In all, 86 per cent of the increased life expectancy was due to decreases in infectious diseases. And the bulk of the decline in infectious disease deaths occurred prior to the age of antibiotics. Less than 4 per cent of the total improvement in life expectancy since 1700s can be credited to twentieth-century advances in medical care. Laurie Garrett
About This Quote

The life expectancy in the United States has increased from 36 years to 78 years since 1900. But this increase is due to a decrease of infectious diseases rather than a greater use of modern medical technology. The advances in medical care were small compared to the decreases in infectious diseases that occurred prior to the 20th century.

Source: Betrayal Of Trust: The Collapse Of Global Public Health

Some Similar Quotes
  1. I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst... - Isaac Newton
  2. To know the history of science is to recognize the mortality of any claim to universal truth. - Evelyn Fox Keller
  3. The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists. - Unknown
  4. One has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience. - Alice James
  5. If time be judiciously employed, there is time for everything. - George Head
More Quotes By Laurie Garrett
  1. In all, 86 per cent of the increased life expectancy was due to decreases in infectious diseases. And the bulk of the decline in infectious disease deaths occurred prior to the age of antibiotics. Less than 4 per cent of the total improvement in life...
  2. Ebola haunted Zaire because of corruption and political repression. The virus had no secret powers, nor was it unusually contagious. For centuries Ebola had lurked in the jungles of central Africa. Its emergence into human populations required the special assistance of humanity's greatest vices :...
  3. At no time in history have we succeeded in making, in a timely fashion, a specific vaccine for more than 260 million people.
Related Topics