Pandemic History 6/10/21

The first Bubonic Plague 541-579AD was a bacterial infection “Yersinia pestis” that occurred around the Mediterranean Seaports. It affected Europe and the Near East and killed 30 to 50 million or half of the population. This set back trade and began the “Dark Ages”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian 

Medieval Warming 950-1250AD provided abundant crops and population growth.

The Crusades 1095-1291AD reignited trade, travel and the transfer of knowledge.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/crus/hd_crus.htm

The Great Famine 1315-1317AD killed 30%-60% of the population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315%E2%80%931317

The Bubonic Plague 1346-1353AD. The death toll is estimated at 70 to 200 million.  Half of Europe’s population died.  The culprit was global trade. Goods shipped from other countries carried Rats whose Fleas carried the bacteria.  They had no microscopes to see bacteria.  The plague arrived on boats from Asia and Africa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague#:~:text=The%20plague%20was%20the%20cause,to%20the%20demand%20for%20labor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

The 1918-1919 Spanish Flu was a virus that reached 500 million cases requiring treatment and 50 million deaths worldwide. 675,000 deaths were in the US. It affected all age groups and lasted for 2 years.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm

The telescope was invented in 400BC. The first eyeglasses appeared in the 1300s.  The first Microscope was invented in 1590AD. By 1670, bacteria was visible, but there was no treatment for infections until 1928 when penicillin was discovered. In the1940s we had penicillin and the electron microscope was invented. We were then able to treat infections and see viruses.

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1692-history-of-microscopy-timeline

https://optimaxonline.com/newsdetails.php?newsId=20

Comments

We were slow to develop the microscope.  We had figured out how to make glass and built a telescope to begin mapping the stars in 400BC, but didn’t have a microscope until 1600AD.

Life expectancy is currently 79. It is arrived by listing all deaths by age and dividing the total by the number of deaths. This statistic is brought to you by the statistician who drowned in a lake with a mean depth of 3 feet. Life expectancy began to rise after we started using microscopes had penicillin.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader