Infectious Diseases along the Silk Roads : The Spread of Parasitoses and Culture Past and Today

The heart of this volume is exploring the links between human disease spread and the broad Silk Road trading networks which connect Eurasian civilizations past and today. Compiled by an international team of subject authors, this book includes two themed parts. Readers are first introduced into history naming, former, present and future routes of the Silk Road, representing the longest trade way and culture diffuser in the world. The second part contains the main book focus and addresses medical research as well as individual diseases and parasite groups from the region in detail. By drawing an arc between the past and present disease situation, the authors trace how parasites and vectors spread around the globe, and what impact infectious diseases had and will have upon human civilizations. Through its interdisciplinary character this book will be enjoyed by interested readers from the fields of parasitology and palaeoparasitology, medical sciences and public health, as well as cultural history.