Re:Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?
by hapless on Monday January 05, 2009 @12:18AM
(#420039)
Yaws and Smallpox, just to name two, are practically extinct today. You will have NO immunity.
Rubella, mumps, chicken pox, lockjaw etc were all common diseases then. Today, we vaccinate against them, even in the third world. You, like all adults, have probably relied on herd immunity to compensate for your fading resistance.
Intestinal disease was common in this era. It's very rare today. You would suffer from it for the same reason that modern tourists suffer in the third world. Tourists, soldiers, and aid workers grin and bear it in comfortable quarters with plenty of clean water. You would be bearing it... elsewhere.
Disease might not take you out, but it would certainly be more of a problem for you than for the natives.
Rubella, mumps, chicken pox, lockjaw etc were all common diseases then. Today, we vaccinate against them, even in the third world. You, like all adults, have probably relied on herd immunity to compensate for your fading resistance.
Intestinal disease was common in this era. It's very rare today. You would suffer from it for the same reason that modern tourists suffer in the third world. Tourists, soldiers, and aid workers grin and bear it in comfortable quarters with plenty of clean water. You would be bearing it... elsewhere.
Disease might not take you out, but it would certainly be more of a problem for you than for the natives.