Download Pandemics

Pandemics—Today and Then by Vogel
Pandemics: what are they
A pandemic is a situation where a certain deadly disease spreads rapidly through a population, causing mass deaths and illness.
Human populations have faced many pandemics over the centuries, all over the world. The causes of pandemics include…
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Lack of knowledge about the disease, and how it spreads
Over-crowded, dirty living conditions
A highly infectious, and contagious disease (meaning you get ill quickly, and spreads easily)
A ‘novel’ pathogen, meaning it has not been seen before
Cancer is NOT considered a pandemic, even though millions of people around the world are affected by it. This is because cancer is
NOT spreadable to other people. Other examples, like chlorea, Small pox, Spanish Flu and Ebola are because they are spreadable to
other people.
Ebola outbreak
The Ebola Virus pandemic is our most recent pandemic. Ebola comes from 1 of 5
virus species discovered in the 1970s near the Ebola River, in Africa. One of these
Ebola viruses only affects animals. Ebola is a disease that causes hemorrhaging, or
bleeding inside the body. Other symptoms include weakness, fever, body aches,
red eyes, rashes, and stomach pains and vomiting. The illness typically shows up
anywhere between 8 to 21 days after exposure, with a change in body temperature
being the first sign. Ebola is a very infectious disease, meaning that only 1 virus
entering the body is enough to cause illness. Fortunately, Ebola is NOT very contagious—only direct contact with an infected person’s body
fluids, such as blood, sweat, spit, ect will make Ebola spread from person to person. Currently, treatments for Ebola involve strengthening
the body, by providing plenty of food, water, and rest. Blood transfusions with patients cured of Ebola to ill patients helps recovery by
providing the ill person with antibodies that will help the immune system fight off the virus. As of this time, over 4,000 deaths have
occurred due to the current Ebola pandemic.
Here are the top 5 pandemics of our history, as a comparison…
#5: The Cholera outbreak of the 1800s
Source: India
Disease type: bacterial
Number of deaths: unknown, in the 100s of thousands, including 10,000 British soldiers
Cholera is contracted by drinking contaminated water. The disease started in the Ganges River, where it spread through the
Mediterranean, Europe, Asia and China. The disease attacks the digestive system, and causes vomiting, stomach cramps and
diarrhea. The disease is treated with simple antibiotics and plenty of clean water. At the time, it was thought that it spread
through the air. Cholera infected people when they drank water that was dirty with human wastes, as proper sanitation and sewage
treatment plants were not yet invented or established.
#4: The Plague of Justinian, (Eastern Roman Empire) 540 AD to 590 AD
Source: Egypt/China by diseased rats
Disease type: bacterial, bubonic(?)
Number of deaths: 25 million
Named after an Emperor of the Roman Empire at the time, the disease was spread from Egypt and China to the Roman Empire (now
the Mediterranean area and Italy). The disease was spread by fleas on ship rats, which bit people, causing illness. At the time, no
one knew what caused the plague. The disease created large black blisters to appear on the neck, armpits and groin, followed by
fever, madness, and finally death and decay of the hands and feet. At the height of the pandemic, around 5,000 people a day died
from the plague. Scientists today are not sure what the plague was, and many think it was the same bacteria that caused the
Bubonic Plague a few hundred years later.
#3 Malaria (1908 to present day)
Source: unknown, worldwide since ancient times, by infected mosquitoes
Disease type: parasitic protist
Number of deaths: around 1 million per year, worldwide, 90% of deaths in Africa.
Malaria is spread when mosquitoes infected with a parasite-protist bites a person. The protist then travels into the bloodstream,
and burrows into red blood cells, where it multiplies, eating the red blood cell from the inside-out. The disease is treatable with
antibiotics, but the highest number of U.S. cases occurred during the Civil War, when over 1 million soldiers contracted malaria, and
the building of the Panama Canal in 1906 when 26,000 workers contracted the disease.
#2: Spanish Flu of 1918-1920
Source: unknown, infected birds, people
Disease type: virus
Number of deaths: 50 to 100 million, worldwide
The Spanish Flu was just a name, and was not officially sourced from Spain. It is believed to have been a virus contracted by birds,
which mutated, and became a virus strain that could affect humans. The flu was a highly contagious, and traveled through the air.
Strangely, the healthier a person was when they contracted the flu, the quicker, and more likely they died. Death was the result of
an overreaction of the body’s immune system, causing body temperature to rise extremely high, causing the brain to shut down.
Most of the people who got the flu that died were young adults. The elderly and small children who contracted the disease only got
mildly ill, and recovered. The disease was spread world-wide thanks to human immigration as a result of World War I
#1 The ‘Black Plague’ of 1346-1353
Source: diseased rats, possibly from central Asia
Disease type: bacterial
Number of Deaths: unknown, estimated over 200 million
The worst plague ever killed 70-80% of the world’s population. Like the Justinian Plague, the disease was spread first from fleas
carried by diseased rats. In humans, the Black Plague (aka; bubonic plague) became highly contagious and infectious. People who
contracted the plague could be dead from it within 8 hours. The plague was spread so quickly due to dirty, over-crowded living, and
a complete lack of knowledge about disease, germs, and sanitation. “Doctors” of the plague were really priests and monks, as it was
believed at the time the plague was caused by evil spirits. Symptoms of the disease were identical to the Justinian Plague, featuring
black sores, high fever, madness and decay of extremities. It would take over 150 years after the plague for the population of
Europe to reach a ‘normal’ size.