The Origins of Disease

Human's first ancestors appeared in Africa about 7 million years ago. As these early humans began to walk on two legs, their hands were free to do a variety of tasks and their brain size increased dramatically. Soon the human race was on the road to developing advanced civilizations. However, during the course of this evolution, the "seeds" of disease were sown. THE ORIGINS OF DISEASE explores disease as mankind's destiny from an evolutionary perspective. This series takes a look at the condition of modern patients receiving state-of-the-art treatment, and delves several million years into the past to find traces of diseases' origins and how they evolved over time.