Saw this piece today over on the Guardian. About 30-40 thousand people die every year from the flu in the US alone. World wide that number could be as high as a half million. I would note that no religion has ever cured disease and saved the lives of millions. I would also note that this cure isn't coming from the United States, but from the great socialist healthcare nightmare state that is the UK.

Why not cure malaria first. More people die from malaria than all other viruses combined. Bring back DDT. As a matter of fact, the W.H.O. says that, world wide, malaria is the #1 killer of people. And you probably still think the USA is #1 for turning innocents into red mist.

...so long as you're correct that it kills more than influenza. Of course, malaria doesn't widely affect western nations, so they're not going to put the resources into curing it.

Why do conservatives have such a hard time understanding that all species are dependant upon one another? If you kill off a shit ton of birds, then that's going to effect other species, and ultimately entire eco-systems.

Treat the disease. Not the vector for that disease.

although, I suppose one could get into a hair splitting contest between prevention and a cure. Regardless, a very good point.

Everyday somebody somewhere claims to have cured something. Then you don't hear anything about it again.

But the interesting thing to take away from this is we are more likely to die from the flu, than any STD . More likely to catch it too, since it doesn't require intimate contact.

It is called DDT and it is the western nations that prohibit it's use.

capitalists are very short sighted ddt is a cheap short term solution.

If you look through the Tanakh, you'll notice it has a lot of rules pertaining to all kinds of stuff. Admittedly, a lot of it seems stupid today; but a lot of it undoubtedly prevented disease.

See, for example, Proverbs 5:15: "Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain."

Considering that water-born illness (stuff like cholera and dysentery) kills millions; this simple admonition from scripture has likely saved the lives of many who followed it.

And how much spread of Sexually Transmitted Disease has been prevented by scrupulous keeping of Deuteronomy 5:18 "You shall not commit adultery."

Following the Biblical health laws would also prevent a lot of type II diabetes, please see Proverbs 25:16.

Leviticus has laws of quarantine to prevent spread of communicable diseases, including instructions for destroying materials (via fire) likely to be contaminated. See Leviticus chapter 13.

Deuteronomy 23 explains how to dispose of human waste so that it doesn't contaminate water supplies. Following this has no doubt prevented a great deal of disease.

I would hazard a very conservative guess that following the biblical health codes has save untold millions of lives.

Whether or not a deity exists is irrelevant.

so what was written was not necessarily common knowledge. I think that even if people had reading skills the ruling class made it a crime to be in possession of a book.

he universal elimination of bad teeth.