Emerging Infectious Diseases Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are the third leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of death worldwide (3). Therefore, EIDs should be considered an imminent threat to human existence or it is God's response to our unbiblical stewardship of the Earth or it is nature's practical solution to overpopulation. Past EIDs Since the beginning of time, human existence has been overwhelmed by menacing diseases. For starters, leprosy and other highly contagious skin diseases affected humanity as early as Old Testament times. Because of its rapidly contagious manner and degrading, dehumanizing results, victims of skin diseases were often ostracized and permanently confined to live in isolated caves. During Europe's medieval and Renaissance historical periods, one-third of its population, or 25 million people, were ruthlessly wiped out in just two years by the bubonic plague (10.a). However, the wrath of the bubonic plague did not end in those two years, as it continued to invade the vast European territory for the next two hundred years (1348-1530) as an epidemic commonly known as the “Black Death” (10.d ). The subsequent epidemic of bubonic plague occurred in south-central, southwestern and northern India, also accompanied by pneumonic plague in 1994 (10.c). An epidemic of Marburg disease, a type of hemorrhagic fever, was observed among laboratory workers in Marburg, Germany and Belgrade, Yugoslavia. These workers were accidentally exposed and infected with the virus resulting in 31 cases, in which 7 people died. In 1976, the Ebola virus, another type of hemorrhagic fever, imploded in Central Africa, claiming about 500 lives. To this day, t...... middle of paper ......ria Foster, Joe Pantoliano. Warner Bros., 1999 (136 minutes).10. The wonderful world of diseases. (1999, October 23). http://www.diseaseworld.com/disease.htma. Janis, E. (1999). http://ponderosa-pine.uoregon.edu/students/Janis/impact.htmlb. Larson, E. (1998, February 28). http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980223/cover1.htmlc. Wisconsin Medical College. (1994, September 30). http://www.intmed.mcw.edu/ITC/Plague.htmld. Oshiem. (1999, October 28). http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/osheim/plaguein.htmle. University of Wisconsin. (1999, July 14). http://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/012mad_cow/mad_cow_main.htmlf. Webster, R., & Granoff, A. (1995). http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/eov-ebola.html11. US Department of Health and Human Services. (1999, October 13). "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention". http://www.cdc.gov/aboutcdc.htm