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...pidemics had such a profound effect on the natives. Unlike the Europeans, the Indians knew nothing about the concept of quarantines. The healthy were sleeping and eating with the sick. When the locals became sick they had no idea what was going on. By the time they realized the seriousness of the situation large portions of the community were already infected. The healthy would then abandon their ill families, leaving no one to care for them. Many of those infected would have made a recovery with some food, shelter, fire, and water. With no healthy caretakers to feed the sick many starved to death. Those not showing signs of infection would often try to escape the illness by moving to a neighboring village. By doing this they only helped to spread the disease. Another misfortune that hurt the Indians incredibly was there genetics. When a person contracts a disease and lives, he creates an antibody. Then when they have children they pass the antibody to their posterity. Since the natives were the first generation to have contact with these illnesses; they had no first line of defense. These poor natives were scared, in fact even terrified of what was transpiring. They had little clue of the cause of the virgin epidemics. Their religion had little help to offer them. Could the Europeans have done anything to help the indigenous people? If they went into the Indian communit...