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Re: Europe and the Americas
thomas w kavanagh (tkavanag@INDIANA.EDU)
Wed, 21 Feb 1996 13:53:38 -0500
It is a "fact" that many of the European epidemic ("plague") diseases,
Bubonic, small pox, measles, etc., were unknown on Turtle Island (if we're
going to be politically correct, let's go all the way).
However, I don't think there is a necessary link with the
existence of those diseases and "open sewers." Only cholera spreads
through contaminated water--bubonic plague is spread by fleas.
I will have to check the literature on the sanitation facilities of the
Aztecs, however, the population of Tenochtitlan on their island in the
middle of Lake Texcoco must have done something.
tk
On Wed, 21 Feb 1996, Ruby Rohrlich wrote:
> Isn't it a fact that at a somewhat later period than l000 CE, about when
> Europeans began to explore (invade?) the so-called
> New World, when Europe began to experience the plagues, the New World
> civilizations in Mexico, Central and South America had no plagues, and
> that the Europeans who came here at the time marveled at the cleanliness
> they found in contrast to European conditions, like open sewers, etc.
> Ruby Rohrlich
>
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