THE HISTORY OF PANDEMICS AND EPIDEMICS

CONTEXT: This article has been written in light of COVID-19 Pandemic to admire the world of micro-organisms. I bow down to the true gods of the Earth. 

Humans are guests on this planet. We think we rule this world just because we have intelligence and abilities like no other living being. However, the world always belonged to micro-organisms and we are immature to think otherwise. 

If we take a closer look at the life on Earth we would notice that Bacteria evolved about 3.5 billion years ago and viruses evolved about 1.5 billion years ago. So what about humans? Well, Homo sapiens have been walking this land for merely 130,000 years. This shows that humans today are merely products of micro-organisms. Now and then we tend to forget about this fact and whenever humans try to establish their power in the world, these micro-organisms take the matter to their hands and make sure to remind us of our real position. It’s fascinating to see how things we can’t even see can turn the whole world upside down. Every pandemic and epidemic is our reckoning.

Before we start, let’s understand the difference between Pandemic vs Epidemic:

EPIDEMIC is when a disease affects a large number of people or animals.

PANDEMIC is an epidemic that’s spread over multiple countries and continents.

Extra info: PLAGUE is a disease caused by the resistant strains of Yersinia pestis.

Since the 1700s a pattern has been observed where there is a massive epidemic that occurs every 100 years, wiping out populations without any efforts. Sometimes these epidemics turn into pandemics.

THE GREAT PLAGUE OF MARSEILLE, 1720: 

Location- France 

Causative agent- Yersinia pestis

Began with the arrival of a merchant ship called ‘THE GRAND SAINT ANTOINE’ from Lebanon at the French port city of Marseille that carried infected passengers from the Middle East. The disease spread upon unloading the cargo containing rat fleas that acted as carriers for this disease. Needless to say, the infection spread across the city like wildfire and killed about 75,000 to 100,000 people hence, turning it into an epidemic disease. 

CHOLERA, 1820:

Location- India

Causative agent- Vibrio cholera

Began in Calcutta from contaminated rice. Flies acted as carriers of the disease. Due to lack of proper toilets infected people, completely oblivious to their diseased state, would defecate in open areas and near water bodies. The pathogens would then spread through water or through flies that landed on food after feasting on the feces of infected people. The disease rapidly spread throughout South East Asia, Middle East, Eastern Africa, and the Mediterranean coast. Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines were hit the hardest by this pandemic, killing around 100,000 people in the Java island of Indonesia alone. 

SPANISH FLU, 1920:

Location- France

Causative agent- H1N1 type of influenza virus

Originated in an overcrowded hospital camp which was the perfect location for the spread of a respiratory virus. This virus passed through several precursors like birds and pigs where they got mutated into highly infectious pathogens before migrating to humans. This epidemic saw a death toll between 50-100 million. Because of which it was quoted to be one of the ‘deadliest epidemics’ in human history. (Not anymore! Pretty sure Corona will snatch the spotlight away from Spanish flu soon.)

CORONA VIRUS, 2020:

Location- China

Causative agent- SARS-CoV-2

We know all about Coronavirus Pandemic. The death toll has reached 333K worldwide as of today. We also know that there was a prediction made on the emergence of such a virus in an old novel. I present to you the exact words of the Novel ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz, published in February 1981:

“.……China’s most important and dangerous new biological weapon in a decade. They call the stuff ‘Wuhan-400’ because it was developed at their RDNA labs outside the city of Wuhan, and it was the four-hundredth viable strain of man-made microorganisms created at that research center. 

Wuhan 400 is a perfect weapon. It afflicts only human beings. No other living creature can carry it……”
(Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way indicating that this controversy of covid-19 being a man-made virus is true) 

Every pandemic and epidemic that this world had faced was worse than the ones experienced before. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As time passes, humans exploit the earth, destroying it a little more with every passing year. And every century, we are thrown down by Mother Earth who, in her indirect ways, tries to warn us that Earth doesn’t need us as much as we need her. 

Facts never lie and the fact is that humans are a mere waste of mass. We can never rule this land. We are under the control of living beings that are much simpler to us and yet have the ability to destroy us in seconds.

On this note, stay safe and stay home. 

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THANKYOU!!!!!!