These days that we have to stay indoors due to the Covid19 crisis made me think about other epidemics that human beings have had to struggle with in history.
Some people think they won't stand it and it will definitely change their daily lives. It has always been that way, but when it's over and time goes by we forget about it.
Human beings are wise and tough.
This is a new age, full of technologies, people can help people on line, but it can also be a nightmare because of all messages you get in a day: encouraging ones, fake news, criticisms, memes about everything and so on. It could be a time for reflection, for keeping close to your beloved ones, to go back to forgotten things and to enjoy with small things.
For weeks we have heard about epidemics and pandemics and at this stage we know that a pandemic is a wider concept in time, place and amount.
What happened in other epidemics/pandemics, how did people cope with their routines?
The outbreaks of Cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, influenza, ebola or even HIV/AIDS have been some of the most brutal killers in human history. Let's have a look at some of them.
ANTONINES PLAGUE (165 AD)
It was a plague similar to measles that was bought from Mesopotamia by Roman soldiers, it killed around 5 million people in Rome, mainly soldiers.
JUSTINIAN PLAGUE ( 541-542 AD)
It was the first known bubonic plague, spread though the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean ports killing a quarter of the population, especially Costantinopla whose population was almost wiped out.
THE BLACK DEATH (1346-1353)
It was again a bubonic plague killing between 75-200 million people, it started in Asia and spread though the silk route to three continents: Asia, Europe, Africa because of the flies carried by black rats travelling in ships. The cause was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, people got infected and died in a few days. People considered it a punishment by God and it gave bloom to fanatical and religious prosecutions of jews, pilgrims, romani people etc who were accused of spreading it and were killed. People were confined in their houses and they couldn't even bury their relatives as it was deadly contagious. It had a recurrence in different centuries with serious impact on demografy, the last one in Madagascar in 2014.
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| Burial of plague victims in Tournai |
THE THIRD CHOLERA PANDEMIC ( 1852-1860)
There have been seven cholera pandemics, but the one in the 19th century was the worst. It started in the Ganges river in India and spread all over Asia, Europe, North America and Africa. It killed around 1 million people and originated because of contaminated water. They occurred after wars, civil unrest, or natural disasters, when water and food supplies become contaminated with Vibrio cholerae. The last outbreaks were in 2014 in developing countries such as Congo, Ghana and others.
FLU PANDEMICS ( 1889-1890)
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| New York City 1832 |
There have been several flu pandemics in the world, the first one, called "Russian flu" or "Asiatic Flu", was caused by the virus subtype H3N8 and started simultaneously in Asia, Canada and Greenland, it spead rapidly in cities because of the growth of population, killling children and elderly people. The worst outbreak was in 1918, it killed around 20-50 million people, mainly young adults and people with weak immune sytems. it was called "Spanish Flu" beause it hit hard in our country infecting even the king Alfonso XIII. World War I didn't make things better at that time. In this century we have had more outbreaks: The Bird/Avian Flu or Influenza A (2009) which started in poultry and birds and spread to humans causing pneumonia.
There are vaccines, but the virus mutates easily each year depending specially on environmental conditions.
HIV/AIDS PANDEMICS (2005-2018 PEAK)
First identified in Congo in 1978 it has killed 38 million people but at present it is controlled and there are 37,9 millions of people living with it, becoming a chronicle disease specially in Sub- Saharan Africa. When it started it caused lots of discrimination and social concern because of its early associations with homosexuality. It has meant a radical change in sexual education.“Infection has become a manageable chronic health condition, enabling people living with H.I.V. to lead long and healthy lives,” the W.H.O. said.
SAR (Severe Acute reapiratory Syndrome) (2003)
Very close to the Coronavirus pandemics we are suffering right now, it is an animal virus from an uncertain animal, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002. It affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8000 cases in 2003.
Symptoms are influenza-like and include fever, malaise, myalgia, headache, diarrhoea, shivering and dry cough. It was present mainly in Asian countries.
There are vaccines, but the virus mutates easily each year depending specially on environmental conditions.
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| Emergency hospital in Kansas, 1918 |
First identified in Congo in 1978 it has killed 38 million people but at present it is controlled and there are 37,9 millions of people living with it, becoming a chronicle disease specially in Sub- Saharan Africa. When it started it caused lots of discrimination and social concern because of its early associations with homosexuality. It has meant a radical change in sexual education.“Infection has become a manageable chronic health condition, enabling people living with H.I.V. to lead long and healthy lives,” the W.H.O. said.
SAR (Severe Acute reapiratory Syndrome) (2003)
Very close to the Coronavirus pandemics we are suffering right now, it is an animal virus from an uncertain animal, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002. It affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8000 cases in 2003.
Symptoms are influenza-like and include fever, malaise, myalgia, headache, diarrhoea, shivering and dry cough. It was present mainly in Asian countries.
EBOLA (2013-16)
The murderous outburst of the Ebola virus (Ebola hemorrhagic fever), that swept through parts of West Africa between 2014 and 2016 killed 11,300 people. This disease, which started in Guinea, showed the difference between the prosperity of the developed countries and that remote developing world of Africa. It affected people and animals but there were imported cases which led to secondary infection of medical workers in other countries.
An additional cause for concern is the apparent ability of the virus to "hide" in a recovered survivor's body for an extended period of time and then become active months or years later, either in the same individual or in a sexual partner. Fortunately a vaccine has been proved to be effective.
In all of these epidemics we can see discrimination of those who suffered it or people around them, as we see nowadays in the Covid 19 crisis with the Chinese or Japanese citizens, even now when it's hitting hard in Spain, Spaniards living or travelling abroad are discriminated.
It is very important that we try to stay safe for us and the others, to follow the regulations to prevent the disease and be empathic.
Sources: Master's Public Health online. Wikipedia. World Health Organization.
