Allyssa Manaois Gas-4 Polio is a crippling infectious disease that is often fatal. Children under the age of five are especially susceptible. Although periodic epidemics occurred during the late 19th century, it was the spike in prevalence that occurred in the 1940s and early 1950s that triggered the start of the worldwide campaign of polio vaccination.... Continue Reading →

Mary Desiree Landicho Gas-4 Leprosy is an infection caused by the slow growing bacterium, Mycobacterium lepraehas. It has a long incubation period - two to three years (range 6 months to 40 years) and symptoms usually start as a numbness or loss of feeling in a defined area of skin - reflecting the affinity of the bacterium... Continue Reading →

Rosalie Lozano Gas-4 The history of SARS was short but not so sweet. SARS generated widespread panic in 2003 and was caused by a previously unknown coronavirus (SARS-CoV) - the same family of viruses that causes a cold. Symptoms began two to ten days after coming into contact with the virus and included a high fever, headache, body... Continue Reading →

Racel Bianca Lantano Gas-4 The origins of smallpox have been lost in prehistory but research suggests it first appeared around 10,000 BC. Telltale pockmarks adorn the the mummified remains of the great Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V (dated at 1156 BC) and the disease is described in ancient Sanskrit texts. Smallpox is caused by the variola virus. Humans... Continue Reading →

Armila Jovellanos Gas-4 The Black Death ravaged most of Europe and the Mediterranean from 1346 until 1353. Over 50 million people died, more than 60% of Europe's entire population at the time. Many historians believe it started in the Steppes of Central Asia, a vast area of grassland that even today still supports one of... Continue Reading →