Definition. Rickets (in children) and osteomalacia (in adults) are two forms of a metabolic bone disease resulting from vitamin D deficiency. Both cause softening and weakening of bones because of defective or inadequate bone mineralization. Rickets. Copyright Â© Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
The flow from west to east: Disease. In terms of diseases, the Columbian Exchange was a wildly unequal affair, and the Americas got the worst of it. The flow of disease from the Americas eastward into Eurasia and Africa was either trivial or consisted of a single important infection.
Okay Americas, you give me all your money, food, and resources, and I'll give you a religion you don't want and an incurable illness. Oh, and I'll even throw in some new crops you can grow for me.. There you pretty much have the essence of the Columbian Exchange. A phrase coined by historian Alfred Crosby, the Columbian Exchange describes the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World and the Americas following Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean in 1492.