The world: Through Pandemics & Pandemonium

A look at the history of epidemics and pandemics that caused damaged to humankind

Akshat Thonangi

There are certain defining moments in our lifetime, where we as humans, tend to pause and reflect on what we've managed to accomplish up until now and think about prospects in-store or more importantly, ponder upon our existence or what life has meant to us. Some of the aforementioned 'moments' are the epidemics that mankind has stood witness to in the past. We did make tremendous scientific progress and, after its 3000-year existence, in 1980, the WHO declared Smallpox as eradicated. It is by far the only human disease to be declared so. "As for adults, those born before 1957 probably got the measles because there was no vaccine back then," as per the report General Recommendations on Immunization: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)(1994) published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As compiled by Wordflix, the word 'Pandemic' has Greek origins; Pan-Demos, meaning "all people." It is so-called because it's a disease that affects everyone in a given region. WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom said, "We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus, this is the first of its kind. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time." (sic.)

Now, back to where it all began, a version of the Bubonic Plague, the Black Death (1346-1353), was the most devastating pandemic in human history. Mainly caused due to rodents, it swept through Asia, Europe, Africa and gradually to Scandinavia. Epidemiological statistics show that the tumour turmoil killed between 75-100 million people. Surprisingly, as something that went almost unreported by the media, the most recent death took place in 2019, in Mongolia. Legend has it that some citizens blamed the plague on Empress Theodora, saying "It was a punishment from God, for her sexual promiscuity," as per the research The Soldier's Life: Martial Virtues and

Hegemonic Masculinity in the Byzantine Empire by Stewart, Michael. (2012).

The year 1918-19 saw a record number of deaths owing to the Influenza's influence, alongside Typhus, shortly after World War-I. A typhus outbreak requires the occurrence of both body louse outbreak and a case of bacteraemic typhus. These two conditions are often combined in wartime, where stress, lack of hygiene and no changing of clothes during the winter months are common. Speaking of apocalyptic wars, soldiers who returned to the Roman empire, after fighting in Western Asia, brought back a new enemy to battle against, the Antonine Plague. It killed 2,000 people per day, at its pinnacle. The role of insects in transmitting diseases to man was demonstrated when Ronald Ross, a British military doctor, showed that mosquitoes transmit malaria.

What could arguably be touted as one of the most memorable modern-day 'occurrences' as a euphemism for an anomaly, is in the form of a remedial process called quarantining. Of course, what's taking place today could be considered nonpareil, as far as contemporary times are concerned. The concept of quarantine came about when experts had no scientific understanding of contagion. It had to be something to do with proximity, didn't it? "At first, sailors were held on their ships for 30 days, which became known in Venetian law as a trentino. As time went on, the Venetians increased the forced isolation to 40 days or a quarantino, the origin of the word quarantine and the start of its practice in the Western world," as told by Thomas Mockaitis, to various publishers.

In recent years, the 2013-16 West African Ebola outbreak made headlines, but second world nations seemed to have remained largely unperturbed since authorities had managed to contain it within the continent. But, did we trace back to its origins? Adducing, the Cocoliztli (1545-1548 & 1578-1578): This is categorised in a group of ailments called viral haemorrhagic fever. A

family of illnesses that continues to attack humanity, with viruses like Ebola.

Lastly, an abstract from 'Coinfection of H1N1 Influenza and Scrub Typhus: A Review', QJM: An International Journal of Medicine(2020), says, "The (H1N1) influenza outbreak in the year 2009 coincided with typical scrub typhus season in North India. This led to diagnostic difficulties due to their similar and non-specific symptoms. A systematic review of the database yielded one case diseases (such as malaria) in certain areas. Scientists say that diseases which have adapted and can live between species (inter-species), are nearly impossible to eradicate.

It would be hard to imagine as to how India would've reacted to COVID19, if it hit us, let's say, in the 80s or 90s. Far more people would've probably perished, primarily due to the lack of a steadfast communication framework, medical infrastructure or perhaps a mul

of scrub typhus and H1N1 influenza coinfection reported from South Korea."

The Swine Flu killed nine people in February 2020. It kind of got brushed under the carpet, with everything else that has supposedly taken precedence. "I found there was information about some number of people dying of swine flu in Meerut. Flu is not a disease," said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a statement.

So, why do such cemetery-exhausting pandemics break out? The roots lie in sociocultural and political issues along with our workplace environment. Climate change, i.e. increase in global temperatures would increase the risk of tidimensional crisis management strategy in place, and of course, the media's prevalence. However, it could be argued that there was significantly lesser transportation and immigration.

Mass migration has almost become the new norm, including the refugee crisis in Asia and Europe. Therefore, governments have started imposing unprecedented travel bans and have come up with experimental 'contact tracing' and 'isolation' action plans. Millions of people are living closer than ever, and yet, it's in our best interest to keep at bay from one another.