One of the more interesting notions that permeates various portions of the media is that we were either much healthier in the "good ol' days" than we are now - or much worse.
These two sentiments show up in a variety of ways. For example, some infomercials on television and the Internet talk about average life expectancy and point out that in the early 1800s, it was only 30 years of age.
Does this mean that people only lived to be 30 years old? Why yes, say the television hosts on these shows. Don't be ridiculous, science says.
Indeed, history even butts into the conversation and points out that Julius Caesar lived to be 55 before he was murdered and Leonardo da Vinci reached a ripe old age of 67. Neither man was exceptionally long lived. They were typical of their times.
The notion that our ancestors had a much more limited life span is fallacious.
The average life expectancy is based on the whole population and with the high rates of infant mortality in past centuries, the average value was low.
People typically lived into their 60s or 70s - if they survived childhood.
The other view - that things were so much better in the "good ol' days" - is equally fallacious.
People did not live longer than they do now and infant mortality was high. Indeed, surviving to the age of 10 was a feat and usually meant that you would have a long life.
The development of medicine during the past 300 years has, to some extent, impacted overall life expectancies. By treating children with various medicines, doctors have been able to cure or even eliminate certain diseases.
One of the major advances in medicine was the development of vaccines.
The word "vaccination" was first used by Edward Jenner in 1796 and he is generally given credit as the inventor of the process.
However, vaccinations pre-date Jenner's discoveries by a considerable margin.
Small pox vaccinations were practiced as early as 200 B.C. in China and India through the simple expediency of exposing people to the pus from the sores on victims.
The development of modern vaccines can be dated back to the late 1700s when scientists began to inoculate patients using mild or inactive or even dead forms of pathogens.
In our modern age, it is hard to realize that at the time, scientists did not have a theory of disease transmission nor an understanding of cells and microbes. Rather, they used whatever approach worked.
Of course, during the 1800s, a theory of disease transmission was developed.
Microbial organisms - bacteria, viruses, and other infectious agents - were seen to be the source of disease. And preventing disease was accomplished by preventing these organisms from flourishing.
The use of anti-septic compounds, such as carbolic acid, significantly cut down the transmission of germs during surgery.
And various compounds could treat ailments after a person had become sick. Or at least they could make the person feel better while their body recovered.
Only vaccines could prevent disease. They did so by sensitizing a person's immune system to pathogens.
By acting as an early warning system, they ensured that diseases could not take hold in the first place.
A hundred years ago, the leading cause of death was not heart disease nor cancer. In fact, cancer was way down on the list of people's concerns.
A hundred years ago, the leading cause of death was tuberculous, followed by pneumonia, and diarrhea/enteritis.
Other diseases, such as diphtheria, took their toll. Some of these diseases have been eradicated from the human population because of vigorous vaccination programs.
By ensuring that everyone in a population is vaccinated, the pathogen has no hosts in which to develop to a mature stage. It is not able to reproduce.
Eventually, it dies out completely.
During the past one hundred years, we have been able to rid ourselves of a large number of deadly and debilitating diseases.
Polio, scarlet fever, diphtheria, small pox - none are the killers that they once were.
This has meant that we now live longer but also that we die of other things.
The number one leading cause of death is no longer tuberculous but heart disease followed by cancer. A longer life means other diseases will have time to claim their victims.
Despite the medical advances that have eliminated a large number of deadly diseases, there are groups and individuals that would argue against the use of vaccines.
Perhaps they would like to return to the good ol' days when the average life expectancy was 30 years old and most children did not make it to 10.
