidently say "I don't know." Awhile ago I talked about the fears we have of various diseases and epidemics that are out there. Some of those fears could be for good reason, but in a lot of cases those fears could stem from our misunderstanding of how things really work. There was a huge scare when it came to both bird flu and swine flu, which are nothing to sneeze at, but notice how the attention has moved somewhere else? Both of those strains of influenza are still out there. They weren't cured. So while they're still out there we go on about our day as though there weren't ever a problem. The real question about this is are we doing this to ourselves?
Are we as a species creating an environment that's more hostile than other generations have ever known? Take a person from a hundred years ago and put them into the modern world. I would bet within hours they would be sick and possibly dying. Their bodies would probably have some serious issues with the things flying around today. It reminds me of what they say to people when they travel to Mexico; "Don't drink the water." The locals there have built up an immunity to the bacteria in the water, but visitors get to experience some horrible symptoms. Most people who are visiting only need to experience it once and will never drink the water again. Because of that they will never built up a tolerance to what's in the water. The human body is really resilient when it comes to overcoming changes in the environment. It has to be otherwise it doesn't survive. The problem is that while we've been getting stronger so have the things that make us sick.
I remember as a kid when someone got sick they could go to the hospital or doctor's office and get a shot of antibiotics. Some people demanded those shots because they believed it was what helped them get over the cold. It didn't matter that with or without the shot they got over the cold in roughly the same amount of time. What no one realized until it was already too late, was that given enough time the thing that we were trying to eradicate was also building up an immunity to the treatment. It's a lot like trying to spray for cockroaches. Sure your spray may kill 99% of those living in the walls, but that 1% that survived has been exposed to what killed everyone else and lived to lay eggs about it. Eventually the cockroach and the influenza strain shrug off any kind of treatment. When that happens what do you do? In that past we make a stronger treatment and the cycle repeats itself.
One of the things I've wondered about lately is why do diseases and viruses attack their host to the point where it could potentially kill what it needs to survive? I suppose the same question could be asked about humans and what we do to the environment around us. Still some of these things have been around for millions of years so it could be argued that they're simply going with what works. On the other hand though think of the success rate these viruses could have if they weren't harmful to their hosts. Instead of infecting a host and killing them within weeks or months, it could alter its methods slightly and live within a host for the entirety of the host's lifetime. That added time could allow it more time to spread. Now I know that our body is programmed to fight off anything foreign so anything that enters our body probably has to be somewhat aggressive to survive for very long. There seems to be this constant struggle between the outside world and the world inside our bodies. It's anyone's guess who's going to win when it comes down to it.
The other thing I've noticed is that there seems to be a lot more allergies than before. Maybe it's just that they are being more widely reported than when I was younger. When I was a kid I remember maybe one or two kids who would have noticeable allergies. Now there are more and more children who have severe allergies, so much so that schools are taking action about it. Some schools won't serve anything with peanuts because they don't want to even take the risk of exposing a child to it. While I think that's good for the children with allergies, it makes me wonder about what's causing the severity of these reactions. For me peanuts are fairly benign and I grew up thinking they were delicious. I've been fortunate to have no known allergies. That's not to say that I'm not allergic to anything, but I simply haven't run into anything that's harmful to me in that way. How is it that something like a peanut, which is just another tasty food to me, is deadly poison to someone else? What is it about their body that's not only rejecting peanuts, but shutting down when exposed to them? The other big one is gluten, although it's not so much an allergy, but an intolerance. The first time I heard about someone being gluten intolerant was probably eight years ago when a friend of mine found that wheat products were giving her serious problems. I didn't even know it was possible to have problems with something as common as wheat. You go to any grocery store today and you can find at least one section or aisle dedicated to gluten free foods. It used to be the worst you'd hear about was someone who was lactose intolerant. Even those were a rare occurrence.
So why are these people having serious problems with common foods? Were they born this way because of some fluke of genetics? Everyone around them operates as normal, but they have been given a limitation? Now not everyone is born equal. There are people born color blind or a limited sense of taste. Those can be chalked up to genetic anomalies. As far as I know there isn't a huge increase in people being born with color blindness. Those being born with allergies seems to be on the rise though. Is this being caused by the environment or something else? How can it be that some people being born today are taking steps backwards when it comes to their ability to tolerate the outside world? The whole situation makes me think back to all those great medical advancements we're so proud of. People are living longer than ever before. Diseases that should have killed people are becoming treatable. People who even twenty years ago were unable to have children are being given opportunities to procreate. There are some religious zealots out there who would argue that by doing so we're going against nature. While I don't exactly agree with that sentiment, but it does bring up a good point. What if we as a species haven't caught up with ourselves? It could be our technology has surpassed our own evolutionary track to a point that we're starting to see the side effects in the form of allergies and sickness that cannot be treated.
Thirty years ago we cured Smallpox, which it turns out is the only infectious disease we've ever been able to fully eradicate. The number of lives that have been saved from that is probably incalculable. It's been over twenty years since there was a need for even routine vaccinations for Smallpox. In another thirty years it could be all but a memory. There is a lot of work being done to fight and hopefully stop some serious diseases such as Cancer or AIDS. We know more about them know than ever before, but how close are we to seeing a real cure? Every year they put so much work into trying to just stay in front of the common cold. It's like trying to hit a moving target that's building up an immunity to whatever you're trying to shoot at it. Will we ever have a disease-free world or will the fight just keep on going until both sides become unrecognizable?
