Are many illnesses actually more prevalent nowadays or is it greater awareness?

[Lencoboy]

With all the discussion of late concerning various bugs knocking around, I can't help wondering if many illnesses are actually becoming more prevalent now than ever before, or do we just happen to be more aware of many of them (and inadvertently more hypervigilant towards them)?

Since Covid first became a thing exactly 4 years ago it's understandable to a certain extent that the media will make a song and dance over them, but there are some 'bugs' that have actually been around and known about for several years now, especially Norovirus, which has been heavily publicised almost every winter for the past 20-odd years or so, but I don't seem to recall people discussing 'bugs'/viruses when I was younger to quite the same extent that they do now.

Then of course there's the plethora of 24/7 news, Internet, social media, etc, that no doubt amplifies such things, plus of course can also be liable to spreading misinformation on occasions.

Is there any hard and fast evidence we're generally less healthy now than ever before, or is a lot of it nothing more than mythical 'rose-tinted specs' syndrome and the popular belief that the modern-day world in general is going to hell in a handcart, etc?

Perhaps I'm just lucky, but personally I don't think I feel any worse now physically than I've ever done at any time during my entire 46 1/2 years on this planet.

[MyNameIsTerry]

How about the example of Ebola? The nation was scared by an apocalyptic media a few years back. It was as if this new big nasty had come to earth. But if you actually looked into it you would see there had been something like 25 previous outbreaks.

Why weren't we scared? Well, perhaps because so few of us even knew?

Then there is reclassification. Take the new COPD my mum has. But one of it's two sub categories her mum had over 50 years before due to working in dusty factories as a young woman.

Did people only just start dying of lung cancers despite smoking being an ancient practice? Was asbestos safe before a scientist gave a disease a name? Did the recent PTSD not exist in a world built on rape & pillage or did it have a different name (e.g. shell shock)?

It's like the question of mental health: new or just more known? Were people hardened and we're weaker? Has it increased due to the change in pace of the modern world? Maybe all our comforts leave us more time to fill with irrational worry?

[Lencoboy]

How about the example of Ebola? The nation was scared by an apocalyptic media a few years back. It was as if this new big nasty had come to earth. But if you actually looked into it you would see there had been something like 25 previous outbreaks.

Why weren't we scared? Well, perhaps because so few of us even knew?

Then there is reclassification. Take the new COPD my mum has. But one of it's two sub categories her mum had over 50 years before due to working in dusty factories as a young woman.

Did people only just start dying of lung cancers despite smoking being an ancient practice? Was asbestos safe before a scientist gave a disease a name? Did the recent PTSD not exist in a world built on rape & pillage or did it have a different name (e.g. shell shock)?

It's like the question of mental health: new or just more known? Were people hardened and we're weaker? Has it increased due to the change in pace of the modern world? Maybe all our comforts leave us more time to fill with irrational worry?

Some interesting observations there Terry.

Apart from things like Covid (obviously), I'm not convinced that there's an actual 'epidemic' of illnesses in general. However, I do think the media have a tendency to make a song and dance over such things moreso now than ever before, plus certain individuals often like to blab their latest ailments all over social media and general conversations; sometimes as some means of attention-seeking, unlike in the past when many were probably more discreet about such things.

There also seems to be a increased tendency nowadays to give many bugs and viruses trendy names (e.g, Norovirus, Swine Flu, etc). For example, Norovirus-like bugs/illnesses have surely existed ever since year dot but it wasn't until around the early 2000s that the name Norovirus suddenly started being bandied around en masse. Of course, certain publications (the Daily Express in particular) seem to revel in these 'we're all doomed' Armageddon tales; most of which don't actually come to pass.

But I also believe there's far greater awareness of many illnesses and health risks in general nowadays, even though on occasions it seems like it can amount to unnecessary paranoia.

[Lencoboy]

How about the example of Ebola? The nation was scared by an apocalyptic media a few years back. It was as if this new big nasty had come to earth. But if you actually looked into it you would see there had been something like 25 previous outbreaks.

Why weren't we scared? Well, perhaps because so few of us even knew?

Then there is reclassification. Take the new COPD my mum has. But one of it's two sub categories her mum had over 50 years before due to working in dusty factories as a young woman.

Did people only just start dying of lung cancers despite smoking being an ancient practice? Was asbestos safe before a scientist gave a disease a name? Did the recent PTSD not exist in a world built on rape & pillage or did it have a different name (e.g. shell shock)?

It's like the question of mental health: new or just more known? Were people hardened and we're weaker? Has it increased due to the change in pace of the modern world? Maybe all our comforts leave us more time to fill with irrational worry?

I vaguely remember the Ebola scare around late 2014 which actually turned out to be much ado about nothing in the end (at least here in the UK). I don't seem to recall being overly fazed by it at the time either.

Also from around 1984 onwards there was the big panic over AIDS too, especially with the infamous slogan 'AIDS; Don't Die Of Ignorance' on TV PIFs, roadside billboard posters, etc, around 1987 or so.

I also forgot to mention above that one plausible explanation for today's perceived illness 'epidemic' is the fact that people have a greater tendency to travel now than ever before, especially internationally, which of course can no doubt (in the worst-case scenarios) increase the risk of pandemics.