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Analysis Of Dr. Sharon Moalem 'Survival Of The Sickest'

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One of the concluding sentences that Dr. Sharon Moalem directs toward her audience is, “[...] Our relationship with disease is often much more complex than we may have previously realized.” “Survival of the Sickest” delves into the theme of the way inheritance and genetic codes in our bloodlines allows fatal diseases to enter our body and the reasons for this happening. The author discusses various diseases and their origin, and includes facts as to how this disease is able to affect modern life. She suggests that said modern diseases played a necessary part in the survival and selection of those before us in our history. To begin, the author discusses hemochromatosis, a disease that causes an excess of iron in a person’s body. It, in particular, targets the heart and the liver. Dr. Moalem uses the example of Aran Gordon to display the glaring symptoms of this illness, including an erratic heart beat, arthritis, and diabetes. The virus was first detailed in 1865 by a man named of Armand Trousseau before the distinct gene was isolated in a university in 1996. It is not specified how large the spread of hemochromatosis was during this time. Dr. Moalem divulges readers in …show more content…

Moalem reveals in “Survival of the Sickest” is that a disease that is blatantly harmful to people and can kill them also provided people life and a way to survive. This was also an evolutionary advantage to some humans. This disease was able to reorient my views on genes and inheritance. Viewing this disease, one is able to see that the same disease had once held both the power to help someone as well as kill someone during the Black Death. The main treatment for hemochromatosis in the past is also the same treatment that is used today. Phlebotomy, otherwise known as bloodletting, is an ancient tactic to help cure people of disease. A future research topic to probe into would be to find an alternative way to rid of

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During the thirteenth century, a disease known as the Black Death spread from Asia to Europe at an alarming speed. It travelled through the trade routes, in the form of infected fleas carried from town to town on rats causing catastrophic loses of population . The Black Death consisted of two forms of the disease; the pneumonic plague, and the bubonic plague . Since it was unknown as to what caused the disease at the time, their responses to the plague’s outbreak were almost entirely futile. Since religion was a big factor in nearly everybody’s lives, the records of the Black Death that we do have are heavily influenced by religion, and as such, their views strongly swayed things like treatments and medicine that were used against the plague.

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