Pandemics from the past (Part 1)

 We know pandemics very well. Specially now, when the second wave of Corona virus has hit the world. But this pandemics is not something whi...

 We know pandemics very well. Specially now, when the second wave of Corona virus has hit the world. But this pandemics is not something which is new for mankind. The world has witnessed various pandemics earlier which were even deadlier and long lasting then this one.

Here are the 20 most deadliest pandemics ever to struck the world from the past: 

20. Antonine Plague (165 AD - 190 AD) -

It stuck the roman empire in 165 AD when Roman troops returning after the seize of Seleucia in the near east carried the disease with themselves. It was first confused with smallpox and measles as its symptoms were similar to that of smallpox.

These were the symptoms: 

•  Fever 
•  Chills 
•  Upset stomach
•  Diarrhea which turned from red to black over the course of week.

They developed horrible black pocks all over their body both inside and outside that left disfiguring scars. This virus disappeared after 180 AD but after nine years in 189 AD it again hit Rome and  caused the death of almost 1/3 rd of the romans.

Some also say that this plague was the cause of the death of the emperor Lucius Verus , the emperor of Rome at that time.

19. Plague of Justanian (541 AD - 750 AD) - 

It is considered as one of the worst outbreak of the plague in  the history of Rome. It was a kind of Bubonic plague that originated in China and northern India and transported to Egypt through trade routes where the first ever  case of this disease was recorded officially. And by 542 AD it also spread in some parts of Europe, although Mediterranean was hit the hardest. It initially spread through fleas.

These were the symptoms: 

• Fever
• Headaches
• Chills
• Swollen or tender lymph nodes
• Abdominal pain

The disease was named after the ruler of Byzantine empire Justinian I (527 AD - 565 AD) who was a conqueror and tried to reunite Western and Eastern roman empire. He had invested heavily in war against Italy and in the construction of the great churches. But the reunion didn't last long. With the spread of the disease, paying taxes became challenging for common people and with the deaths of farmers and soldiers eventually the Byzantine empire became weak and was invaded by Lombards and their territory shrinked.

Its effect was significant for few years (541 AD - 549 AD) causing almost 5000 deaths a day. But it continued to exist in the Mediterranean for almost 200 years. Causing 30 - 50 million deaths over the years which was about 10% of the worlds population at that time. Recent studies have found that the ancient bacteria Yersinia pestis which caused this pandemic was having same strain that caused the infamous Black death of Europe 800 years later.

18. Japanese smallpox epidemic (735 AD - 737 AD) - 

Although eradicated in 1980 , smallpox had created fear for centuries across the globe. It was caused by Variola virus which was carried to Dazaifu city of northern Kyushu by a fisherman who was being stranded in the Korean peninsula. It rapidly spread across the northern Kyushu and within a year , whole Japan was affected by this pandemic.

These were the symptoms: 

• Fever
• Vomiting
• Sores
• Skin rash
• Bumps that would scab and leave scars all over the body

It was so deadly that within only 2 years the death toll surpassed 2 million which was about 25% - 35% of the population of Japan.

Japanese people at that time thought that the disease is spread due to a demon called Onryo which was a mythical spirit from Japanese folklore which returned to physical world to seek vengeance. According to them, the demon was afraid of the color red and dogs. They started their own traditional method of curing this disease. They began to appease the monster (which they thought was behind this disease) by doing lion dance , playing San-shin (musical instrument) , offering flowers , burning incense all in front of the victim who was covered in red from head to toe. Later on , these red color methods were also adopted by king Charles V and queen Elizabeth I. Okinawa also had its own smallpox poetry.

Many of the tradition still exist today like the smallpox poem and dance.

17. The Black death (1347 - 1353) -

This is by far one of the most fatal pandemic to ever hit in the history of mankind. It was a devastating bubonic plague epidemic across the globe. It was caused by Yersinia pestis which was the same bacteria that caused Plague of Justanian 800 yrs ago. But it returned again in 1340s which was travelling all across the trade route from India and China to Egypt , Persia and Africa again in 1340s.

The Europeans earlier had heard rumors of a great disease which was creating a death path all across the trade route, even though they were unable to escape this.

In October of 1347, 12 ships were docked  at Sicilian port of Messina which returned from the Black sea. People were horrified to see that most of the sailor were either dead or extremely ill with black boils all over the body oozing blood and pus. Sicilian authorities immediately ordered to remove the ships , but it was already too late.

The symptoms were same as the Plague of Justanian:

• Fever
• Headaches
• Chills
• Swollen or tender lymph nodes
• Abdominal pain
• Black boils all across the body and instant death in some cases.

No one knew how it spread and no cure was available at that time. The people were so hopeless that they thought it as god's punishment and as a result thousands of Jews were killed by the angry mobs.

Plague caused 25 million deaths in Europe that was 1/3 of the population of the continent at that time.

And 75-200 million deaths were all across the globe which is too terrifying to even imagine.

As a safety measure the ship crews were kept isolated for 30 days (trentino) at the dock which was later extended to 40 days (quarantine) and that's how we got the word quarantine which is still used.  This plague is very ancient and has always retuned after few generations time to time. It never vanished completely , it was just controlled by safety measures.

16.Azetic epidemic (1519 - 1580) - 

It is called azetic because it was the reason for the downfall of the azetics from Mexico. It is also considered as The great pestilence or Cocoliztli epidemic which was a mysterious illness which caused millions of deaths in Mexico. Some suggest it was smallpox while some say it was food poisoning.

When Spanish visited Mexico , they bought many new diseases like Measles , Mumps and smallpox.

Smallpox was the deadliest it spread from the coast to the capital of city and 40% of the city population died while spanish were unaffected because they were already familiar with this disease and had natural immunity against it while azetic were exposed to the virus for the first time.

seeing this opportunity , spanish attacked mexico and won the battle and named it new Spain.

After few decades in 1545 , a new disease called cocoliztli again hit mexico following its 2nd wave in 1576 which caused almost 17 million deaths , 80% of which were people of Mexico and guatemala.

It is considered as one of the most fatal epidemic ever to hit mexico.

15. Yellow fever (1648 - 1800) - 

It was originated in Africa and due to the enslavement and importation of Africans by Spanish and Portuguese in the 17th century , it spread to Yucatan and eventually to South America and later on to Europe.

It spread through female mosquitoes carrying Yellow fever virus. For almost next 200 years this disease went on killing thousands of people a year and even now it causes thousands of deaths a year, most of which are Africans.

These are the symptoms of Yellow fever:

• Fever
• Chills
• Nausea
• Headache
• Yellow skin
• Abdominal pain

Although its vaccine exists but it is needed to be taken before being infected. Once a person is infected and the symptoms are visible , no measures are effective against the virus.

14. London plague (1665 - 1666)-

It was also a bubonic plague and it was again the same bacteria which earlier was responsible for  Plague of Justanian and the black death , but this time on a much smaller scale then the earlier ones.

It was the last major bubonic plague outbreak in England.

The plague killed about 100,000 which was a quarter of london's population, within 1.5 years. From 1603 , there was a weekly bills of mortality in England to keep a record on the deaths. It was observed that in 1603 there were almost 33,000 deaths due to plague , in 1625 , there were almost 41,000 deaths, while from 1640 to 1646, there were only 11,000 deaths due to plague. So people began to call the 1625 outbreak as great plague until the death tolls surpassed 68,000 in 1665.

So the bacteria originated in China and which caused all these plagues never went extinct and was always kept returning after few centuries which creates a fear among the scientist as it may return again anytime in the near future. Despite the overwhelming studies and research , there is no effective and safe vaccine against this bacteria.

13. The great plague of 1738 (1738 - 1740) - 

This is also a type of bubonic plague which spread across the region of Romania , Hungary and Austria in 1738. There is no proper reporting of the disease but it is estimated that it may have killed 50,000 people across these region. It again returned in 1762-1763. More than 10% of the population of the city died due to this disease.

These were the symptoms of the disease:

• Fever
• Headaches
• Chills

12. Cholera outbreak (1817 - 1824) - 

It originated in warm and slightly salty water of Bay of Bengal. It existed in India since the ancient times. It was carried to Europe via Portuguese officers returning from India. It followed the trade routes and spread across the globe. It arrived London in 1832 killing 7000 people while 100 people died a day during the peak of the disease in New York. It continued to spread and in 1961 7th pandemic hit Africa , South America in 1991 while the latest victims of the disease were found in Haiti in 2010.

In 1831 , it was discovered that the disease is caused by a germ and in 1884 it was finally shown as a comma shaped bacteria. In 1849 it was found that it spread through water and eventually the water cleaning systems were established.

These were the symptoms:

• pain in abdomen
• nausea
• severe diarrhoea
• vomiting
• dehydration

While fighting this disease Leonard Rager founded the rehydration method to reduce mortality rate which is still used.

11. The third plague (1855 - 1960)-

It is called the third plague it was the third major outbreak of the bubonic plague after the plague of Justanian and the black death. It started in Yunnan, China in 1855 and was active during the late 19th century and early 20th century causing 10 million deaths in India alone. It is considered one of the deadliest pandemic for India. 

There were primarily 2 source of the disease:

• First was the Bubonic which was carried through trade routes.
• Second was Pnemonic which spread from person to person contact which was found mainly in Asia. It was considered active till 1960 after which cases went down.

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