Pandemics from the past (Part 2)

For part 1 click here .   10. Russian flu (1889 - 1890) - It was one of the last pandemic of 19th century. It was believed to be caused by I...

For part 1 click here.

 10. Russian flu (1889 - 1890) -

It was one of the last pandemic of 19th century. It was believed to be caused by Influenza , although it was never conformed what caused the disease. It killed nearly a million people. It was at the peak from 1889 to 1890 but its several occurrences were recorded in 1891 , November 1891 to June 1892 , winter of 1893-1894 and early 1895.

In 1999 , sero archaeological study found that this disease may be Influenza A virus subtype H3N8. But 2005 , Genomic virological study says that it might not have been an influenza but a human corona virus.

Its symptoms were similar to modern day covid-19:

• Fever
• Dry cough
• Chest pain
• Difficulty while breathing
• Diarrhoea
• Loss of smell and taste

Its 1st case was reported in Bukhara in russian empire in may 1889. And spread via Trans-Caspian railway to Samarkand by august and Tomsk by october and finally to Saint petersburg and Moscow by november which were the two main cities of Russia. It also hit India in 1890. It also killed 1 million people worldwide.

9. Spanish flu / Influenza pandemic (1918 - 1920) - 

Its 1st case was reported in US in March 1918 and in April , it was also recorded in France , germany and UK.

Due to the world war 1 , main countries like America and Germany didn't revealed their real cases as they thought that this will show weak. So there is no real and accurate record of this disease and the casualites in major parts of the world. But Spain , being neutral in war , was free to reveal the cases and so the disease was called the Spanish flu.

Normally most Influenza kills either very young or very old people as due to their weak immune system. But this was causing more casuality among the adults because it triggered Cytokine storm which ravages the strong immunity system.

Its symptoms were :

• Chills
• Fever
• Fatigue
• Blue skin in some cases
• Suffocation because of the lungs being filled with fluid

It is said that during its 4 waves , it infected almost 500 million people (1/3rd of world population) and caused over 20-50 million deaths. But due to its unrecorded situation, some believe that there may be 17 - 100 million deaths all over the world making it one of the most deadliest disease.

8. Asian flu (1956 - 1958) - 

It was a global pandemic of Influenza A virus H2N2 originated in Guizhou , South china. A decade later, a reassorted viral strain H3N2 further caused the Hong-Kong flu pandemic (1968-1969).

Its first case was reported in Guizhou in 1956 and soon reported in the near Yunnan in late february 1957 and by the end of march , it spread all across the China. People's republic of China was not a member of WHO then (until 1981). So they didn't informed other countries about the spread of the disease. In the early february , Singapore also witnessed the outbreak and was 1st to notify WHO about the disease.

Till june , it also spread across India and USA causing 1 million cases in India alone.

Its symptoms were same as any Influenza virus: 

• Fever 
• Body aches
• Chills
• Cough
• Weakness

It caused almost 1 - 4 million deaths all across the globe. The mortality rate was greater among the elderly people. Finally Maurice hilleman obtained the samples and Public health service released the virus culture to vaccine manufacturers in 12 May 1957. And its trail started at Fort Ord in july 26 and at Lowry air force base on july 29 and finally the disease disappeared. It was a case were the vaccine was made quickly and the virus was not allowed to spread and slowed down gradually. Otherwise the consequences could have been very devastating.

7. Hong- Kong flu (1968 - 1969) -

It was the reassorted strain of the H2N2 influenza A virus which was called H3N2. It mainly spread in Hong-kong in 1968 and was at its peak in within 6 weeks which infected about 15% of the total population (around 500,000 people). But its mortality rate was low. It also spread in china but no official record was presented by China but it is estimated that most of the china was infected at a time.

By the end of july 1968 , outbreaks were also reported in Vietnam and Singapore. Its symptoms were same as the Asian flu.

But within only 4 months the vaccine was made by  Maurice hilleman and his team and more than 9 million doses had been made. It was the same team which was responsible for the vaccine of the Asian flu.

6.HIV/AIDS (1980 - present) -

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome also known as AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). It was identified in 1980.

Its initial symptoms are so common that many didn't even notice. It is similar to Influenza type fever. However once infected, the body starts showing the effect. It interact mainly with the immune system and increase the risk of tuberculosis  , various infections , tumors and unintended weight loss. The average survival period after being infected is 11 years.

In 1999 , it was discovered that the HIV in human is similar to SIV in chimpanzees , which suggests that it may be the modified version of SIV and spread from chimps to human through the hunting and eating of chimps or blood contact during the hunting. In humans it spreads through unprotected sex , contaminated blood transfusion , reusing hypodermic needles and from mother to child during pregnancy , delivery or breast feeding. Some body fluid such as saliva, sweat and tears don't transmit the virus.

In 2019 , about 38 million people were infected by HIV worldwide out of which 20.6 million cases were from eastern and southern Africa alone. There were an estimated 690,000 deaths in 2019 whereas 32.7 million deaths are recorded till now (since 1980).

No cure or vaccine is available for this disease. It can only be avoided using certain preventions like Safe sex , needle exchange , treating the infected and providing better medication to prevent the mother to infect the child as it is now available.

5. SARS (2002 - 2004) - 

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome also called SARS was caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-Cov or SARS Cov-1). It was a relatively rare disease as compared to other disease and till the end of 2004 , only 8422 cases were recorded all across the world with 11% mortality rate. No cases are reported after 2004 and it was believed to be gone extinct until 2017 when the Chinese scientist traced the virus in bats which suggested that the virus is still there among the animals which can return in the future again.

In 2019 , another strain of this virus (SARS-Cov 1) known as SARS-Cov 2 was recorded which is the virus responsible for the covid-19 pandemic all across the world right now.

These were the symptoms of SARS : 

• Fever
• Muscle pain
• Lethargy
• Cough
• Sore throat and other symptoms.

The incubation period of the disease was almost 4-6 days (the time between being infected and the visible symptoms). There is no vaccine available for this disease. So prevention is better than the cure.

4. Swine flu (2009 - 2010) -

It lasted for almost 19 months starting from jan 2009 to aug 2010. It is also the most recent influenza flu pandemic which was caused by the new strain H1N1 which was the triple reassortment of the bird , swine and human flu viruses. The estimated cases across the world was about 700 million to 1.4 billion (11% - 21% of world population) and confirmed deaths were around 18,500 but it is estimated that the real death counts were about 150,000 - 575,000. 

Some say it emerged in pigs in asia but travelled to north america in human , other subsiquent report  says it originated in a central Mexico.

Its first case was recorded in veracruz, Mexico after which the government closed the city to stop the spread of the virus.

Its symptoms were similar to any other influenza : 

• Fever , cough , headache , runny nose
• Muscle and joint pain
• Sore throat
• Chills , fatigue
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Neurological problems

It spread mainly through cough or sneezing. In Nov 2009, Vaccine had been made and distributed among 16 countries.

3. MERS (2012 - present) - 

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome also better known as MERS-Cov is called so because it was mainly spread in the middle eastern countries mostly Arab countries.

This virus is believed to be originated in bats and then transferred to camels and then from camels to humans. Although the main spread of virus is through human to human but this only happens in a very close contact with infected person. 

Its symptoms are :

• Fever
• Cough
• Diarrhoea
• Shortness of breath

It diagnosed by rRT-PCR testing of blood and respiratory samples. Although some confirmed cases of the disease have been reported asymptomatic which means they don't show any of the symptoms yet they are positive cases of the virus found through laboratory tests.

Around 35% of the reported cases have died. Its first identified case was found in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia in June 2012. And since then , 27 countries have reported 2500 cases of MERS out of which 80% is alone in Saudi Arabia. Whereas in 2020 there were 45 such cases. 

There is no specific vaccine available till now but many are under development and completed the phase-I trails in humans and are believed to be released soon.

2. Ebola (2014 - present) - 

Ebola also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is caused by Ebolavirus. Although it was first identified in 1976 but the major outbreak was caused in early 2014. In 1976 there were simultaneous outbreaks in Nzara (South Sudan) and Yambuku , a village near the Ebola river from where the disease got its name. And from 1976 to 2012 , there were 24 known outbreaks in small scale causing only 2,387 cases in total and 1590 deaths. But the largest outbreak was recorded in west Africa from Dec 2013 to January 2016 with 28,646 cases and 11,323 deaths in total. It was no longer emergency in March 2016. Other outbreaks also occurred in 2017 , 2018 and 2019.

Body usually starts showing symptoms between 2 days to 3 weeks after being infected. These symptoms include : 

• Fever
• Sore throat
• Muscular pain
• Headache
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Rash
• Decreased function of liver and kidney
• Some also begin to bleed internally and externally

It has a high mortality rate of around 50% within 6 to 16 days after the symptoms which makes it even deadly. It does not spread through air , it mainly spread through body fluids such as blood , semen breast feeding to babies. It may also spread through contacts with items recently contaminated body fluids.

Although there is no cure for ebola till now but U.S food and drug administration approved the Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV in dec 19 , 2019 which was the first FDA approved vaccine for ebola.

1. COVID-19 (2020 - present) -

Covid-19 right now is the one responsible for the poor condition of the world. It has affected almost every sector of the world from education to travel. Everything seems to be paused.

It's first case was recorded in Wuhan , China in dec 2019. Since then it has spread tremendously all across the globe and the count is still going on. WHO declared it as Public health emergency of international concern on 20th jan 2020. And it was declared as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. As of now (21 April 2021) , there are 143 Million cases and 3.04 million deaths.

It is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2). It spreads mainly through air like breathing , coughing and sneezing. It is closely related to Bat coronavirus , Pangolin coronavirus and SARS-Cov.

Many early case of virus has been traced back to the people who had visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan. Scientist say that this is a Zoonotic virus that arose from bats in a natural setting.

It has a variety of symptoms from no signs to life threating illness - 

Most common -

• Fever
• Dry cough
• Tiredness

Less common - 

• Aches and pains
• Sore throat
• Diarrhoea
• Conjunctivitis
• Loss of taste or smell
• Rashes on skin

Serious symptoms - 

• Difficulty breathing
• Chest pain or pressure
• Loss of speech and movement.

Although it has a low mortality rate of 2-3% yet preventions should be taken such as social distancing, wearing face masks , ventilation and air filtering, handwashing , disinfecting surfaces and self quarantine.

There are a variety of vaccine available for this disease but no cure is available. There are also some new strains of the virus which has again triggered the wave of pandemic. Vaccination has started all across the world. All countries are facing a tough time and the trade is also affected due to this virus. All the educational institutions have gone online and complete lockdown are also seen in many countries and everyone is hoping this pandemic to over as soon as possible and everything to become normal again.

So, these were some of the most infamous pandemics from the past encountered by mankind. Some of them were so deadly that they could have bring mankind to the verge of existence. No matter how much we believe in our modern technology , we can't defeat nature. And I hope that I don't need to update this list in the near future.