public health

Did The X-Files predict the Zika virus? Maybe. Find out more about the genetically modified vectors unleashed to curtail the outbreak.

From antiquity to the Middle Ages, public health meant two things: sanitation (mainly clean water supply and sewage disposal) and protection against epidemics. On sanitation, think about the elaborate aqueduct systems built by Roman engineers. Epidemics meant transmissions of communicable diseases. Attacking lifestyles deemed threatening was a preferred activity of public authorities, but public health …