Our history is being written “Pandemics Throughout History”
Written by; Pernell Husband CST CRCST
4/16/20
Epidemics have visited humanity throughout its existence, often redirecting the course of history. Disease outbreaks have ravaged and, at times, signaled the end of entire civilizations. Let’s talk about some of the worst epidemics and pandemics, dating from prehistoric to our particular moment in time.
5,000 years ago, an apparent epidemic wiped out a prehistoric village in China. Bodies of the dead were stuffed inside a house that was later burned down. All ages were attacked, Skeletons of babies, young adults and middle-age people were found inside the house. People who study this kind of thing tell us, the epidemic happened so quickly that there was no time for proper burials, and the evidence shows, that the site was not inhabited again.
Around 430 B.C., An epidemic struck the people of Athens, it lasted for five years. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 100,000 people. A Greek historian wrote, “people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath”
The American Plagues were a cluster of diseases brought to the Americas by European explorers. These illnesses, including smallpox, in part led to the destruction and collapse of the Inca and Aztec civilizations. Estimates suggest that 90% of the indigenous population in the Western Hemisphere were killed by the pathogen.
An estimated 500 million people from every continent of the world, became infected by Spanish flu. It’s spread and deadliness was made worse by the cramped conditions of soldiers and poor wartime nutrition during World War I. It is estimated that between 50 to a hundred million people were killed. Also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, it was unusually deadly, lasting from January 1918 to December of 1920,. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.
In November 2002, a rare form of pneumonia called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a viral respiratory illness began spreading rapidly around the world. Over 8,000 people were infected worldwide and nearly 800 died. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the sickness “a worldwide health threat.” At the epicenter China, the outbreak infected more than 5,300 people and killed 349. SARS is caused by a previously unrecognized corona virus (SARS-COV).
The primary way that SARS appears to spread is by close person-to-person contact. SARS-CoV is thought to be transmitted most readily by respiratory droplets (droplet spread) produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Droplet spread can happen when droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected person are propelled a short distance (generally up to 3 feet) through the air and deposited on the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or eyes of persons who are nearby. The virus also can spread when a person touches a surface or object contaminated with infectious droplets and then touches his or her mouth, nose, or eyes. In addition, it is possible that SARS-CoV might be spread more broadly through the air (airborne spread) or by other ways that are not yet known.
COVID-19 a Coronavirus are a specific type of virus, that have some unique characteristics. They use RNA instead of DNA for their genetic material. This makes communication with the host cell more efficient, more likely to cause disease. Their surfaces are covered in spikes which they use to help lock onto the host’s cells. Those spikes are the corona or crown in coronavirus. Until December of 2019, there were only 6 corona viruses known to scientists. COVID-19 is the seventh, Its brand new. COVID-19 has spread to six of the earths seven continents. Nearly 100,000 people have lost their lives boom! Just like that. This is really happening again.
This highly infectious and deadly virus is spread by droplets created when a person coughs or sneezes. The droplets land on surfaces, or float for short distances in the air. Hands come into contact with the infected surfaces and a new chain of infection potentially established. There is no vaccine no proven treatment. This current pandemic fight has just began. No one knows what all of the implications may be for humanity, but If our past informs our future ,there will be major changes to how we live our day to day lives very far into our future. Epidemics have visited humanity throughout its existence, often redirecting the course of history. Our history is in the process being written.
