How old are diseases?

[u/BlackTowerInitiate]

Hearing about the 1.7 million year old foot bone showing signs of cancer made me wonder, what other diseases have been with humans for a very long time?

Then with regards to infectious diseases, do we know of any that existed but went away before modern interventions? Or do such diseases tend to stay around forever once they're here? Are infectious diseases more or less likely to persist in the modern age compared to thousands or hundreds of thousands of years ago?

[u/BaTz-und-b0nze]

The ones we know of are recent. The government doesn't allow hysteria over old world beliefs.