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This is the story of what happened when the disease was
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suddenly introduced to populations
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in part of the world
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where it was a new invader;
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where it arrived from outside,
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had never been an endemic infection and therefore against
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which the native or aboriginal population
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had no immunity at all.
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Then it produced real catastrophes,
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events described as "Virgin soil epidemics."
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These were catastrophes that accompanied European expansion
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to the New World, Australia, New Zealand.