By: Sohail Reki
Throughout history, as humans spread across the world, infectious diseases have been a constant companion. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant. The most deadly pandemics from Antonine plague to COVID19 has affected millions of people, millions of families. The latest COVID19 has effected many people regardless of caste, religion and race. It doesn’t matter whether the person is a politician, A Businessman or a poor farmer, the Chinese virus kills everyone. Same like the coronavirus, other pandemics have killed people in a wide range as the most dangerous pandemic in the history of humankind till up to date was Black Death(Bubonic Plague) which remained between 1347 to 1351 and killed more than 200 million people in the world.
According to many researches, the first pandemic attacked the world was Antonine plague also known as Plague of Galen, It was one of the devastating plagues that hit the Roman Empire. It hit the region of Asia Minor, then Greece, then the Balkans, then finally, the Italian Peninsula and Rome itself. The effects of the plague were devastating the population as 2,000 People died daily because of disease. The victims of the plague suffered fever, diarrhea, and inflammation in the pharynx. It remained between 165-180 and killed more than 5 Million people.
The second pandemic, the Plague of Justinian(541-542) swept through Europe, killing up to a quarter of the Eastern Mediterranean population and possibly as much as 10 percent of the world’s population of that time. We don’t see any correct information about its disappearance as one aspect of history says that it disappeared within two years and the other aspect of history says It continuously came until 570 and then disappeared by itself. Although Everyone agrees that It killed more than 45 million people.
In 735 A disease Named Japanese smallpox Epidemic(735-737) which was a major smallpox epidemic has affected much of Japan and killed approximately one-third of the entire Japanese population, the epidemic had significant social, economic, and religious repercussions throughout the country. It also triggered significant dislocation, migration, and imbalance of the labor throughout Japan.
Bubonic plague commonly known as Black Death( 1347-1351) was a devastating global epidemic that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. It traveled from person to person through the air as well as through the bite of infected Rats and fleas.
In 1520 A disease Smallpox has entered the world, Itwas a serious, contagious, and sometimes fatal infectious disease caused by a virus called the Variola virus. The disease gets its name from the Latin word for “spotted” and refers to the small pus-filled blisters that appear on the face and body of an infected person. This disease has killed 56 million people and It was mostly dangerous for people with impaired immune systems.
After smallpox before 17th century there were no viruses, diseases and plagues but throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, a series of “Great plagues” routinely ravaged cities across Europe. These plagues have killed 3 million people in 17th century and 600K people in 18th century. In 17th century including America, south Africa the Europe has also suffered number of plagues continuously like from London plague epidemic of 1603 to 1699,s Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic. In the 18th century, the plagues were not that dangerous comparing with 17th century as number of deaths are very low then 17th century plagues. In 18th century’s plagues the distinguished thing is that those plagues arrived Asia as well.
In 1817 the cholera pandemics started arising all over the world and disappeared in 1923. The 6th cholera outbreak was very devastating which started in 1899 and killed more than 1 Million people in only one year. It began in India where it killed more than 800,000 people and then spreading to the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia.
In 1855 a major bubonic plague pandemic occurred again with the name of the third plague pandemic which began in Yunnan, china. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately led to more than 12 million deaths in India and china with about 10 million killed in India alone. According to the World Health Organization the pandemic was considered active until 1960, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year.
The Russian flu also known as Asiatic flu, was a deadly influenza pandemic that killed about one million people worldwide. It was the last great pandemic of the 19th century. It remained between 1889-1890. A 2005 genomic virological study says that the virus might have been not actually an influenza virus but a Human corona virus.
In the beginning of 20th century A virus named as Spanish flu(1918-1919) arrived. It was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting about 15 months from spring 1918(northern hemisphere) to early summer 1919, it infected 500 million people about a third of the world’s population at the time. The Death toll was 45-50 million and was killing the very old and very young.
The second pandemic of the 20th century was Asian flu(1957-1958) which was a global pandemic of influenza A virus subtype H2N2 and originated in Guizhou, China and killed at least 1 million people. It originated from mutation in wild ducks combining with a pre-existing human strain. A vaccine for H2N2 was introduced in 1957, and the pandemic slowed down. There was a second wave in 1958, and H2N2 went on to become part of the regular wave of seasonal flu. It was completely disappeared from human population in 1968 and is believed to have gone extinct in the wild.
The Third pandemic of the 20th century was Hongkong flu (1968 -1970) was a flu pandemic which killed an estimated one to four million people globally. It was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. There is a possibility that this outbreak actually began in mainland China before spreading to Hong Kong, but this is unconfirmed. It has reached India, Philippines, Europe, Vietnam and Singapore.
In 2003 SARS was identified as corona virus (SARS-CoV). SARS-CoV is thought to be an animal virus from an as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002.
In 2012 MERS was found which is an illness caused by a virus more specifically a corona virus. Most MERS patients developed severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. About 3 or 4 out of every 10 patients reported with MERS have died. It is still present but is not devastating as the death toll is less than 1000.
In the year 2014 Ebola A virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. The 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia. It has killed more than 11,000 people.
Now the current is COVID19 which is part of corona virus and Its cause is unknown as many diseases, viruses were started from animals, So this time specialists say that possibly it was caused by pangolins but its unconfirmed. Many people are saying that COVID19 is the MERS basically as its symptoms are same but according to medical specialists that it is different. The patients are treated like the MERS patients but unfortunately there is no vaccine identified for MERS.
The surprising thing is that mostly pandemics are caused by animals and only few pandemic’s vaccines are discovered otherwise others disappeared by themselves and patients have been cured by precaution measure like wearing mask, having flowers with his four sides and much more but in this modern era of medical science and technology, We must hope for a piece of good news soon regarding vaccine of COVID19. Many vaccines are prepared but these are on human-animal both trails and researchers are also on work to fight this battle against these viruses.
The writer is a social activist, he writes on social issues, educational issues and current affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]