11 pandemics that have dealt a blow to humankind
From Black Death to smallpox to HIV-AIDS and many more besides the current Covid-19, humankind has proven resilient and always bounced back.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that the Covid-19 outbreak has become a global pandemic, the worst-case scenario for an infectious diseases.
Diseases have existed for thousands of years, but medical advances have managed to hold back even the most infectious and nasty of these.
What about pandemics? Here is a list of some of history’s worst.
1. Antonine Plague (165-180 AD)
Also known as the Plague of Gale, it was an ancient pandemic brought to the Roman Empire by troops returning from campaigns in the near East.
While the true cause remains undetermined, it killed a quarter of those infected and up five million in all. A second outbreak occurred which caused 2,000 deaths a day in Rome.
2. Plague of Justinian (541-542 AD)
The death toll of this plague is still under debate but it was thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe.
It affected the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities, killing up to 25 million people a year.
3. Black Death/Bubonic Plague (1347-1351)
The Black Death originated from rats before it started spreading to humans via infected fleas.
The outbreak wiped out 30 to 50% of Europe’s population and took more than 200 years to recover.
The outbreak of the plague also ravaged Africa and Asia with an estimated death toll of between 75 to 200 million people.
The last major outbreak occurred in England with the disease killing approximately 100,000 people which made up 20% of London’s population.
4. Smallpox (1520)
Smallpox killed an estimated 90% of Native Americans and an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year in the 18th century.
The first-ever vaccine was created in 1796 to ward off smallpox and in 1980, WHO certified the global eradication of the disease.
5. Cholera (1817-1923)
Since it became widespread in the 19th century, it was estimated that tens of millions of people died from the Cholera outbreak.
There were a series of documented outbreaks in the past 200 years with the most recent being the 2016 to 2020 Yemen Cholera outbreak.
6. The Third Plague (1855)
The disease originated in China and spread to India where it ultimately led to 12 million deaths. There are still isolated cases of the plague that can be found in western United States today.
7. Spanish Flu (1918-1919)
The Spanish Flu infected 500 million people around the world and resulted in the deaths of 40 to 50 million people.
Unlike other viruses, the Spanish flu had an unusually high mortality rate for young adults and killed more people in 25 weeks than AIDS did in its first 25 years.
8. Asian Flu (1957-1958)
First identified in China in late February 1957, it spread to Singapore and Hong Kong by April, and the United States by June 1957, where it led to approximately 70,000 deaths.
The Asian Flu strain later evolved, which caused a milder pandemic from 1968 to 1969.
9. Hong Kong Flu (1968-1969)
The first record of the outbreak in Hong Kong appeared on July 13, 1968. It later spread to Vietnam, and Singapore by the end of July 1968.
In September 1968, the flu reached India, the Philippines, northern Australia and Europe. It became widespread in the United States until December 1968 and in 1969, reached Japan, Africa and South America.
10. HIV/AIDS (1981–present)
First discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976, the virus became a pandemic and has killed approximately 25 to 35 million people since 1981.
At present, there are still between 31 to 35 million people infected with HIV.
New treatments are still under development to make HIV more manageable and allow infected people to lead productive lives.
11. Swine Flu (2009-2010)
First detected in Mexico in early 2009, the disease spread to the United States within the same year.
Swine flu killed around half a million people around the world, with around 700 million to 1.4 billion people contracting the illness.
Subsequent cases of swine flu were reported in India in 2015 with over 30,000 thousands confirmed cases and over 1,800 deaths.
This article first appeared in Jobstore. First launched in New York, Jobstore is one of the largest job distribution platforms which offers services in over 10 countries.
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