Scientists and medical experts have always had a varied opinion about what a pandemic exactly refers to. The definition of ‘Pandemic’ according to the Oxford dictionary is ‘a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole world’. The widespread occurrence of any disease that has caused fate to the entire globe is considered a pandemic.
The recent outbreak of the Covid – 19 coronaviruses has brought the world to a standstill. This recent outbreak was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 180 Countries and Territories around the world have reported a total of 245,730 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 that originated from Wuhan, China, and a death toll of 10,046 deaths. With the increasing death toll of this virus, the world is worried about its effects that are caused by its rapid and unstoppable spread. Many countries have come to a lockdown phase to stop the spread of this deadly virus.
WHO Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold in two weeks. He said he was “deeply concerned” by “alarming levels of inaction”.
Likewise, such pandemics aren’t something new to this world. 10 of the worst Pandemics in the History of World are listed below.
SIXTH CHOLERA PANDEMIC (1910-1911)
Death Toll: 800,000+
Cause: Cholera
Killing more than 36 million people since 1981, HIV/AIDS has truly proven itself as a global pandemic. Firstly started in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976, the virus has been spreading. There are around 31 to 35 million people living with HIV currently. The vast majority of those are in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 5% of the population is infected, and roughly 21 million people. Now, of course, the awareness has grown and new treatments have been developed and many who are affected go on to lead a good life. The death toll has dropped to a 1.6 million count since 2015-2012.
FLU PANDEMIC (1889-1890)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Influenza
From the first reported case on July 13, 1968, in Hong Kong, this virus was declared as a pandemic. It was a category 2 flu caused by the H3N2 strain of the Influenza A virus, a genetic offshoot of the H2N2 subtype. It killed as many as 500,000 residents of Hong Kong that comes down to an approximate 15% of the population. The virus was reported in Singapore and Vietnam, and within three months had spread to The Philippines, India, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Though this pandemic had a low mortality rate it still was the reason for deaths of more than a million people.
ASIAN FLU (1956-1958)
Death Toll: 2 million
Cause: Influenza
Asian Flu that originated in China in 1956 was a pandemic outbreak of Influenza A of the H2N2 subtype that and lasted until 1958. It travelled from the Chinese province of Guizhou to Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States in mere two years of its spread. The World Health Organization placed the final tally at approximately 2 million deaths, 69,800 of those in the US alone.
FLU PANDEMIC (1918)
Death Toll: 20 -50 million
Cause: Influenza
Infecting over a third of the world’s population and ending the lives of 20 – 50 million people between 1918 and 1920 a deadly outbreak of influenza had spread across the globe. The mortality rate was estimated at 10% to 20%, with up to 25 million deaths in the first 25 weeks alone. What difference was there in this influenza was its victims who had begun striking down hardy and completely healthy young adults, while leaving children and those with weaker immune systems still alive, unlike other influenzas.
SIXTH CHOLERA PANDEMIC (1910-1911)
Death Toll: 800,000+
Cause: Cholera
The Sixth Cholera Pandemic originated in India, killing over 800,000, before spreading to the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. Like its five previous incarnations, this Pandemic was also the source of the last American outbreak of Cholera (1910–1911). Having past experiences by the previous outbreaks, the American health units quickly sought to isolate the infected, and in the end, only 11 deaths occurred in the U.S. By 1923 Cholera cases had been cut down dramatically, although it was still a constant in India.
FLU PANDEMIC (1889-1890)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Influenza
This strain was thought to be an outbreak of the Influenza A virus subtype H2N2. The “Asiatic Flu” or “Russian Flu” as it was called was the first true epidemic in the era of bacteriology and much was learned from it. The 1889-1890 Flu Pandemic claimed the lives of over a million individuals. Though recent discoveries have instead found the cause to be the Influenza A virus subtype H3N8. The first cases were observed in May 1889 in three separate and distant locations, Bukhara in Central Asia (Turkestan), Athabasca in northwestern Canada, and Greenland. Rapid population growth of the 19th century, specifically in urban areas, only helped the flu spread, and before long the outbreak had spread across the globe.
THIRD CHOLERA PANDEMIC (1852–1860)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Cholera
Considered the most deadly of the seven cholera pandemics, the third major outbreak of Cholera in the 19th century lasted from 1852 to 1860. Like the first and second pandemics, the Third Cholera Pandemic originated in India, spreading from the Ganges River Delta before tearing through Asia, Europe, North America and Africa ending the lives of over a million people. British physician John Snow, while working in a poor area of London, tracked cases of cholera and eventually succeeded in identifying contaminated water as the means of transmission for the disease. Unfortunately, the same year was considered as the worst year of the pandemic, in which 23,000 people died in Great Britain.
THE BLACK DEATH (1346-1353)
Death Toll: 75 – 200 million
Cause: Bubonic Plague
An outbreak of the Plague ravaged Europe, Africa, and Asia From 1346 to 1353 with an estimated death toll between 75 and 200 million people. Thought it had originated in Asia, the Plague most likely had spread through continents via the fleas living on the rats that so frequently lived aboard merchant ships. Ports being major urban centres at the time, were the perfect breeding ground for the rats and fleas, and thus the insidious bacterium flourished, devastating three continents in its wake.
PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN (541-542)
Death Toll: 25 million
Cause: Bubonic Plague
The Plague of Justinian was an outbreak of the bubonic plague that afflicted the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities, killing up to 25 million people in its year-long reign of terror. Thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe and regarded as the first recorded incident of the Bubonic Plague, the Plague of Justinian left its mark on the world, by killing up to a quarter of the population of the Eastern Mediterranean and devastating the city of Constantinople, where it killed an estimated 5,000 people per day and eventually resulting in the deaths of 40% of the city’s population by its end.
ANTONINE PLAGUE (165 AD)
Death Toll: 5 million
Cause: Unknown
Also known as the Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague was an ancient pandemic that affected Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Italy and is thought to have been either Smallpox or Measles, though the true cause is still unknown. This unknown disease was brought back to Rome by soldiers returning from Mesopotamia around 165AD; unknowingly, they had spread a disease which ended up killing over 5 million people and decimating the Roman army.
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