Big ones epidemics and pandemics marked the human history, in all periods, and decimated different peoples. In this text, we are going to show some epidemics and pandemics that hit man in antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in the contemporary phase of history, as well as their consequences.
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pandemic x epidemic
Before getting to know the epidemics and pandemics that have marked world history, it is important to pay attention to the differences between the concepts of epidemic and pandemic. One Epidemic it refers to diseases that have spread over a limited geographic region, such as a city. the term pandemic is used to refer to a disease that has spread over a very large geographic space, such as a continent. To learn more about it, we recommend reading this text: Pandemic.
Great Epidemics and Pandemics in History
Human history is not only marked by great empires, great wars and advancement material and technological of man in time, but also because of the great diseases that affected the most diverse peoples.
The epidemics and pandemics that happened and were recorded throughout history caused moments of great tension and went transformation catalysts in some cases. These are events that put entire societies under threat and, therefore, are objects of study by historians. Let's get to know some of them?
Plague of Athens (430-427 a. Ç.)
From the summer of 430 a. C., the city of Athens, one of the big cities of çexploitation gwatering, was hit by a epidemic outbreak. The epidemic was recorded by the Greek Thucydides, historian who also reported the Peloponnesian War. The disease had a great outbreak between 430-429 BC. a., was weakened during 428 a. Ç. and gained strength again from 427 BC. Ç.
The reports left by Thucydides say that the disease began in athens waterfront and spread to the rest of the city. Cases started to appear at the very beginning of the Peloponnesian War and had a crippling effect on Athenian troops. The author J. No. Hays says that a troop of hoplites formed by 4,000 men witnessed the death of 1,050 of them|1|.
Given the context in which this disease began in Athens, scholars on the subject came to the theory that the large movement of people because of the war facilitated the spread of the disease. The symptoms were described by Thucydides:
[…] In general, the individual in perfect health was suddenly caught up in the following symptoms: first, he felt a violent headache; the eyes became red and inflamed; the tongue and pharynx took on a bloody appearance; breathing became irregular and breath foul. Sneezing and hoarseness followed. Shortly thereafter, the pain was located in the chest, accompanied by a violent cough; when it reached the stomach, it provoked nausea and vomiting with bile regurgitation. Almost all patients were affected by hiccups and seizures of varying intensity from one case to another. The skin was not very warm to the touch or livid, but reddened and full of eruptions in the shape of small blisters (pustules) and sores|2|.
It is believed that the disease had never reached the city of Athens, given the violence in which it affected the local population. There are some scholars who claim that the disease had great impact on pregnant womens. Thucydides' reports suggest that the population's despair created a framework of disrespect for the laws and, as religious prayers were not answered, religion also began to be targeted by this disrespect.
Despite being known as “Athens plague” and the name suggests that it was an outbreak of bubonic plague, scholars suggest that the disease that hit the Greek city was not this one. A study conducted at the beginning of the 21st century based on the bones of a mass grave found reached the conclusion of the occurrence of typhoid fever, but there are other studies that point tI fo.
There are still theories that suggest diseases such as smallpox and measles is that up to 35% of the Athenian population powow have died|1|. It is also believed that the disease may have spread to other places from Athens. Other pests happened in antiquity, such as the Pthis one from Syracuse, in 395 a. C., and the PThis one Thetonina, which reached Rome in 166 d. Ç.
Read too: Are there diseases that occur in both men and other animals?
Black Death (1347-1353)
Epidemics and pandemics were not confined to Antiquity and extended to other periods as well, such as the Middle Ages. This period of history witnessed one of the biggest pandemics of humanity, that of plaguebubonic, named after PThis onenoegra and it is traditionally known for having decimated at least about 1/3 of the European population.
The Black Death designates a disease transmitted to humans through rat fleas contaminated with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is believed that the origin of this disease was China or some region of Central Asia and that the Black Death was not the first known outbreak of bubonic plague.
There are reports of bubonic plague-like illnesses in Bible, as an account that speaks of a disease caused by rats that affected the Philistines. Already in the medieval period, there was bubonic plague in the Byzantine Empire, reaching its capital, Constantinople, between 541 and 544. In this context, she became known as PThis onejustiniana.
The bubonic plague has come to Europe in 1347 and was taken there by Genoese merchantsonly that ran away from coffee, a Genoese colony in Crimea that was being attacked by Tatar troops from the Khanate of the Golden Horde. The city of Caffa was under siege when the Tatars began to throw corpses contaminated with the disease into the walls.
As the plague spread through Caffa, the Genoese fled, carrying the disease on their ships. Thus, the plague reached Constantinople, then Sicily, it reached Marseilles, the Italian Peninsula and, from there, it spread throughout Europe. This outbreak of bubonic plague extended to 1353 and caused the death of millions of people.
Once a human gets bubonic plague, it can be transmitted through the respiratory route (called a pneumonic plague), which facilitated the spread of the disease throughout the European continent. Both the cities and the countryside were affected, although the cities, due to the greater agglomeration of people, suffered the most. The bubonic plague was named after the buboes that appeared in some parts of the body of those who got sick.
Reports at the time say that the disease brought panic and caused many to flee the big cities as a way to protect themselves. Those who had money and property outside the cities fled to these properties and hid there. The reports also say that the political order, in some places, collapsed, because the authorities had either died from the disease, or they no longer had the means to govern.
Doctors at the time had no idea what caused the disease, but they realized that the isolation it was a way to prevent the plague from spreading further. Thus, people began to isolate themselves in their homes, and the sick only kept in contact with doctors. The number of dead was so great that funeral rites began to be abandoned.
Bubonic plague was a recurrent disease in Europe throughout the 14th century and existed until 1720, when there was an outbreak of the disease in Marseilles. It is believed that only in the 14th century did bubonic plague caused the deathin, furany less, 1/3 of the European population, although historians such as Le Goff point out that it caused the death of at least half of Europe's population, reaching up to 2/3 in some places.|3|.
Finally, there are studies that indicate that bubonic plague may have caused the death of up to 50 million people on the European continent only in the period between 1347 and 1353|1|.
Also access: The importance of isolation to fight contagious diseases
Spanish flu (1918-1919)
The beginning of the 20th century was also marked by a pandemic that hit every continent on the planet and caused death of at least 50 million people. This disease was known asgrip andspanish, being caused by a mutation of the virus influenza, and it even affected Brazil.
Despite its name, the Spanish flu did not appear in Spain. It is believed to have arisen in the China or us StatesUnited. Anyway, the first cases were registered in a military camp called FortRiley, which was installed in the state of Kansas (USA). The first patient that is known was the SoldierAlbertgitchell.
The disease appeared in the context of First World Warand it took advantage of the large displacement of soldiers and the agglomerations caused by the war to spread around the world. There were three waves of contagion, which stretched from 1918 to 1919. THE Mondaywave was known as the one with the highest contamination capacity and was the deadliest.
The Spanish flu has spread to all the continents of the planet. Early 20th century medicine did not know what caused it, because the technology of the time did not allow microscopes to see the virus responsible for the disease. used to be aspirin to combat some of the symptoms, but the exaggeration of the use of this medication proved to be harmful. The disease caused infections that affected organs such as the lung, but antibiotics were not available at the time to fight them.
You symptoms of the Spanish flu were the from a common flu, such as fever, cough, runny nose, headaches and body aches. The more complicated cases, as mentioned, caused infections in the lungs, leading patients to develop pneumonia.
As it was caused by a virus, the disease was transmitted through the airway easily. Locations that have implemented prevention measures based on isolationSocial managed to get through the Spanish flu with little effect. Those who did not follow the isolation measures ended up suffering severely from the disease and accumulating deaths every day.
Here in Brazil the Spanish flu arrived inSeptember 1918, through the passengers of an English vessel that docked in three cities: Recife, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. Large cities, such as São Paulo, suffered a lot from the disease. It is believed that it has contaminated at least half of the population of São Paulo.
In Brazil, as in other parts of the world, isolation measures were taken with the decree to close schools, public offices and some types of commerce. In all, 35,000 people died ingSpanish ripe in Brazil.
Ebola (2013-2016)
![Sign in Congo informing people that the region was contaminated with the Ebola virus.[1]](/f/6f898b274d1448db4041ea405d1287db.jpg)
In 1976, cases of ddisease by virus andball, disease caused by the virus of the same name (Ebola). This virus has been identified in regions of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both countries of African continent. A species of bat is believed to be the transmitter of the virus.
Ebola is a serious disease capable of killing both humans and primates. Recently, between 2013 and 2016, it caused a outbreakepidemic in regions of West Africa. This one caught the attention of the World Health Organization and from many countries - some of them even decided at the time for closing your borders for people coming from that region.
The disease manifests itself with the following symptoms: fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. The most serious patients can present serious hemorrhages, which affect parts of the body such as intestines and uterus. The contagion happens when a person has contact with the remains of animals contaminated by the virus.
From the moment a human being contracts Ebola, the virus can be transmitted to other people through secretions such as saliva, blood, feces, urine and semen. Ebola acted mostly in the African continent and took advantage of the poverty of many of the regions of that continent.
The lack of ideal sanitary conditions ends up making the rapid spread of the virus much easier. The latest Ebola epidemic has hit countries like Liberia, Mountain rangeLioness and Guinea, infecting 28,454 people, of which 11,297 died|4|.
In 2018, a new outbreak was registered in Africa, reaching the Democratic Republic of Congo. To date, this outbreak has registered nearly 4,000 cases and more than 2,200 deaths. In 2014, there was a suspected case of Ebola in Brazil, but this case was ruled out by tests.
Also access: COVID-19, the last major pandemic to hit the world
Other epidemics throughout history
The four cases mentioned in this text are just a few examples of the great epidemics that have affected humanity. Obviously, there are a multitude of other epidemics and pandemics that have happened throughout history and we will cite some of them below:
- pandemic of Theids (1980 to date);
- pandemic of sars (2002-2004);
- Smallpox epidemic in Japan (735-737);
- pandemics of cholera (throughout the 19th century);
- Cholera epidemic in Haiti (2010 to date);
- epidemic of febre Themarela in New Orleans (1853).
Grades
|1| HAYS, J.N. Epidemics and pandemics. Their impacts on Human History. Austin, Texas: Kahle Foundation, 2005.
|2| REZENDE, Joffre Marcondes de. In the Shadow of the Plane: chronicles of the History of Medicine. São Paulo: Editora Unifesp, 2009, p. 75.
|3| LE GOFF, Jacques. The medieval roots of Europe. Petrópolis: Voices, 2011, p. 228.
|4| SAMPAIO, João Roberto Cavalcante and SCHÜTZ. Gabriel Eduardo. The 2014 Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic: The International Health Regulations in the Perspective of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To access, click on here.
Image credits:
[1]Sergey Uryadnikov and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/grandes-epidemias-da-historia.htm
