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An old
and
deadly disease, nearly forgotten by this
generation , stilllies smoldering in the rodenf popula–
tions of the world, kepf in check by sfrict health controls
and
natural barriers.
Wars,
modern fransporfafion ,
and
the rapid growth of cities hove combined fo help
it make a feeble comeback. Here is the gianf question:
What if it were fo hurdle the barriers that confain it,
and
refurn again in FULL force?
BLACI(
PLAGUE
REVISITED?
b y
Charles F.
Vinson
T
O MOST
Americans living in the
sanitized, neatly disposable
world of
middle-cl~s
suburbia,
the possibility of an iosect-boroe epi–
demic seems remote. At least it used
to, beforc the recent outbreak of
the Venezuelan ec¡uine enccphalitis epi–
demic in Texas. Still, age-old scourges
such as plague, yellow fever, typhus and
dengue fever seem like a spectre out of
the distaot, cloudy past.
Disease Plague Scare
But to public health officials and
epidemiologists, insect-borne epidemics
represent one of the most fearsome
kinds of diseasc outbreaks. The sligbtest
hiot of ooe is enough to send teams of
health officers, cntomologists, epidemiol–
ogists and veterinarians scurrying into
instant action.
Once an insect-borne plague begins,
it is very difficult to stop. lt can remain
amoog aoimals and insects for months
and years after being brought under
control. Given the right condit ions, it
Korl H. Moslowllcí, Photo Reseorchers
can break out again surprisingly fast.
An outbreak of such a disease re–
c¡uires the right circumstances, an al–
rnost accidental combination of factors
which can join forces to wrcak havoc on
an unprotected population.
At the prcsent time, there is no dan–
ger from any really large-scale insect–
borne disease, except for the Texas
encephalitis. Nevertheless, hints of pos–
sible outbreaks are occurriog more often
now than in thc past. Many officials fret
that they might be on the increase.
There's no real danger
)el,
but ...
What IF ...
Time: Stt/1/lller,
1985
No one really knows exactly how the
cpidemic got started. A good deal of
the blame, of course, could have been
placed on the failure of the economy–
to sorne a most unlikely suspcct, never–
theless, a strong factor. Ever since late
1969 and
1970 -
when things first
bcgan to get tough - the faltering
U. S. economy had continued to weaken