Pandemics
that changed History, 1/30/20, history.com
In the
realm of infectious diseases, a pandemic is the worst case scenario. When an
epidemic spreads beyond a country’s borders, that’s when the disease officially
becomes a pandemic.
Communicable
diseases existed during humankind’s hunter-gatherer days,
but the shift to agrarian life 10,000 years ago created communities that made
epidemics more possible. Malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox and
others first appeared during this period. The more civilized humans became,
building cities and forging trade routes to connect with other cities, and
waging wars with them, the more likely pandemics became. See a timeline below
of pandemics that, in ravaging human populations, changed history.
430
B.C.: Athens - The earliest recorded pandemic happened during the Peloponnesian War.
After the disease passed through Libya, Ethiopia and Egypt, it crossed the
Athenian walls as the Spartans laid siege. As much as two-thirds of the
population died. The symptoms included fever, thirst, bloody throat and tongue,
red skin and lesions. The disease, suspected to have been typhoid fever,
weakened the Athenians significantly and was a significant factor in their
defeat by the Spartans.
165
A.D.: Antonine Plague - The Antonine plague was possibly an early appearance of
smallpox that began with the Huns. The Huns then
infected the Germans, who passed it to the Romans and then returning troops
spread it throughout the Roman empire. Symptoms included fever, sore throat,
diarrhea and, if the patient lived long enough, pus-filled sores. This plague
continued until about 180 A.D., claiming Emperor Marcus Aurelius as
one of its victims.
250
A.D.: Cyprian Plague - Named after the first known victim, the Christian bishop
of Carthage, the Cyprian plague entailed diarrhea, vomiting, throat ulcers,
fever and gangrenous hands and feet. City
dwellers fled to the country to escape infection but instead spread the disease
further. Possibly starting in Ethiopia, it passed through Northern Africa, into
Rome, then onto Egypt and northward. There were recurring outbreaks over the
next three centuries. In 444 A.D., it hit Britain and obstructed defense
efforts against the Picts and the Scots, causing the British to seek help from
the Saxons, who would soon control the island.
541
A.D.: Justinian Plague - First appearing in Egypt, the Justinian plague spread
through Palestine and
the Byzantine Empire, and
then throughout the Mediterranean. The plague changed the course of the empire,
squelching Emperor Justinian's plans to bring the Roman Empire back together
and causing massive economic struggle. It is also credited with creating an
apocalyptic atmosphere that spurred the rapid spread of Christianity. Recurrences
over the next two centuries eventually killed about 50 million people, 26
percent of the world population. It is believed to be the first significant
appearance of the bubonic plague,
which features enlarged lymphatic gland and is carried by rats and spread by
fleas.
11th
Century: Leprosy - Though it had been around for ages, leprosy grew into a pandemic
in Europe in the Middle Ages, resulting in the building of numerous
leprosy-focused hospitals to accommodate the vast number of victims.
A
slow-developing bacterial disease that causes sores and deformities, leprosy
was believed to be a punishment from God that ran in families. This belief led
to moral judgments and ostracization of victims. Now known as Hansen’s disease,
it still afflicts tens of thousands of people a year and can be fatal if not
treated with antibiotics.
1350:
The Black Death - Responsible for the death of one-third of the world
population, this second appearance of the bubonic plague possibly started in
Asia and moved west in caravans. Entering through Sicily in 1347 A.D. when
plague sufferers arrived in the port of Messina, it spread throughout Europe
rapidly. Dead bodies became so prevalent that many remained rotting on the
ground and created a constant stench in cities. England and France were so
incapacitated by the plague that the countries called a truce to their war. The
British feudal system collapsed when the plague changed economic circumstances
and demographics. Ravaging populations in Greenland, Vikings lost the strength
to wage battle against native populations, and their exploration of North
America halted.
1492:
The Columbian Exchange - Following the arrival of the Spanish in
the Caribbean, diseases such as smallpox, measles and bubonic plague were
passed along to the native populations by the Europeans. With no previous
exposure, these diseases devastated indigenous people, with as many as 90
percent dying throughout the north and south continents. Upon arrival on the
island of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus encountered
the Taino people, population 60,000. By 1548, the population stood at less than
500. This scenario repeated itself throughout the Americas. In 1520, the Aztec Empire was
destroyed by a smallpox infection brought by African slaves. Research in
2019 even concluded that the deaths of some 56 million Native Americans in the
16th and 17th centuries, largely through disease, may have altered Earth’s
climate as vegetation growth on previously tilled land drew more CO2 from the
atmosphere and caused a cooling event.
1665:
The Great Plague of London - In its second recorded appearance, the bubonic
plague led to the deaths of 20 percent of London’s population. As human death
tolls mounted and mass graves appeared, hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs
were slaughtered as the possible cause and the disease spread through ports
along the Thames. The worst of the outbreak tapered off in the fall of 1666,
around the same time as another devastating event—the Great Fire of London.
1817:
First Cholera Pandemic - The first of seven cholera pandemics over
the next 150 years, this wave of the small intestine infection originated in
Russia, where one million people died. Spreading through feces-infected water
and food, the bacterium was passed along to British soldiers who brought it to
India where millions more died. The reach of the British Empire and its navy
spread cholera to Spain, Africa, Indonesia, China, Japan, Italy, Germany and
America, where it killed 150,000 people. A vaccine was created in 1885, but
pandemics continued.
1855:
The Third Plague Pandemic - Starting in China and moving to India and Hong
Kong, the bubonic plague claimed 15 million victims. Initially spread by fleas
during a mining boom in Yunnan, the plague is considered a factor in the
Parthay rebellion and the Taiping rebellion. India faced the most substantial
casualties, and the epidemic was used as an excuse for repressive policies that
sparked some revolt against the British. The pandemic was considered active
until 1960 when cases dropped below a couple hundred.
1875:
Fiji Measles Pandemic - After Fiji ceded to the British Empire, a royal party
visited Australia as a gift from Queen Victoria.
Arriving during a measles outbreak, the royal party brought the disease back to
their island, and it was spread further by the tribal heads and police who met
with them upon their return. Spreading quickly, the island was littered with
corpses that were scavenged by wild animals, and entire villages died and were
burned down, sometimes with the sick trapped inside the fires. One-third of
Fiji’s population, a total of 40,000 people, died.
1889:
Russian Flu - The first significant flu pandemic started in Siberia and
Kazakhstan, traveled to Moscow, and made its way into Finland and then Poland,
where it moved into the rest of Europe. By the following year, it had crossed
the ocean into North America and Africa. By the end of 1890, 360,000 had died.
1918:
Spanish Flu - The avian-borne flu that resulted in 50 million deaths worldwide,
the Spanish flu is
theorized to have originated in China and been spread by Chinese laborers being
transported by rail across Canada on their way to Europe. In North America, the
flu first appeared in Kansas in early 1918 and was visible in Europe by spring.
Wire service reports of a flu outbreak in Madrid in the spring of 1918 led to
the pandemic being called the “Spanish flu.” By
October, hundreds of thousands of Americans died and body storage scarcity hit
crisis level. But the flu threat disappeared in the summer of 1919 when most of
the infected had either developed immunities or died.
1957:
Asian flu - Starting in Hong Kong and spreading throughout China and then into
the United States, the Asian flu became widespread in England where, over six
months, 14,000 people died. A second wave followed in early 1958, causing an
estimated total of about 1.1 million deaths globally, with 116,000
deaths in the United States alone. A vaccine was developed, effectively
containing the pandemic.
1981:
HIV/AIDS - First identified in 1981, AIDS destroys a
person’s immune system, resulting in eventual death by diseases that the body
would usually fight off. Those infected by the HIV virus encounter fever,
headache, and enlarged lymph nodes upon infection. When symptoms subside,
carriers become highly infectious through blood and genital fluid, and the
disease destroys t-cells. AIDS was first observed in American gay communities
but is believed to have developed from a chimpanzee virus from West Africa in
the 1920s. The disease, which spreads through certain body fluids, moved to
Haiti in the 1960s, and then New York and San Francisco in the 1970s. Treatments
have been developed to slow the progress of the disease, but 35 million people
worldwide have died of AIDS since its discovery, and a cure is yet to be found.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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