How do viruses impact society?
Answers
Answer:
The economic costs of infectious diseases—especially HIV/AIDS and malaria—are significant. Their increasing toll on productivity owing to deaths and chronic debilitating illnesses, reduced profitability and decreased foreign investment, has had a serious effect on the economic growth of some poor countries.
Answer:
We examine the inter-relationships between viruses and human society. Following a short discussion of the etymology of the word “virus”, we consider the mutual impact of viruses and science, including the relationship between technological developments and virus discovery, advances in other biomedical sciences gained through virology, and examples of harnessing viruses for specific purposes. We then survey the impact of viral diseases in terms of the human cost of pandemics throughout history to modern times. To end, we briefly touch upon the influence of viruses on art, literature and popular culture.