As the world makes frantic efforts to contain the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), which the World Health Organisation has described as a pandemic, CHINAKA OKORO examines previous pandemics and their economic implications
When the world seemed to have become less petrified by deadly epidemics as the aftermath of viruses such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola that have been ravaging humanity for some time now, it has, of late, become more disconcerted by a new and equally noxious one.
At the twilight of 2019, humanity was scared stiff by a new virus called Coronavirus (Covid-19) that broke out in Wuhan, one of the Chinese cities.
Medical experts described the new virus, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared pandemic as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) while the disease associated with it is referred to as COVID-19. It is a type of common virus that infects humans, typically leading to an upper respiratory infection (URI).
As at yesterday, the number of people infected was 439, 763 in 196 countries while about 19, 744 deaths have been recorded in various countries despite precautionary measures put in place by all countries that have activated their health and security apparatuses.
Besides, the total number of people infected stands at 306, 940 and those who have recovered are 111, 922 while closed cases stood at 131, 578 people.
Though the world is making some frenetic efforts to curtail further spread and deaths, certain historical records have shown that the current Coronavirus that is devastating humanity is less terminal than some previous global pandemics when juxtaposed with the rapidity of spread and number of deaths recorded.
Unarguably, the loss of one individual member of humanity can be devastating. Losing 19, 744, fellow humankind could be more poignant.
As world health authorities have revealed that the virus could take its complete course, an indication that the pandemic may not go away as soon as we expect and pray, it means that individuals should be more cautious in their lifestyle and even embrace superior personal hygiene principles in the face of the outbreak and beyond.
Humanity should remain in fervent prayer for God to make a name for Himself by making the current global health challenge not to last further than expected. He intervened when some pandemics ravaged the world in the yesteryear.
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia has noted that “throughout history, there have been several pandemics of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis. One of the most devastating pandemics was the Black Death, which killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th Century. Current pandemics include HIV/AIDS and the 2019 Coronavirus disease.”
Other notable pandemics include the 1918 to 1920 influenza pandemic otherwise known as the Spanish flu that resulted in dramatic mortality worldwide and the 2009 flu pandemic (H1N1).
Other epidemic outbreaks in history
There seems to be a ‘rich’ history of pandemics that had shaken humanity even before our common era (BCE). For instance, some of these outbreaks occurred over 2, 000 years ago. The widespread of these outbreaks and the death tolls qualified them to be classified as pandemics.
Pundits have postulated that when a disease occurs in greater numbers than expected in a community, region or season, it is considered an outbreak. In addition to human suffering, outbreaks create panic, disrupt the social and economic structure and can impede development in the affected communities. While no one can predict exactly when or where the next epidemic or pandemic will begin, it is expedient that individuals should explore and learn from previous outbreaks.
Experts have also warned that a global pandemic will halt humanity in the next 20 to 30 years. A cursory look at past epidemics, how they impacted humanity and efforts made to curb them may offer some insight into what humanity had gone through and how it pulled through them.
Timeline of historical pandemics
As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in our modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant. Some of the previous pandemics have outweighed the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) in terms of rapidity in spread and casualties.
430 B. C.
In 430 B.C., there was an outbreak of smallpox in Athens, Greece. The disease that is usually caused by the Variola Virus and spreads through skin-to-skin contact or contact with bodily fluids can also be spread through the air.
The smallpox epidemic killed more than 30,000 people in Athens, thereby reducing the city’s population by at least 20 per cent.
541 A.D.
The Plague of Justinian, which began in 541 and continued on and off for nearly 200 years, killed 50 million people in the Middle East, Asia and the Mediterranean basin, according to some estimates. The plague was said to have been caused by bacteria that are spread by rats that were bitten by infected fleas. Could this be the old version of our current Lassa fever?
1331 to 1353
Between 1331 and 1353, a deadly epidemic known as Black Death killed an estimated 75 million people worldwide. Eight hundred years after the last outbreak, the plague was said to have returned to Europe. Beginning from Asia, the disease spread to the Mediterranean and Western Europe in 1348 and killed an estimated 20 to 30 million Europeans in six years.
1334
What’s known as the Great Plague of London began in China in 1334 and spread along trade routes, wiping out entire towns, according to some historical and pathological authorities. Florence, Italy, lost a third of its 90,000 residents in the first six months. Overall, Europe lost 25 million people. Any repeat of history here?
1519
Hernando Cortes, a smallpox epidemic occurred in what is today known as Mexico during which an approximately 25 million people died when it hit the country in 1519. A smallpox epidemic killed between five and eight million of the native population in the following two years.
1633
In 1633, settlers from France, Great Britain and the Netherlands were alleged to have “imported” smallpox to Massachusetts USA. It quickly spread to the Native American population, which had up until now been free of this communicable disease. It’s unclear how many were killed by the smallpox epidemic, though historians estimate some 20 million people may have died after the Europeans landed. Could this inform President Trump’s sweeping ban on most countries in Europe from entering America in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak?
1793
Philadelphia (USA) was struck with a Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793 during which a 10th of the city’s 45,000 people died.
1860
The Modern Plague began in the 1860s and killed more than 12 million people in China, India and Hong Kong. It wasn’t until the 1890s that people figured out how the bacterial infection was being spread and a vaccine was developed as a remedy for it.
1901
A smallpox epidemic in Boston infected 1,500 people in 1901. There were 270 reported deaths.
1910
The largest plague outbreak in the 20th Century occurred in Manchuria between 1910 and 1911. Approximately 60,000 people died. The plague still occasionally causes smaller outbreaks in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
1918
The great flu pandemic that occurred between 1918 and 1920 was estimated to have killed between 30 and 50 million people worldwide. Among them were 675,000 Americans. It was called the Spanish Flu even though it didn’t emanate from Spain. It was so-called because Spanish media were at liberty to report the incident because of enormous press freedom the country enjoyed then.
1952
In 1952, polio infected nearly 60,000 children in the USA and more than 3,000 of them died. Three years later, vaccination began to prevent communicable disease from reoccurring.
1984
In 1984, scientists identified the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV as the cause of the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). That same year, the deadly disease killed more than 5,500 people in the United States. At present, more than 35 million people around the world are living with HIV infection, even as records have shown that more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since the first cases were reported.
2003
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS, was first identified in 2003 in China, though the first case was believed to have occurred in November 2002. By July 2003, more than 8,000 cases and 774 deaths had been reported globally.
2009
The global H1N1 flu pandemic may have killed as many as 575, 000 people, though only 18,500 deaths were confirmed. The H1N1 virus is a type of swine flu, which is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by the type “A” influenza virus.
⦁ To be continued