With reference to one named disease examine the role of the physical environment in its development and spread.

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 With reference to one named disease examine the role of the physical environment in its development and spread.

 By Jasmine George

Geography is ‘the study of man and land and the interrelations of time and space’. The physical aspect of geography is the natural environment. When studying physical geography human geography will also be concerned as the two are intrinsically linked. To research the role of the physical environment in relation to the spread of one specific disease leprosy has been chosen. Leprosy is particularly interesting because 130 years after the bacillus was discovered it is still not known exactly how either of the two forms of the disease is spread. Lepromatous leprosy causes skin lesions and infections of the respiratory tract and tuberculoid leprosy principally affects the nerves resulting in loss of feeling and damage.

Leprosy is a disease of an insidious nature with a slow onset. The disease is ultimately progressive and patients usually die from secondary infections however in some cases spontaneous recovery may occur. Infection can arise from prolonged and intimate contact between persons. The number of leprosy cases has decreased in recent years but there are still approximately 800,000 cases there are registered worldwide.

For the main case studies, Africa, South Asia and South America will be researched as there is an estimated 730,000 cases in these areas alone. Eastern Sudan will be studied in more detail as there are two tribes with different leprosy rates but who live in the same physical environment.

Looking at figure 1 and figure 2 it is possible to see that leprosy seems to be prominent in those countries with a hot, dry climate in the low latitudes. This implies that the physical environment does have a big effect upon the spread of the disease.

Africa, South – East Asia and South America have had the highest leprosy rates for fifteen years. Although the leprosy rate has decreased since 1985, these three continents contain 729,861 of 752,417 registered leprosy cases.

Table 1, Physical environment of case studies

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When looking at table 1, it is possible to see that Africa, South America and South Asia all have fairly similar environments; they all have a large difference in temperature, have varying relief and rainfall. They are all tropical countries with the same climate (although in varying proportions) and they have all had an epidemic of leprosy. Is this due to their similar physical environments? (See figures 3 and 4).

As shown by figures 3 and 4, the different climates of the three countries do not match the differing leprosy rates. In Africa (point 1) it is ...

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