ABSTRACT
Sociologists view social phenomena as the result of some general social dynamic, as in the framework of Karl Marx. According to Marx, class conflict is the driving force behind social phenomena. Humans share a number of diseases with other animals. For example, the plague bacillus infects rats and humans alike. Fleas that suck the blood of infected rats are vectors for this disease, transmitting the agent to humans as they jump from their rodent hosts to human hosts. In addition to contributing to drug-resistant microbes, drugs that kill certain microbes may give other microbes greater opportunities to proliferate. Many infectious diseases have evolved during periods of major changes in the social environment and behavior of populations. The transition from hunting-gathering to agricultural societies about ten thousand years ago was such a period. All infectious diseases represent a conflict between the host and a tiny, foreign, but often virulent microorganism.
