Oldest Disease
- Thread starter Orleander
- Start date
We have much more sugar today(refined sugar being rather recent in human development) but also much better cleaning techniques with it. Living longer may also not help our teeth.
A lot of foods have natural sugars in, any sweet fruits have sugars in that can rot teeth if not properly cared for, and I'm fairly sure it's not just sugar which causes decay.
What is the oldest disease? You have to ask from what point in our evolutionary history?
I would say it would be either a viral agent of some sort or starvation. Some believe viruses have been a major factor in driving evolution (retroviruses).
I would say it would be either a viral agent of some sort or starvation. Some believe viruses have been a major factor in driving evolution (retroviruses).
I believe our DNA is full of useless sections called introns. Many of these are sections of DNA lifted from previous viral infections that have become incorporated into our DNA.
starvation is a disease? How do I go about catching it?
Please see definition of disease provided by Asguard is post number 2.
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=2269546&postcount=3
It is entirely possible we are who and what we are today due to retroviral infections.
LOL, oh yeah him.
I know starvation, shock and trauma are the very first things that pop into people's heads when they worry about catching a disease. well then I guess not having food is the oldest disease. Thank you. LMAO
LOL, oh yeah him.
well then I guess not having food is the oldest disease. Thank you. LMAO
Medical professionals and lay folks use the terms differently. If you wanted to limit the discussion to infectious diseases, then that should have been stated in the OP.
please see the hair splitting thread.and thank you for telling me how I should have asked a question so that you and Asguard didn't come up with shock and no food. Dang, I thought I only had to clear questions with Enmos before I asked them
Lol
The only disease that I know for sure was wiped out was (thank GOD) smallpox, back about 20 years ago. Bubonic plague is still with us, unfortunately, and now there are strains that have become vibramicin resistant. I'm not sure about the current status of polio.
Very likely there are diseases which have afflicted prehistoric animals (and I'm confining myself to only mammals, because they're the most likely to become a vector population for a disease that will later be transmitted to humans) which would have also afflicted early hominid species. However (in the absence of a DNA profile prior to the Neanderthals) we don't know much about their genetic makeup. So it's probable that there were diseases which were left without a vector population of any kind when certain animal or hominid species became extinct. Alternately they altered so much by their contact with hominids that they essentially became new diseases because their own genetic structure changed so much.
The other alternative is that they could have survived, at least for a while, by entering other mammalian vector populations. It would be a very interesting exercise to follow the genetic trail of a disease back to its earliest origins to see where it came from originally.
dont worry about her, she doesnt worry about using the correct terms (ie PATHOGEN which i actually told her)
Anyway as far as your last comment on retrovirals, even if you ignore virus's the mitocondria in every cell of every person is a remenant of a bacteria which we were "infected" with very early in the development of multicellular organisiums
haha... love it
michael, you disagree?
Mitocondria in cells (which produce ATP) are remnents of bacteria, i dont know of any multicellular species alive today which DONT use mitocondria to produce ATP but there maybe some. There for a) this infection must have happened quite early in our development (though it definitly became symbiotic i grant you) and b) it must have been VERY wide spread.
Mitocondria in cells (which produce ATP) are remnents of bacteria, i dont know of any multicellular species alive today which DONT use mitocondria to produce ATP but there maybe some. There for a) this infection must have happened quite early in our development (though it definitly became symbiotic i grant you) and b) it must have been VERY wide spread.
Bacterial invasion is more often a benefit than a harm - you would be dead without those in your gut now. Usually the immune system takes care of the harmful ones. Your skin has over 100 different beneficial ones in that they keep the pathogen way.
Billy T, yes and no. firstly rember the black death was a bacteria infection which wiped out a huge percentage of the population of europe
secondly you are making an incorect assumption. ALL bacteria must stay OUTSIDE the body, as long as they are outside its all good. As long as mangigcocal bacteria stay in the nostrals for instance they are no harm, its when they get nasty and start to burow into the brain and you get menigitis (inflimation of the manigies) where it becomes a problem
GI bacteria are another good one, for the most part as long as they stay in the GI track you dont have an issue, its once they pass the body barrier and get INSIDE the body that they turn septic and you have a real issue.
Virus are really no different, if they are sitting on our skin then its no problem, the only difference is that bacteria can reproduce sitting on the outside of our body where as viruses need to get into the body and into the cells in order to replicate
secondly you are making an incorect assumption. ALL bacteria must stay OUTSIDE the body, as long as they are outside its all good. As long as mangigcocal bacteria stay in the nostrals for instance they are no harm, its when they get nasty and start to burow into the brain and you get menigitis (inflimation of the manigies) where it becomes a problem
GI bacteria are another good one, for the most part as long as they stay in the GI track you dont have an issue, its once they pass the body barrier and get INSIDE the body that they turn septic and you have a real issue.
Virus are really no different, if they are sitting on our skin then its no problem, the only difference is that bacteria can reproduce sitting on the outside of our body where as viruses need to get into the body and into the cells in order to replicate
Good answer on the mitochondria!
which of the three do you think is the oldest?
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
I knew she meant "infectious disease." Everyone else did too, they're just being smart-asses. I think by your definition, smart-assiness is probably one of the world's oldest diseases.
I knew she meant "infectious disease." Everyone else did too, they're just being smart-asses. I think by your definition, smart-assiness is probably one of the world's oldest diseases.
No it is called being precise with our wording. If you were on an operating table, I am sure you would want the professionals providing care to you to be as precise as possible. Then again maybe you would prefer a shaman...not as precise and you may not live long under his surgical care. But I am sure you would be able to understand each other.