ABSTRACT
The world is filled with the enormous potential for disease. Bacteria, protozoa and fungi have colonised the whole planet with amazing diversity and flexibility. This chapter analyses the very risk of ecodemics as well as how humans have reflected upon this risk and mediated it, especially in Japan and East Asia. The history of human civilization is intertwined with the rise of agriculture and larger settlements of people. However, this development is rather late in the story of human evolution and one of its most interesting consequences was poorer health for a significantly larger group of people. European societies also developed more rational responses of quarantine, which helped to fight against diseases but also condemned new arrivals to stay together until they were collectively proved to be free of infection. The reality of how vulnerable the modern world is in the face of a new epidemic was best demonstrated with the occurrence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
