What needs to be emphasized here is that the global historical evolution of human beings and epidemics is closely related to the macro and micro environment in which human beings live. Among them, the macro-environment refers to the human communication behavior in a large scale, which is the basic factor related to whether the general infectious diseases can spread from one ethnic group to another, form cross-regional transfer and then develop into a large-scale serious infectious disease-plague. Microenvironment refers to the living environment, lifestyle and medical conditions of a specific ethnic group in a specific area, and it is a basic factor related to whether infectious diseases can eventually occur or whether pathogens can spread successfully among people. Changes in microenvironment
From the origin of mankind to about 1000 years ago, people were scattered all over the country, gathering fruits as the main means of livelihood, supplemented by occasional hunting. Clive Pontine, a British scholar, believes that in this case, there are fewer opportunities for contact between people and animals, and between ethnic groups, so infectious diseases rarely occur. However, from about 1 10,000 years ago, people gradually settled and domesticated many kinds of animals, which also enabled the pathogens of the latter to successfully invade the human body, and some of them settled in the human body and became typical human diseases. For human beings, almost all infectious diseases originate from pathogens carried by animals. In this regard, American scholar jared diamond also pointed out that "the problem that human diseases originated from animals is the potential cause of the most extensive pattern in human history, and it is also some of the most important problems in human health today". The current outbreak of influenza A (H 1N 1) proves this point again.
While domesticating animals, human beings also cultivate farmland and plant crops, which also opens the prelude to the large-scale survival game between human beings and pathogens. From about 5000 BC to the middle of19th century, human society and pathogens have developed by leaps and bounds, and pathogens always seem to have the upper hand. For human beings, the microenvironment has undergone tremendous changes, the living conditions have been continuously improved, the nutritional structure has been increasingly enriched, and the medical level has been improved. However, medical historians tend to think that this change can not prevent the invasion of pathogens, but will become a medium for their breeding and spread to some extent: human beings gather in a large number of narrow spaces, which are often mixed with people and animals, and the sanitation is poor. People's medical knowledge of infectious diseases is extremely limited, and some countermeasures, such as large-scale assembly, are likely to be counterproductive. Great environment urges
The prevalence of the "integrated" pathogen of the global plague is also attributed to the environmental factors that historians pay close attention to: large-scale foreign wars are the most important way to make the earth smaller and smaller, and the best way for pathogens to break through the territory. In addition, uninterrupted land reclamation has destroyed the natural ecology, and some new infectious diseases may appear, and the increasingly frequent foreign trade has also played an increasingly important role in the spread of the plague. As the French historian Raduri said, these conditions make the global plague "integrated".
From about 5000 BC to 500 BC, the city-state and the country were initially established, and they clashed with each other and established local hegemony. We also found fever, tuberculosis and plague in the records of Assyria and Babylon. From around 500 BC, regional powers launched wars against the surrounding areas and established the first batch of great empires. The pathogen will then act across regions. For example, during the eastward expansion of the Roman Empire and the establishment of a vast territory, several great plagues broke out inevitably. In the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the pathogens carried by Huns from the East may have played a great role, but it was not until the Middle Ages that the plague really merged into Eurasia. /kloc-The "Black Death" in the 0/4th century originated in Central Asia, and then with the footprints of Mongolian warriors and eastern and western businessmen all over Europe, nearly one-third of the population in Europe was lost. 15- 17 century's geographical discovery, basically completed the journey around the world in space, smallpox has also become the representative of pathogens dominating the world. Indians who have never been exposed to this pathogen (including other pathogens) die as soon as they are exposed, and the total population has decreased by 95% in a century or two. Under the change of modern environment
With the advancement of the industrial revolution and the expansion of colonialism, "19 century's most terrible and amazing world disease" appeared, which is cholera. The reason is that from the macro environment, colonial behavior and ethnic conflicts make regional communication more complicated and closer, and the urbanization process accelerates the population flow between urban and rural areas. From a small environment, industrialization has brought unprecedented pollution, especially river pollution, and the sanitary conditions have become worse. This situation makes the pathogens in the digestive tract active and abnormal, and finally develops into a worldwide plague. Fortunately, these infectious diseases triggered a public health revolution, which began in the middle of19th century. The rapid development of bacteriology has brought about a revolution in medical thought. One pathogen after another appeared under the microscope, and people gradually grasped the transmission mechanism of infectious diseases and took measures to control them. Among them, the quarantine system in the big environment and the isolation measures in the small environment have effectively curbed the spread of plague, while the research and development of vaccines and antibiotics have added a set of "artificial" immune systems for human beings.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, human beings have considered more health factors in the macro-environment and micro-environment intervention. Although the earth is gradually "village-like" with the continuous upgrading of transportation, the flow of population, especially the long-distance flow, is gradually standardized, which makes the environment speed up the spread of pathogens, but effectively controls their transmission routes. For the small environment, people's living environment is cleaner, sanitary facilities are more and more perfect, and many dead corners where pathogens gather are removed. With the continuous improvement of this series of public health systems, traditional infectious diseases such as plague, smallpox and cholera have been effectively controlled, but this does not mean that human beings have defeated pathogens. When human immune system and medical level can effectively control traditional pathogens, the latter often fight back in the form of variants. For example, during the period of1918-1919, a worldwide plague called Spanish influenza caused15 million to 20 million deaths, exceeding the number of deaths in World War I. This plague evolved from a specific malignant influenza population. This evolved influenza virus is a variant of influenza A virus H 1N 1. In addition, AIDS, which was first diagnosed in1980s, is now the public enemy of the whole world. According to research, its HIV virus may come from African wild monkeys. This can't help but make people sigh, how many pathogens will invade humans from animals! In the big environment and the small environment
The history of plague is the history of the game between pathogens and human survival. The bad state of human environment makes the spread of plague possible, and the improvement of human environment narrows the living range of plague to a limited range, but plague is also constantly producing new varieties to fight for living space. Today, 90 years after the outbreak of influenza in Spain, we are facing the danger of influenza A virus variant H 1N 1. On the one hand, don't panic too much, because the high mortality rate of Spanish flu is partly due to the bad influence of the small environment at that time and the communication confusion brought about by the war in the big environment. Nowadays, the high-level public health system and medical treatment level have achieved initial results in controlling the spread of plague and treating patients. On the other hand, the review of the global plague integration process warns us not to be blindly optimistic. In order to effectively control plague, slow down or even block the spread of pathogens, it is necessary to strengthen entry-exit inspection and global cooperation in a big environment, strive to maintain peace and avoid the emergence of unconventional modes of transmission such as war. In the small environment, we should continue to improve people's diet, housing, medical care and other conditions, pay attention to civilized lifestyle, especially try our best to make up for regional differences and reduce the number of plague birthplaces. Only in this way can we remain cautiously optimistic in the face of pathogen attacks. Copy it down and correct it yourself.