Melissa Martin's Post

***Although this post has been posted under my name, it was written and researched by my partner Melissa Martin. Tonight she called me because she was unable to locate her invitation to the blog. I have posted her post under my name so that it would make it onto the site by 8:00 A.M. Monday morning.***


Pandemics and epidemics have gradually become somewhat easier to treatand control over the past 20th century due to advances in public healthand technology . At the turn of the 20th century, the 6th cholera pandemichit, but in places such as Europe, the effect was not so great because oftheir advances in public health. However in countries such as Russia whichwas not so technologically or industrially advanced, the cholera pandemicfrom 1899-1923 hit very hard. Russia was once again hit very hard by thispandemic as it had in been in 1852-1860 when the third pandemic hit Russiacausing over a million deaths.

Towards the end of the 20th century, however, with a pandemic such as AIDS, one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history, there hasbeen a surge of epidemiologists who have made incredible advancements inthe awareness of epidemics and pandemics.

Accompanying these advances, there has been a greater study of the ethicssurrounding such pandemics as AIDS as epidemiologists have learned to morecarefully consider the privacy rights of individual victims. With thiscloser look at ethics, victims of pandemics such as AIDS have become lessvulnerable to the stigma of the disease itself. They have less fear ofpublic reprisal than victims of pandemics have been in past times duringepidemics such as the black plague.

http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/22/1/169.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS