The oldest known cases, discovered among hunter-gatherers in Siberian graves, contradict the theory that the disease once was mild.
Understanding how human behaviors affect the spread and virulence of a disease can inform preparations for the future.
Today’s headlines are filled with similar stories of the spread of death and destruction in the Middle East and Africa. American commentators worry that these plagues will burst their borders and somehow spread to these shores. And, as in Camus’ novel, these diseases point to something larger, not the imposition of a new malignant system but the breakdown of the existing order.
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