The Eradication of Diseases

After decades of Belgian rule, Congo gained independence in June 1960 under the leadership of the nation’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. However, hope was quickly shattered by Cold War rivalries and a fierce internal power struggle. Lumumba’s vision for a sovereign, pros ...  Show more

The Roman Empire, at its height, was a juggernaut. However, during the third century, almost everything fell apart. In fact, for a brief period of time, it arguably did. It suffered from invasions, plagues, a collapsing economy, lower agricultural productivity, and numerous polit ...  Show more

The way we die has been utterly transformed. There have been around 10,000 generations of human beings, but only in the last 3 or 4 have infectious diseases not been an expected and accepted cause of death. What drove the most deadly infectious diseases? Was technological progr ...  Show more

Smallpox is a viral disease that has existed for millennia. But it’s now one of only two diseases that’s been eradicated through human activity, and a global plan was enacted to do it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/list ...  Show more

Like many autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis so clearly illustrates how detection and description of a disease only gets us so far when it comes to prevention, treatment, and cure. In the over 150 years since the first comprehensive description of multiple sclerosis, a great ...  Show more

April 5, 1918. The first mention of a new influenza outbreak in Kansas appears in a public health report. That strain, later called the Spanish Flu, would go on to kill at least 50 million people worldwide. In a time before widespread global travel, how did this disease spread so ...  Show more