Historic Pandemics

Lessons from historic pandemics

An epidemic is an infectious disease in a community at a particular while a pandemic has a P which is like for passport so it's an epidemic that has traveled across different regions mostly international.

COVID-19 aka Coronavirus started in Wuhan China Dec 2019 was the first time it appeared in a human being. It has been named Covid-19 aka - coronavirus disease of 2019. This new virus spreads incredibly quickly between people and because it is a new virus , no one on earth has developed immunity to it. The WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March 2020 when millions of people were infected with it.
Let us dive into historic pandemic that shook nations.

HIV/AIDS Pandemic

First appeared in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976, the mode of transmission is mainly via blood contact. The virus has killed more than 36 million people since 1981. Thanks to the evolution in medicine and technology, people are able to live a productive life with HIV/AIDS and people have become more aware of preventative measures that can be taken.

FLU pandemic

There are several variation or strains of the flu. Let's go back to 541 a plague of Justinian.
Bubonic plague 1 - Thought to have killed around half of the population of Europe, this plague outbreak killed around 25 million people and it was estimated to have killed 5,000 people per day leading to 40% of the city's population wiped out.

Bubonic Plague 2 - (1236- 1353). This plague was spread by fleas living on the rats that was affected at the time and killed around 75 - 200 million at the time.

3rd Cholera Pandemic

This virus claimed about a million lives between 1852-1860, this time it originated from India and spread to the rest of the nation claiming 1 million lives.  The British physician John Snow, tracked cholera cases and eventually succeeded in identifying contaminated water as the means of transmission for the disease. Sadly, in parallel to his discovery 23,000 people died in Great Britain.

There is the H3N2 and H2N2, the 1968 flu ( H3N2) originated from Hong Kong and spread within 3 months to India, Australia, Europe, and USA. Death toll to date is 1 million people, with 500,000 residents of Hong Kong died to this flu at the onset.

There have been other pandemics like the 6th cholera pandemic of 1910, the Asian flu that also originated from China and the most recent Covid-19 flu. History reveals that a pandemic is part of the human history and nature. All we can do is look at  the mode of infection, monitor our environment and communication effectively about the diseases we face. A great movie on Netflix that has been trending is called "pandemic" and i recommend you give it a view.

In conclusion, infections control measures should be taken - like washing hands, isolation, social distancing and other measures as described by the government should be followed to protect humanity.

Sources
MPH historic Pandemic.