Infectious diseases are not the problem that they once were. Many wars involved the use of germ warfare because there were no treatments that worked well on those nasty infections. Nearly 25 percent of the population of Europe was wiped out by the Plague in the 14th century.

Even one of the greatest military leaders of all time succumbed to an infectious disease. Alexander the Great had conquered most of the world by the time he was 16 years of age. His men trembled in fear when he was angry. One command from their leader would mean a certain execution. The great Alexander could not be conquered by armies. However, bacteria were another thing. Plutarch wrote that:

"On the eighteenth day of the month he slept in the bathing-room on account of his fever. The next day he bathed and removed into his chamber, and spent his time in playing at dice with Medius. In the evening he bathed and sacrificed, and ate freely, and had the fever on him through the night. On the twentieth, after the usual sacrifices and bathing, he lay in the bathing-room and heard Nearchus's narrative of his voyage, and the observations he had made in the great sea. The twenty-first he passed in the same manner, his fever still increasing, and suffered much during the night. The next day the fever was very violent, and he had himself removed and his bed set by the great bath, and discoursed with his principal officers about finding fit men to fill up the vacant places in the army. On the twenty-fourth he was much worse, and was carried out of his bed to assist at the sacrifices, and gave order that the general officers should wait within the court, whilst the inferior officers kept watch without doors. On the twenty-fifth he was removed to his palace on the other side the river, where he slept a little, but his fever did not abate, and when the generals came into his chamber he was speechless and continued so the following day. The Macedonians, therefore, supposing he was dead, came with great clamours to the gates, and menaced his friends so that they were forced to admit them, and let them all pass through unarmed by his bedside. The same day Python and Seleucus were despatched to the temple of Serapis to inquire if they should bring Alexander thither, and were answered by the god that they should not remove him. On the twenty-eighth, in the evening, he died."

Some people believe that it was typhoid fever that caused the 32-year-old's death on June 13th, 323. Typhoid

fever is an infection caused by Salmonella typhi. This bacterium is usually ingested in contaminated water or food contaminated with human feces. Unlike other species of Salmonella, Salmonella typhi, is only found in humans. Once Salmonella typhi is in the intestine it can work its way into the blood stream and infect the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. The first and most common symptom of typhoid fever is fever. During the first week of the disease a person with typhoid fever may also have a loss of appetite, weakness, general aches and pains, lack of energy, dull headache, and tiredness. The fever continues to go higher and higher. If a person is not treated or cannot eliminate the infection on their own they go into delirium and can die.

Typhoid fever is rather rare today because many precautions are taken to avoid human to human spread of this disease. Proper disposal of human waste and the requirement of food handlers to wash their hands after going to the bathroom has lowered the incidence of infection to less than one case of typhoid fever per 100,000 people in the United States. In some developing countries the incidence of this disease is higher and the infection is more common during the summer months.