Invisible Danger From Afar: Times of India

Travels and globalization have long been linked to new diseases that contributed to the death of millions: In the 1330s, the bubonic plague traveled along trade routes from China to Crimea and Europe. After 1492, European explorers introduced diseases like smallpox and diphtheria to the Americas, ravaging native populations. Such diseases disrupted trade for a spell, but innovations and treatments also emerged and took the same parts. The practice of smallpox inoculation, or variolation, may have started in India before 1000 BCE, explains Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal. News of the treatment spread spread over the next centuries to Arabia, Persia, North Africa and Europe. The modern world benefits from rapid communications and globalized responses coordinated by the World Health Organization. – YaleGlobal