SEE WHAT PARALLELS AND CONTRASTS YOU CAN FIND WITH THESE HISTORICAL
PANDEMICS AND COVID-19
PANDEMIC – A plague that spreads throughout the known world.
PLAGUE – An epidemic disease with high mortality rate.
What does the name Xenopsylla cheopis evoke for you? A Greek opera star? A highly poisonous plant? Nope, it’s the scientific name for a flea that lives on rats, and it was identified as the carrier of a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, which, when delivered via the bite of that flea, causes Bubonic Plague.
Bubonic plague got its name from the term buboes, referring to the body’s lymph nodes. In the extreme condition of the disease the lymph nodes swell causing painful bruising and eventually gangrene, turning the skin black. This horrible manifestation in the victim gave the Bubonic Plague the name many of us know it as, The Black Death. Today Bubonic Plague is treatable with antibiotics since it is bacterial.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE BUBONIC PLAGUES OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND BEYOND
The plague had, not only devastating effects on the health of the population, but on cultural and economic aspects of the populations.
THE FIRST BUBONIC PLAGUE (PANDEMIC) THE JUSTINIAC PLAGUE OR PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN. 541AD
- It affected the entire Mediterranean Basin, Europe and the Near East, especially Constantinople (then the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor, now known as Istanbul). Justinian, the HRE, resided in Constantinople, caught the disease, but survived. One fifth of the city’s population died.
- The plague arrived in grain ships from Egypt, (rats love grain), and spread from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe and the Arabian Peninsula. This spread made it a pandemic.
- It wasn’t until 2013, that researchers confirmed Y. pestis as the cause of this plague. DNA analysis is used to determine the relationships between modern and ancient strains of Y. pestis. The ancient strains of Y. pestis are still found in Tian Shan, mountains bordering China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
- This plague is estimated to have killed 25 to 100 million people over two centuries of recurrences. Plagues can return if proper measures are not taken.
- Justinian showed no mercy for the farmers who provided food for his city and who were decimated by the disease. A quote from the historian Procopius, “Even then, he did not refrain from demanding the annual tax, not only the amount at which he assessed each individual, but also the amount for which his deceases neighbors were liable.”
THE SECOND BUBONIC PLAGUE OR BLACK DEATH, CIRCA 1300 (LATE MIDDLE AGES)
- It was the deadliest plague in human history with 75 to 200 million deaths in Eurasia, North Africa, and Europe.
- It originated in Central or East Asia, traveling along the Silk Road (a trade route between Xian in Eastern China and the Italian peninsula).
- Human fleas feasting on rat flea infected persons transmitted the disease into inland areas.
- The Black Death was concurrent with The Great Famine which killed 30 to 60 % of Europeans.
- It took until the 1500’s for the population to reach its pre-pandemic numbers.
THE THIRD PLAGUE (CONSIDERED A MODERN PANDEMIC) – 1866 TO EARLY 1900’S
- It originated in Yunnan Province, China, appearing in Hong Kong in 1894.
- It spread throughout the world, notably at this time, to America, through the shipping routes.
- An historical note of how a pandemic can affect cultures. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was renewed and made permanent in 1902.
- This plague was not declared officially over until 1959.
- 2 million deaths.
THE SPANISH FLU 1918 – 1920
- It is now known that this flue was caused by H1N1 influenza virus A.
- It killed 17 to 50 million souls and infected 500 million, one third of the world’s population.
- Its geographic origin is unknown. It was called the Spanish Flu because the Spanish press vigorously covered the illness of their king, Alfonso Trece(XIII), while the press in other countries played it down, due to the bad news coming from the battle fields of WWI.
- Most flues have high mortality rates among the very young and the very old. This one killed many young adults. This was due to a phenomenon known as a cytokine storm which adversely affected the strong immune systems of the young. However, other factors, such as malnutrition, overcrowding in medical camps and hospitals and poor hygiene led to “superinfections” in patients already weakened by the ravages of WWI.
- The second H1N1 virus epidemic was the swine flu in 2009.
- 2009 – H1N1 swine flu killed 10,000 Americans, sent 213,000 to the hospital, and sickened 50 million — a sixth of the population — by mid-November, the CDC estimates.
- The swine-flu pandemic of 2009 may have killed up to 203,000 people worldwide—10 times higher than the first estimates based on the number of cases confirmed by lab tests, according to a new analysis by an international group of scientists
- It originated in Central Mexico, at a pig farm.
AND NOW, THE NOVEL CORONA VIRUS, COVID-19
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