Bacteria, parasites, and viruses have swarmed through cities and destroyed populations, killed great leaders and thinkers, and in their aftermath transformed politics, public health, and economies. In his brilliant, new book Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World, Irwin Sherman, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of California, at Riverside, describes how this happened.

There are 12 key diseases—smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, AIDS, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, yellow fever, two noninfectious diseases, and the plant disease behind the Irish Potato Famine— that have completely changed history.

See,

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2008/01/03/12-diseases-that-altered-history.html

What follows is a list of some of the top infectious diseases in the history of mankind:

* Tuberculosis. The battle against TB stimulated some of the first searches for antibiotics. The disease most likely promoted pasteurization, which heats and kills TB and other pathogens that contaminate milk.

* Syphilis. Once treated with metals like mercury, which had horrid effects on patients, syphilis inspired the discovery of chemotherapeutic agents.

* HIV/AIDS.  A disease that is modern and yet has its parallels with the past in the kind of reactions that populations have when there’s an unforeseen epidemic.

* Influenza. Few diseases have had such massive effects on the number of deaths in the modern world as the flu, which remains a significant threat worldwide despite the prevalance of vaccines. The disease very likely influenced the course of World War I by sickening and killing soldiers and straining military healthcare systems.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Image of the Spanish influenza virus. Source: New Jersey Department of Health.