Review of Lecture on Mayans, Diseases, and Historical Impacts

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts discussed in the lecture about the Mayans, diseases, and historical impacts.

Sophisticated food-production system

The complex agricultural methods employed by the Mayans excluding the use of draft animals.

Maximum population of the Americas before Columbus

Estimated to have been around 100 million.

Hernando DeSoto's exploration

Encountered very few native peoples, who fled upon his arrival.

Acquisition of the Louisiana Territory

Indirectly attributed to yellow fever.

Great Mayan collapse causes

Population increase, labor-intensive agriculture, resource depletion, and human disease.

Swidden agriculture

Also known as slash-and-burn agriculture.

Vector-borne diseases

Diseases transmitted by vectors such as mosquitoes, including dengue, zika, and chikungunya.

Racist policy of whitening in Brazil

Resulted in increased numbers of white and Asian immigrants.

Vulcanization

The process of treating Hevea latex with sulfur and heat.

Yellow fever epidemic origins

Believed to have originated in Cuba during the 1878 epidemic.

Mayan civilization peak countries

Occupied parts of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Romaña’s sign

Associated with Chagas’ disease.

Smallpox in the New World

Devastating due to the presence of multiple risk factors including introduction by Europeans.

Symptoms of yellow fever

Include all options presented in the question.

Pathogen causing Chagas’ disease

Belongs to the same genus as the pathogen for African sleeping sickness.

American trypanosomiasis

Also known as Chagas Disease.

Panama Canal completion

Completed by Americans after discovering the vector of yellow fever.

Enzootic disease

A disease of wild animals.

Yellow fever epidemics causes

Induced indirectly by multiple factors including human disease and ecological changes.

Leishmaniasis presence in both worlds

Evolved prior to the breakup of Pangaea.

Dengue transmission cycle

Includes an intrinsic incubation period after infection but before illness.

Mayan civilization rise and fall

Distinct for various reasons compared to other ancient civilizations.

Dengue fever reinfection outcome

Possible outcome is dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).

Used automobile tires problem

Significant problem due to multiple factors including disease vector habitats.

Henry Wickham's impact

Led to the establishment of a cultivated rubber industry in Southeast Asia.

Hernan de Cortes

Conquered the Aztec people led by Emperor Montezuma.

Smallpox non-infectious incubation period

Lasts 12 days in individuals.

Dengue fever trend since 1980s

Increased throughout Ecuador and Latin America.

Biological weapons threat

South American Leaf Blight considered a threat by the United Nations.

Evidence of disease in pre-Columbian New World

Derived from coprolites, mummies, and bones.

LIDAR technology

Used to map terrain beneath forest canopy and reveal Mayan landscape modifications.

Collapse factors of Mayan civilization

Contributed by a combination of multiple factors.

Pathogen impact on world population

Around 1/5 of the world's population was wiped out due to pathogens transported by Europeans.

Most severe smallpox form

Caused by Variola major.

Night soil

Human excrement used as a fertilizer.

Chagas’ disease characteristics

First recognized as an enzootic disease.

Heme iron nutrition

Nutritionally superior because it is more readily absorbed in the intestines.

Scurvy prevention

Can be prevented by adequate intake of ascorbic acid.

Pathogen causing yaws

Belongs to the same genus as the pathogen that causes syphilis.

'Yellow' in yellow fever

Refers to hyperbilirubinemia.

Yellow fever arrival in Americas

Occurred in the 1500s.

Animal disease jump to humans

Chagas disease originally originated as an animal disease.

Chagas' disease transmission

Transmitted by triatomine bugs.

Chagas' disease transmission methods

Not spread through unprotected sex with an infected person.

Scurvy cause

Caused by vitamin C deficiency.

Aedes aegypti vector efficiency

Considered efficient because it is anthropophagic.

Parasite nearing eradication

Guinea worm is nearing eradication.

Dengue vaccine development challenge

It must be tetravalent.

Result of racist policy in Brazil

An unintended yellow fever outbreak among European immigrants.