Since the dawn of time, humanity has been periodically overrun by terrible plagues and diseases. So it's hardly surprising we have an ingrained dread of epidemics still to this day.
Since its discovery in 1981, AIDS has caused an estimated 36 million deaths worldwide, which is a terrifying number for those in the regions most affected. The Ebola outbreak on West Africa was a terrible episode, which as of May 2015 had claimed 10,900 lives. Similarly, the SARS outbreak in South East Asia sent communities into a panic and has so far resulted in 775 deaths.
But, terrible though AIDS, Ebola and SARS are for those affected by its appalling symptoms, in terms of the percentage of the population of the day killed, they're often dwarfed by the plagues of yore. This demonstrates how far humanity has come in preventing and treating infectious diseases. This is not in any way to trivialise the plight of those living under the shadow of a modern day epidemic, but it is intended to provide some context to just how good humanity has become at shielding itself from the diseases of the natural world in modern times.
In classical times, when populations were tiny by comparison to today's urban based concentrations of millions of people, it was not uncommon to have plagues that would wipe out hundreds of thousands of people at a time and take out 30% - 40% of a given population.
By the mediaeval era there were great plagues like the Black Death in the 14th century, from which the total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at an appalling 75 million people, approximately 25–50 million of which occurred in Europe. That's a staggering 30% to 70% of population killed between 1346 and 1350 alone. The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until the 1700s. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe.
Other smaller outbreaks of diseases include the 17th century outbreak of leptospirosis that killed 90% of the population of southern New England. or cholera pandemics that killed 100,000 people at a time in successive outbreaks in the 19th century, and a million people in Russia alone between 1852 and 1860. Likewise, Typhus outbreaks such as the one that killed 20,000 people in Canada in the mid nineteenth century.
Fortunately, nowadays the plague that caused the Black Death can be treated with insecticides, antibiotics and prevented by a vaccine. Likewise, Typhus can be treated with antibiotics and its insect-borne cause prevented via a vaccination. Cholera can be treated using simple oral hydration therapies with its cause through poor sanitation removed better isolation of sewerage from the drinking water supply.
Meanwhile, our treatment of modern day diseases is improving all the time too. HIV / AIDs can be slowed dramatically by the use of antiviral therapies and prevented by safe sex and prevention of blood contamination. The quest to develop a SARS vaccine is ongoing, as is the quest to develop an Ebola vaccine but containment for both is capable of halting the epidemic in its tracks.
Modern epidemiology and drug research will one day remove these diseases from circulation, just like it has done for the terrible plague, typhus and cholera diseases that once wiped out huge swathes of humanity.
Since its discovery in 1981, AIDS has caused an estimated 36 million deaths worldwide, which is a terrifying number for those in the regions most affected. The Ebola outbreak on West Africa was a terrible episode, which as of May 2015 had claimed 10,900 lives. Similarly, the SARS outbreak in South East Asia sent communities into a panic and has so far resulted in 775 deaths.
But, terrible though AIDS, Ebola and SARS are for those affected by its appalling symptoms, in terms of the percentage of the population of the day killed, they're often dwarfed by the plagues of yore. This demonstrates how far humanity has come in preventing and treating infectious diseases. This is not in any way to trivialise the plight of those living under the shadow of a modern day epidemic, but it is intended to provide some context to just how good humanity has become at shielding itself from the diseases of the natural world in modern times.
In classical times, when populations were tiny by comparison to today's urban based concentrations of millions of people, it was not uncommon to have plagues that would wipe out hundreds of thousands of people at a time and take out 30% - 40% of a given population.
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| Source: Listverse |
Other smaller outbreaks of diseases include the 17th century outbreak of leptospirosis that killed 90% of the population of southern New England. or cholera pandemics that killed 100,000 people at a time in successive outbreaks in the 19th century, and a million people in Russia alone between 1852 and 1860. Likewise, Typhus outbreaks such as the one that killed 20,000 people in Canada in the mid nineteenth century.
Fortunately, nowadays the plague that caused the Black Death can be treated with insecticides, antibiotics and prevented by a vaccine. Likewise, Typhus can be treated with antibiotics and its insect-borne cause prevented via a vaccination. Cholera can be treated using simple oral hydration therapies with its cause through poor sanitation removed better isolation of sewerage from the drinking water supply.
Meanwhile, our treatment of modern day diseases is improving all the time too. HIV / AIDs can be slowed dramatically by the use of antiviral therapies and prevented by safe sex and prevention of blood contamination. The quest to develop a SARS vaccine is ongoing, as is the quest to develop an Ebola vaccine but containment for both is capable of halting the epidemic in its tracks.
Modern epidemiology and drug research will one day remove these diseases from circulation, just like it has done for the terrible plague, typhus and cholera diseases that once wiped out huge swathes of humanity.
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