Air-borne Diseases: Smallpox, Measles and Tuberculosis

Abstract

War and famine are both, to some degree, within mankind’s control. The incidence of enteric and vector-borne diseases can be lessened by attention to diet and hygiene. However, that group of diseases which is spread through the air, consisting of air-borne bacteria and the most minute of the microorganisms, viruses, are much more difficult to influence. Environmental improvements would have less effect on these diseases and all of them are thought to reach epidemic proportions only in very large and dense populations.