Shropshire Routes to Roots

1. Introduction

The single greatest threat to life in the pre-antibiotic era would have been infectious disease. Bacteria and viruses would have accounted for most deaths with approximately half of all individuals born dying during infancy or childhood. Acute infections such as smallpox and the Plague would have resulted in rapid death. Poor health and inadequate nutrition would have made the population more susceptible to acute infection and overall weakness. While overworked and inadequately fed children living in squalor would have been more susceptible to respiratory and gut infections than their earlier rural equivalents.

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