The level of development of modern medicine often makes us arrogantly believe that we are protected from almost everything. Nevertheless, many terrible diseases that plagued the world in the past have not yet been defeated. Every now and then there are outbreaks and even local epidemics of diphtheria, typhus and even something worse. It is possible that these diseases simply lurked for a while, then to return with renewed vigor.
Leptospirosis
In 2012, barely recovering from terrible floods, the inhabitants of the Philippines fell victim to a new scourge - rat fever. This is what the people call leptospirosis. It is carried mainly by pets and rodents. Penetrating into the human body through mucous membranes and skin, the infection affects the liver, spleen, kidneys, adrenal glands, capillaries and muscles. In most cases, leptospirosis proceeds with severe complications, general intoxication and febrile convulsions, therefore, the patient may die without urgent hospitalization. In the Philippines, the development of an epidemic of leptospirosis was the result of a rampant disaster. People were infected through water contaminated with animal secretions. I am glad that at least from person to person this disease is not transmitted.
Syphilis
It would seem that the XXI century, the excellent development of medicine, a large selection of contraception and protection. But no, one of the most ancient diseases is making itself felt again. Scientists in the United States are already beginning to sound the alarm: outbreaks of syphilis have again been recorded in the west throughout Nevada and especially in Las Vegas. According to doctors, technical progress is to blame, however strange it may sound. The abundance of applications and services for quick dating today made anonymous sex without obligations so simple that only the lazy is not using it in the West. Moreover, most of the registered cases of the disease occur in the gay environment.
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Measles
In the early 2000s, the United States proudly declared that measles had been completely eradicated. Nevertheless, if we talk about the world as a whole, then measles still remains one of the leading causes of death among young children. In 2011 alone, according to official statistics, 158 thousand people died from measles. And more than 22 million are infected annually. And even in the states themselves, despite their statements, in 2014 there was a massive outbreak of measles in California Disneyland. 84 children from 14 different states were infected.
Diphtheria
In the 16th and 17th centuries, diphtheria and diphtheria literally ravaged the Iberian Peninsula. The most serious outbreak was known as the year of suffocation. However, in the modern world, diphtheria seems to have already been forgotten, especially in developed countries. A long time ago, the DPT vaccine was invented, which made it possible to reduce the incidence of this infection as much as possible using advance vaccinations. However, the recent movement against childhood vaccinations is giving many diseases a second chance. This, unfortunately, happened in Spain in 2015, when, due to the persistent anti-vaccination beliefs of parents, a six-year-old baby fell ill with diphtheria. This was the first case of the disease in Spain in 30 years. The Spanish doctors did not even have a serum to fight this disease. The medicine had to be urgently delivered from Russia. Unfortunately,all the efforts of the doctors were in vain, almost a month after the hospitalization, the child still died.
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever is a very serious infection characterized by fever, general intoxication, skin rashes and specific lesions of the lymphatic system of the lower part of the small intestine. Between 16 and 30 million cases of disease are registered annually, 600,000 of which end in death. Typhoid fever is especially dangerous in developing countries with high population density and poor sanitary conditions. Nevertheless, there are foci of diseases even in the USA. For example, in Oklahoma not so long ago there was another outbreak of typhoid fever, which one of the families brought with him from a trip abroad.
Polio
An extremely severe infection that causes severe damage to the gray matter of the spinal cord. In the middle of the 20th century, the rise in the incidence of poliomyelitis made it a national disaster in many countries of Europe and North America. The introduction into practice of vaccines preventing poliomyelitis led to a rapid decrease in the incidence rate, and in many territories - to its almost complete elimination, as, for example, in the USSR since 1961. And yet the disease still persists, especially in South Asia and Nigeria. And in September 2015, two cases of polio were registered in Ukraine. According to experts, there is a high risk of further spread of poliomyelitis in Ukraine, since only half of the children in the country are vaccinated against this disease.
Bubonic plague
One of the worst diseases in history remains on the list of the most dangerous infections to this day. The bacterium that causes this disease is carried by fleas that parasitize rats, which can also spread to humans. Until the end of the 19th century, the plague was practically not treated, and the mortality rate from it was 95%. In many ways, this is why in the 13th century the plague killed 60% of the entire population of Europe. And if you think that humanity has already defeated the plague, then this is not at all the case. Over the past few years, cases of bubonic plague have been reported in several countries at once. In 2015, 39 people in Madagascar were able to fight the plague. In the United States, an average of 7 people fall ill with bubonic plague every year. And although in modern conditions the plague is quite well treated, outbreaks of this disease now and then occur in different parts of the world.
Leprosy
Also known as leprosy or Hansen's disease, leprosy can cause injury, blindness, and even death. And since there are no serums, vaccines or other immunostimulants for leprosy, this ancient disease is still alive. All the same developed United States has up to 150 cases of leprosy per year. Moreover, the recent outbreak of the disease in the southern states prompted scientists to conduct additional research. It turned out that the carriers of the infection were … armadillos. The good news is that the leprosy detected in the early stages is successfully treated.
Dengue fever
The disease is most prevalent in the countries of South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Caribbean. Up to 50 million people fall ill with this fever every year. Its sources are already sick people, monkeys and bats. And mosquitoes carry the infection. In developed countries, Hawaii experienced the largest outbreak of dengue fever in 2015, with more than 260 cases.
Cholera
Throughout its history, mankind has suffered from time to time from devastating outbreaks of cholera. All cholera pandemics spread throughout the world from the Ganges Valley, where the disease has been well known since ancient times. Since 1817, a wave of continuous cholera pandemics began in Europe. In the 19th century, these epidemics claimed more lives than any other disease outbreak. In the modern world, outbreaks of cholera epidemics are common in developing and poor countries. And also in case of massive natural disasters, for example, during earthquakes. Thus, the epidemic in Haiti that began in October 2010 affected 7% of the population of this state and, as of May 2015, claimed the lives of 9,700 people.