Major pandemics in the world

A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread across international borders, but is different from a common endemic disease affecting few people. Throughout history, there have been many pandemics such as smallpox, tuberculosis, ... But perhaps the most devastating pandemic was the Black Death, which claimed the lives of about 100 million people in the 14th century.
1.1. Plague From 430 to 426 BC, the plague in Athens weakened the city's dominance during the Peloponnesian War when typhoid killed a quarter of the Athenian army and a quarter of the population other in the previous four years. But in this epidemic, the virulence of the pathogen killed the host at a rate faster than its ability to multiply, which prevented the widespread spread of the pathogen.
The origin of this plague remained a mystery until January 2006 when the American Journal of Science announced that researchers from the University of Athens had analyzed tooth samples recovered from a mass grave. in Athens and confirmed the presence of the bacteria that cause typhoid .
From 165 to 180 AD, about 5,000 Romans died every day from the Antonine plague, the origin of which is believed to have been caused by a smallpox virus brought from the Italian peninsula by the soldier returning from the Near East.

Another outbreak known as the Cyprian plague occurred between AD 251 and AD 266. This was the first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague that had begun in Egypt, and in less than a year it had spread to Constantinople and caused the deaths of 10,000 of the city's inhabitants. According to Lester K. Little's book The Plague and the End of Antiquity, this pandemic decimated Europe's population by as much as 50% between AD 550-700 and from a quarter to half of the world's population.
Black Death is the name of an epidemic of bubonic plague that occurred in Asia and Europe in the 14th century, peaking in 1346-1351 with the death toll in Asia and Europe being about 75 - 200 million people . This is considered one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.
Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is spread by fleas that live on black rats. Once infected, the patient can only live about 60 - 180 hours.
1.2. Cholera Since its prevalence in the 19th century, cholera has killed tens of millions of people:
First Cholera Pandemic (1817-1824): this disease was formerly concentrated in the Indian subcontinent, started in Bengal then spread throughout India in 1820. It caused 10,000 British soldiers and countless Indians to die in that pandemic. The disease spread as far as China, Indonesia and the Caspian Sea before it ended. The number of deaths in this pandemic on the Indian mainland from 1817 to 1860 was estimated at over 15 million people. And another 23 million people died between 1865 and 1917. The number of similar deaths in Russia during this period is over 2 million. Second Cholera Pandemic (1826-1837): epidemics occurred in Russia, Hungary (cause about 100,000 deaths), in Germany in 1831, in London in 1832 (more than 55,000 people died in England), France, Canada , United States that year, on the Pacific and North American coasts in 1834. It is reported that approximately 150,000 Americans died of cholera between 1832 and 1849.

Third Cholera Pandemic (1846-1860): Russia was the worst-affected country, with more than a million deaths. A two-year outbreak that began in England and Wales in 1848 claimed the lives of 52,000 people. Cholera caused more than 236,000 deaths across Spain in 1854. It also claimed 200,000 lives in Mexico. Fourth Cholera Pandemic (1863-75): This time cholera mainly in Europe and Africa. At least about 30,000 of the 90,000 Mecca pilgrims have fallen victim to the disease. The plague claimed the lives of 90,000 people in Russia in 1866. Also in 1866 there was an outbreak in North America, which killed about 50,000 Americans. Fifth Cholera Pandemic (1881-96): An epidemic of 1883-1887 killed 250,000 people in Europe and at least 50,000 in the Americas. Cholera has claimed the lives of 267,890 people in Russia, 120,000 Spaniards, 90,000 Japanese and 60,000 Persians. In 1892, cholera contaminated Hamburg's water supply and killed 8,606 people. Sixth Cholera Pandemic (1899-1923): This cholera epidemic had little impact in Europe because of the public health advances there. But in Russia, it was hit hard with more than 500,000 deaths in the first quarter of the 20th century. The sixth pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 800,000 Indians. The epidemic of 1902-1904 killed more than 200,000 Filipinos. Seventh Cholera Pandemic (1961-1975): the epidemic started in Indonesia, and was called El Tor after the new virus responsible for the pandemic and reached Bangladesh in 1963, India in 1964 and the Soviet Union in 1966. Since then the pandemic has spread to Africa, South America and Central America. 1.3. Pandemic Influenza Influenza was first described by Doctor Hippocrates in 412 BC.
The first influenza pandemic was recorded in 1580 and since then there has been an influenza pandemic every 10-30 years.

Pandemic flu of 1889 - 1890: also known as Russian flu, was first reported in May 1889 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. By October, the epidemic had spread to Tomsk and the Caucasus. The epidemic quickly spread to the west and hit North America in December 1889, reached South America in February-April 1890, reached India around February-March 1890, and reached Australia in March 1890. 1890. The H3N8 and H2N2 subtypes of influenza A virus were identified as possibly the cause of this epidemic. It has a very high attack and fatality rate, with an estimated 1 million deaths. Spanish Flu (1918-1919): The disease was first identified in early March 1918 during a US military training course at Camp Funston, Kansas. By October 1918, the disease had spread and became a global pandemic on all continents and eventually infected about a third of the world's population, or about 500 million people. It happened irregularly and ended quickly, completely disappearing within 18 months. In just six months, it has killed about 50 million people from it, according to some other estimates, more than double the total number of deaths worldwide. About 17 million Indians died, 675,000 Americans, 200,000 British. The virus that causes the Spanish flu is also considered to be the cause of Lethargica encephalitis in children. Recently, this virus was reconstructed by scientists at the CDC still preserved by the Alaskan permafrost. The H1N1 influenza virus has a small but important structure similar to the Spanish flu. Asian Flu (1957-1958): H2N2 virus was first identified in China at the end of February 1957. It caused about 2 million deaths globally. The Asian flu spread to the United States in June 1957 and resulted in 70,000 deaths in the United States. Hong Kong Flu (1968-1969): an H3N2 influenza virus that was first detected in Hong Kong in early 1968 and spread to the United States later that year. This pandemic has killed about a million people globally. In the United States alone, an estimated 34,000 people die from the disease. The H3N2 influenza virus is still circulating today.

1.4. Typhus Typhus is sometimes referred to as “camp fever” because of its pattern of outbreaks during times of conflict. It is also known as “gaol fever” and “train fever” because it is highly contagious in cramped areas such as prisons and ships. During the war between the Christians of Spain and the Muslims of Granada, the number of Spaniards killed by the war was 3,000, and the number of those who died from typhus reached 20,000.
In 1528, France lost 18,000 soldiers in Y and lost supremacy in Y to the Spaniards also because of this disease. In 1524, about 30,000 soldiers died of typhus while fighting the Ottomans in the Balkans.
During the 30 years of war (1618 - 1648) approximately 8 million Germans died of plague and typhus. Typhus played a major role in the destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armée in Russia in 1812. During the retreat from Moscow, more French soldiers died of typhus than were killed by the Russians. Of the 450,000 soldiers who crossed the Neman on June 25, 1812, fewer than 40,000 returned.
In early 1813, Napoleon mobilized a new army of 500,000 men to replace Russian losses. During that year's campaign, more than 219,000 of Napoleon's soldiers died of typhus. During World War I, typhus epidemics killed more than 150,000 people in Serbia. There were about 25 million infections and 3 million deaths from typhus in Russia between 1918-1922. Typhus was also the cause of death among Soviet prisoners of war during World War II; an estimated 3.5 million Soviet POWs died out of a total of 5.7 million prisoners held by the Nazis. .
1.5. Smallpox Smallpox is an infectious disease caused by the Variola virus. The disease killed about 400,000 Europeans a year by the end of the 18th century. During the 20th century, it was estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300 to 500 million deaths. In the early 1950s, there were an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox worldwide each year. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, in December 1979 the World Health Organization certified smallpox eradication.
To this day, periwinkle is the only infectious disease in humans that has been completely eliminated. And is one of two infectious viruses to be destroyed.

1.6. Measles Historically, measles was a common disease worldwide, because it was highly contagious. In the United States, up to 90% of people are infected with measles by the age of 15. Before the introduction of measles vaccine in 1963, there were about 3-4 million cases of measles each year in the US. Measles is estimated to have killed about 200 million people worldwide over the past 150 years. In 2000 alone, the measles pandemic claimed the lives of about 777,000 people out of a total of 40 million cases worldwide.
Measles is an endemic disease, which means it has been and is continuously present in a community. In 1529 a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of the indigenous population. Measles was the same disease that devastated Mexico, Central America, and the Inca civilization.
1.7. Tuberculosis About one-third of the world's population is currently infected with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes tuberculosis. About 5-10% of these latent viral infections will progress to disease, which, if not treated promptly, will claim the lives of half of these patients.
Every year, around the world about 8 million people get tuberculosis and 2 million people die from the disease. In the 19th century, tuberculosis killed about a portion of adults in Europe. In 1918, one-sixth of all deaths in France were caused by tuberculosis. During the 20th century, an estimated 100 million people died of tuberculosis.
Until now, tuberculosis is still one of the important health problems in developing countries like Vietnam.
1.8. Leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. It is a chronic disease with an incubation period of up to five years.
Historically, leprosy has affected people since 600 BC. Epidemics began to occur in Western Europe around 1000 AD. Countless leprosy hospitals were built during the Middle Ages.

1.9. Malaria Malaria is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. There are about 350-500 million cases of malaria each year. Resistance is occurring with the current classes of antimalarial drugs, with the exception of Artemisinin.
Malaria was once common in most of Europe and North America, where the disease is now under control. Malaria is thought to have contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire. By 1830, malaria had spread to the Pacific Northwest. During the American Civil War, more than 1.2 million people contracted malaria among soldiers on both sides.
1.10. Yellow fever Yellow fever is the source of a number of devastating epidemics. Cities in the north such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston have been hit by this disease. In 1793 there was the largest outbreak of yellow fever in American history, causing about 5,000 deaths in Philadelphia. About half of the residents here have fled the city, including President George Washington.

New strain of corona virus (Covid-19) also known as SARS-COV2, is believed to have originated from Huanan seafood market in downtown Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As of February 21, 2020, more than 76,000 people have been infected and more than 2,000 people have died from this disease. This virus can be transmitted directly from person to person.
The disease has spread to 31 other countries and territories, however the World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet declared it a pandemic. The Coronavirus Emergency Committee was established under the International Health Regulations on January 30, 2020. The World Health Organization has only declared the outbreak an ongoing public health emergency. of international interest.
Customers can directly go to Vinmec Health system nationwide to visit or contact the hotline here for support.
Article referenced source: ancient-origins.net