When I was seven years old, the country was hit with the Asian Flu. Being a kid, I was totally oblivious to it. I have no idea if it affected anyone around me. I was lucky, I guess, since it killed about 70,000 in the U.S.
In 1968, the world was hit with the Hong Kong Flu. I was stationed in England at the time, and again, I have no recollection of it at the time, even though it killed a million people globally. I missed the bullet, again.
By 1981, I was aware of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and, sadly, watched it spread throughout the world.
Nature has a way of thinning out overgrown forests with spontaneous forest fires. Could it be that Nature has a way of thinning out the world's population?
It is hard to imagine an upside to all this, but the human spirit is strong and you can see it in the media with people cheering hospital staffs. When people share what they have, whether it be food or rest or themselves. The worst events can bring out the best in people. To those that take advantage of tragedy for their own gain, I curse you!
The following is, I hope, an accurate list of pandemics. They seem to happen with greater frequency as time goes by.
Nature has a way of thinning out overgrown forests with spontaneous forest fires. Could it be that Nature has a way of thinning out the world's population?
It is hard to imagine an upside to all this, but the human spirit is strong and you can see it in the media with people cheering hospital staffs. When people share what they have, whether it be food or rest or themselves. The worst events can bring out the best in people. To those that take advantage of tragedy for their own gain, I curse you!
The following is, I hope, an accurate list of pandemics. They seem to happen with greater frequency as time goes by.
Antonine Plague (Smallpox) 165-180 AD
Named for Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who ruled during the outbreak along with co-regent Lucius Verus, the outbreak began in 165 and lasted until 180. An estimated five million people died from what is now thought to have been smallpox. It’s believed to have begun in the Mesopotamian city of Seleucia (in modern-day Iraq) and spread to Rome by soldiers returning from the city’s siege. At one point during the extended pandemic an estimated 2,000 Romans died each day. This isn’t a plague that discriminated—both emperors mentioned above are believed to be among its victims.Plague of Justinian 541-542 AD, with recurrences until 750
In the year 541, rats on Egyptian grain boats brought a pestilence to the Eastern Roman Empire that would ultimately leave approximately 25 million people dead. The Plague of Justinian quickly tore through the empire. Even the emperor himself—Justinian I, for whom the plague was named—contracted the disease. While he lived, many didn’t, with modern scholars estimating that at one point as many as 5,000 people died per day in Constantinople, the empire’s capital. By its end, about 40 percent of the city’s population was dead—so many and so quickly that bodies were left in piles—joined by about one-fourth of the eastern Mediterranean.
Black Death 1347-1351
The Black Death remade the landscape of Europe and the world. In a time when the global population was an estimated 450 million, at least 75 million are believed to have perished throughout the pandemic, with some estimates as high as 200 million. As much as half of Europe may have died in a span of only four years. The plague’s name comes from the black skin spots on the sailors who traveled the Silk Road and docked in a Sicilian port, bringing with them from their Asian voyage the devastating disease, now known to be Bubonic plague.Smallpox 1633-1721
Smallpox came to North America in the 1600's. People had symptoms of high fever, chills, severe back pain, and rashes. Starting from the Northeast, smallpox wiped out entire Native American tribes. Over 70 percent of the Native American population dropped. In 1721, 844 of the 5,889 Bostonian's who had smallpox died from it. By the mid-18th century, smallpox was a major endemic disease everywhere in the world except in Australia and in small islands untouched by outside exploration. In 18th century Europe, smallpox was a leading cause of death, killing an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year.[83] Up to 10 percent of Swedish infants died of smallpox each year, and the death rate of infants in Russia might have been even higher.
End: In 1770, Edward Jenner developed a vaccine from cow pox. It helps the body become immune to smallpox without causing the disease.Now: After a large vaccination initiative in 1972, smallpox is gone from the United States. In fact, vaccines are no longer necessary.- Cholera 1832-1866 The United States had three serious waves of cholera, an infection of the intestine, between 1832 and 1866. The pandemic began in India, and swiftly spread across the globe through trade routes. New York City was usually the first city to feel the impact. An estimated two to six Americans died per day during the outbreak.End: It’s unclear what ended the pandemics, but it may have been the change in climate or quarantines. The last documented outbreak in the United States was in 1911. Immediate cholera treatment is crucial, as it can cause death. Treatment includes antibiotics, zinc supplementation, and re-hydration.Now: Cholera still causes nearly 130,000 deaths a year worldwide, according to the
CDC . Modern sewage and water treatment have helped eradicated cholera in some countries, but the virus is still present elsewhere.
Spanish Flu 1918-1919
Kansas was the site of the first U.S. case, in March 1918. Appearing in multiple countries around the world, the disease spread quickly, ushered along even faster due to the close living quarters of troops fighting in World War I. This first instance of the pandemic would be dubbed The Spanish Flu (despite the fact that it didn’t actually come from Spain). It burned out quickly and suddenly, by 1919, with the explanation still unknown today. But it left the global population decimated—with a mortality rate as high as one in five and an estimated one-third of the world population afflicted, as many as 50 million people are believed to have died. Approximately 25 million of those deaths came in the first 25 weeks of the outbreak.Asian Flu 1956-1958 The "Asian Flu" was a category 2 flu pandemic outbreak of influenza virus A that originated in China in early 1956 lasting until 1958. Some authors believe it originated from mutation in wild ducks combining with a pre-existing human strain. Other authors are less certain. The virus was first identified in Guizhou. It spread to Singapore in February 1957, reached Hong Kong by April, and US by June. Death toll in the US was approximately 69,800.Estimates of worldwide deaths caused by this pandemic varies widely depending on source; ranging from 1 million to 4 million, with World Health Organization (WHO) settling on "about 2 million".
Hong Kong Flu 1968-1969 Hong Kong Flu (also known as 1968 flu pandemic) was a category 2 flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated one million people all over the world. It was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus, descended from H2N2 through antigenic shift, a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes reassorted to form a new virus.
HIV/AIDS 1981-Present
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is one we’re still battling. And while medicine has made great strides, making HIV in many ways a chronic condition that can be managed in many countries, the end of the pandemic still seems to be a long way away. Originating in Cameroon and first recognized as a disease in 1981, the earliest documented case is believed to be in 1959 in the Congo. As of 2011 at least 60 million people had been infected by AIDS and 25 million had died. Today its impact varies widely across the world—while in 2008 an estimated 1.2 million Americans had HIV, Sub-Saharan Africa alone was home to 22.9 million cases, with one in five adults infected. About 38 million people were believed to have HIV in 2018.Coronavirus 2019-Present The Coronavirus is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and recognized it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 31 March 2020, more than 854,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in over 200 countries and territories, resulting in approximately 42,000 deaths. More than 176,500 people have recovered.
