A History of Pandemics

Knowing lately, this ongoing pandemic is not going to completely vanish very soon, we have been brought to a juncture of past and future. Whether we should learn from past events or search for catharsis in the future. Learning would take time and so would the searching. So why not just take a dip in the ancestry of all the relatives, the youngest of whom is the one-year-old, COVID-19.

Getting a bit at the terminology, there are several designations bestowed upon the diseases. Some are endemic, some are epidemic and the highest of them is pandemic. In this blog, we’ll majorly focus upon the pandemics, as the other levels have a plethora of diseases under them.

Moving in chronological order, the first pandemic which wiped out nearly 75-200 million people in the years of 1346 - 1353 was caused by the bubonic plague. This was known as the BLACK DEATH. It was the one and only pandemic which ravaged three continents, Asia, Europe, Africa over a long span of time. The bubonic plague has given rise to the three biggest pandemics in the world until now. The first time it came in the form of PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN which rested from the years of 541 CE – 542 CE. In such a less time, this pandemic killed more than 25 million innocent lives, around half the population of Europe. The second time, it reached its zenith under the name of the BLACK DEATH. Third and the final time it erupted from Hong Kong and got the name, 1894 HONG KONG PLAGUE. This time it swept off around 15 million people from India and China, majorly from the former. In total, it proved to be great havoc for humanity.

Second in number is the SPANISH FLU of 1918, which has achieved one of the highest death tolls altogether in four successive waves. The number is somewhere between 20 to 50 million. You might have recalled the name, Spanish Flu from the refraining statements of a once-in-a-100-year event. It certainly was a deadly obstacle in the ways of development going on from eons. Its mortality rate was estimated to be around 10% to 20%, which indicates the severity and catastrophe-level of this flu. This can be thought of from the fact that thousands of people were buried alive in the cases of apprehension alone. This pandemic majorly ruined the healthy and strong adults and specifically avoided the children.

The third and most prevalent of the pandemics is the HIV/AIDS pandemic which is in the run even in these times. This deadly and slow-killing disease showed its true capability in years continuing from 2005 to 2012. It has killed more than 36 million people since 1981 worldwide. This is such a disease that respects no boundaries or time. With the first case found in 1976, 44 years have gone by with contributing a little towards its medication. Currently, the number of those who are living with this disease is nearly 31 to 35 million. Imagine a life when a person trembles to death even in common fever at 99° F.

Finally getting to the crux, is the reason for choosing such a niche for writing this blog. I wish to convey that in only a year of sitting at our homes comfortably, we have been frustrated and suffocated. Why? Is the financial level going down tremendously or risk of getting infected spiking day by day? If this is it, then just draw out an aspect that the pandemics discussed above had far worse effects than this COVID-19. I hope that none of you reading this might have hit the ground hard financially or a loaf of bread cost an arm and a leg for you. Well, this was the case in these pandemics, but still, humanity emerges out heralding their victory. Why is this fear taking the least amounts of hope still left inside you? Soon we’ll have our pandemic-emancipation and the vaccines will be flowing in every nation. Soon we’ll have a life, not more than normal.  Soon, we’ll be having handshakes with people as well as with development!

If you liked the niche of the blog, please make an effort to subscribe to the blog by clicking here.