SunstarTV Bureau: Our generation witnessed the worst pandemic of decades in 2020. A large number of people are dying across the world, due to the contagious virus disease- Covid-19. When we peek into our history, we can see in every 100 years, world is facing catastrophic pandemic.
Is it a mere coincidence or mother-nature’s sign that humans are exploiting the natural treasure without any limit?
When an epidemic spreads beyond a country’s borders, then only the disease officially becomes a pandemic. These are the list of contagious disease across the world, in every 10 decade that turn out to be pandemic.
Leprosy, 11th Century:
During 11th Century, Leprosy grew into a pandemic in Europe. It is a slow developing bacterial disease that causes sores and deformities.
At that time, this disease was believed to be a punishment from God that ran in families.
Now, it is known as Hansen’s disease and still affects ten of thousand people a year and can be spread throughout the country if not treated with antibiotics.
Black Death, 1350:
The second large outbreak, Black Death or bubonic plague, that stared in Asia and moved west in caravans. It became responsible for the death of one-third of the world population.
Modern genetic analysis suggests that the Bubonic plague was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis or Y. pestis. Chief among its symptoms are painfully swollen lymph glands that form pus-filled boils called buboes. Sufferers also face fever, chills, headaches, shortness of breath, hemorrhaging, bloody sputum, vomiting and delirium, and if it goes untreated, a survival rate of 50 percent
Cholera, 1817:
This disease was stared through feces-infected water and food in Russia, where one million people were dead.
The bacteria were passed along to British soldiers, who brought it to India.
The reach of the British Empire and its navy spread cholera to Spain, Africa, Indonesia, China, Japan, Italy, Germany and America, where it killed 150,000 people.
Russian flu, 1889
The largest nineteenth-century epidemic of influenza, called ‘the Russian epidemic,’ arrived in Europe from the east in November and December of 1889. It was one of the first epidemics of influenza that occurred during the period of the rapid development of bacteriology. It was the first epidemic to be so widely commented on in the intensively developing daily press. Press reports not only referred to the local spread of the disease, but also discussed the situation in numerous, often distant, European cities, such as Paris, London, Vienna, and Berlin. The 1889–1890 influenza epidemic had 2 faces: the real one, discovered while being afflicted with the disease, and the media one, discovered through the information available in the press.
The first cases of the disease occurred in May 1889, as reported by a British city doctor, H. F. Parsons. These first cases were observed in 3 independent places, Bukhara in Central Asia (Turkestan), Athabasca in northwestern Canada, and Greenland.
Around mid-October of 1889 the disease was noted in Tomsk in Siberia, and in late October it appeared in St. Petersburg, in the European part of Russia
Spanish flu, 1918
The avian-borne flu or Spanish flu was first observed in Europe, the United State, and parts of Asia before spreading though out the world.
Though, there were no effective vaccines to treat this killer flu strain, but the flu threat was disappeared in the summer of 1919, when most of the infected had either developed immunities.
Asian flu, 1957:
1957 flu pandemic, also called Asian flu pandemic of 1957 or Asian flu of 1957, outbreak of influenza that was first identified in February 1957 in East Asia and that subsequently spread to countries worldwide. The 1957 flu pandemic was the second major influenza pandemic to occur in the 20th century; it followed the influenza pandemic of 1918-19 and preceded the 1968 flu pandemic. The 1957 flu outbreak caused an estimated one million to two million deaths worldwide and is generally considered to have been the least severe of the three influenza pandemics of the 20th century.
HIV- AIDS, 1981:
This devil AIDS was first observed in American gay communities. It destroys a person’s immune system. The symptom for these diseases was high fever, headache, and enlarged lymph.
Over time, HIV can destroy so many CD4 cells that the body can’t fight infections and diseases, eventually leading to the most severe form of an HIV infection: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. A person with AIDS is very vulnerable to cancer and to life-threatening infections, such as pneumonia.
Though there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, a person with HIV who receives treatment early can live nearly as long as someone without the virus
Sars, 2003:
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a respiratory illness that affected many people worldwide in 2003. It was caused by a coronavirus, called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003. The illness spread to 29 countries, where 8,096 people got SARS and 774 of them died. The SARS global outbreak was contained in July 2003. Since 2004, there have not been any known cases of SARS reported anywhere in the world.
Covid-19, 2020:
Corona-virus is a family of viruses that can cause illnesses such as the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
In 2019, a new corona-virus was identified as the cause of a disease outbreak that originated in China. The virus is now known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona-virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease it causes is called corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
Public health groups, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Oraganisation (WHO), are monitoring the pandemic and posting updates on their websites. These groups have also issued recommendations for preventing and treating the illness.
