I think this severely understates this "one disease". Malaria is estimated to have been the cause of death of 50% of all humans who have ever lived. While it's obviously much less deadly than that today, it's still a severe disease and merits heavy countermeasures.
Sickle-cell anemia is my favorite illustration of just how awful malaria is. This disease is caused by having two copies of a particular gene. Without modern medical care, the sufferer dies quickly. A single copy of the gene, however, confers resistance to malaria. In parts of the world where the sickle-cell gene is found, malaria was so devastating that a gene which had a 25% mortality rate in children where both parents have it was evolutionarily selected for, because the disease it helped protect against was even worse.
I think this severely understates this "one disease". Malaria is estimated to have been the cause of death of 50% of all humans who have ever lived. While it's obviously much less deadly than that today, it's still a severe disease and merits heavy countermeasures.
Sickle-cell anemia is my favorite illustration of just how awful malaria is. This disease is caused by having two copies of a particular gene. Without modern medical care, the sufferer dies quickly. A single copy of the gene, however, confers resistance to malaria. In parts of the world where the sickle-cell gene is found, malaria was so devastating that a gene which had a 25% mortality rate in children where both parents have it was evolutionarily selected for, because the disease it helped protect against was even worse.