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Home , Antonine Plague, Great Plague of London, Plague of Cyprian, Third plague pandemic

JNROnline Journal Journal of Natural Remedies ISSN: 2320-3358 (e) Vol. 21, No. 3, (2020), pp.100-105 ISSN: 0972-5547 (p)

TRACKING THE CHRONOLOGY OF AND Arul Vallarasi. S Guest Lecturer, SOEL, The Tamilnadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai. and Dr. Regi, S Assistant Professor of History, Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Nagercoil.

ABSTRACT As human spread across the world, infectious and contagious diseases are inevitable. Even from the prehistoric era there were some evidences for the occurrence of epidemics and pandemics. In the modern era, the fastest developments in transport and science and technologies transformed the world into a global village. Therefore, there are constant outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics in the modern era. Covid-19 is one such . In this situation the researchers have taken a step to narrate the occurrence of important or deadly pandemics of the world on a chronological basis. Though there were references of the occurrence of pandemics in the pre-historic era, stress has been given to the pandemics from 1 A.D. onwards.

Key words: Epidemics, pandemics, virus, bacteria, out-break, pathogen, China, flu, plague, and .

I. INTRODUCTION An outbreak of a disease at a larger scale in a particular region is called as . If it spreads to a larger area it is known as pandemic. If a disease is a communicable disease then only it will become an epidemic or pandemic. In the there were records of occurrences of pandemics. The spread of pandemic has happened in many phases. Most of the times epidemics or pandemics occurred because of the transmission of the pathogen, disease causing virus or bacteria, from animals to human. When the pathogen spreads from human to human it becomes an outbreak. When it spreads to many people and confined in a same community or a particular locality it becomes an epidemic. When it spreads to larger area or a larger community, it would be called as pandemic. In the written history of the human past there were many references of the occurrence of epidemics and pandemics. In this article we are going to learn about the chronological occurrences of the epidemics and pandemics as it was referred in the chronicles of the world.

1. Prehistoric Epidemic of China: Circa 3000 B.C. The first ever known epidemic was the prehistoric epidemic of 3000 B.C. It was considered that it affected China. It was said so that there were lots of bones found in an archeological site at Hamin Mangha in northeastern China. Another archeological site named Miaozigou is also excavated with mass . This proved that there might be an epidemic which devastated the entire north eastern part of China. 2. Ancient Plagues and other epidemics The most threatening word in the history of epidemics and pandemics was plague. In Greek plague means strike or blow. The disastrous disease of plague was caused by a bacteria called as Yersinia pestis. There are three forms of plagues they are pneumonic, septicemic and bubonic. Apart from plague was also considered as a life threatening epidemic during the ancient times. With the invention of the vaccination for smallpox this greater health menace was eradicated. 2.1. : 430 B.C.

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During the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta in 430 B.C. an epidemic ravaged the people of Athens. It last for five years. Thucydides, the famous Greek historian mentioned about this epidemic in his work, “The History of Peloponnesian War”. 2.2. : 165- 180 A.D. The Antonine Plague which was expected to have killed over 5 million people in the lasted for 15 years from 165- 180 A.D. It was believed that it was brought by the soldiers who came home victorious after a war against Parthia. The cause of Antonine Plague was thought to be small pox or . It occurred during the reign of . The Plague is believed to be destroyed as much as one third of the population in the Roman Empire and devastated the Roman Army. Obviously this led to the weakening of the economic and military supremacy of the Roman Empire. As a result it paved the way for the end of the Roman Empire itself. 2.3. : 250- 271 A.D. Another plague affected the people of in 250-251 was the Plague of Cyprian. The writings of St. Cyprian and the archaeological findings at Luxor in Italy describe about this plague. 2.4. : 541- 542 A. D. The next important plague was the plague of Justinian. It was a real plague (Since it is having proper records to say about its causes and effects, it is known as “Real Plague”) pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacteria. It was a . It devastated more than 30 million lives in the during the reign of Justinian the Great. It ravaged the whole Byzantine Empire. Therefore, with the demise of Justinian, the Empire also collapsed. 2.5. Japanese smallpox epidemic: 735- 737 A. D. The Japanese smallpox epidemic which was occurred from 735 to 737 was a major health thread that affected most regions of Japan. Killing approximately 1/3 of the then entire Japanese population, this smallpox the epidemic had significant social, economic, and religious impacts throughout the country. 2.6. : 1346-1353 A. D. Another most the deadliest bubonic plague of yester years was the Black Death. It was originated in China, travelled through the Silk Route to Minor and . It was there in Europe for five years from 1347 to 1351 and devastated more than 50% of the population of the European Continent at that time. It was reported that more than 200 million people were died because of this deadly disease. It is the deadliest pandemic in the history of human. It was also caused because of a bacterium Yersinia pestis. The blessing in disguise of this pandemic was that, it speed up the technological innovations.

3. Epidemics of the New World The New World or the American continent was also not an exception for the spread of epidemics and pandemics. It had a history of epidemics soon after its discovery in 1492. 3.1. Smallpox: 1520 A. D. Till the arrival of Europeans smallpox was an unknown disease to the New World. The smallpox pandemic which erupted in Mexico in 1520 resulted in the downfall of Aztec Empire. It was estimated that the mortality rate ranged from one-quarter to one-half of the population of central Mexico. 3.2. Cocoliztli epidemic: 1545 – 1642 A. D. The deadliest epidemic which devastated the Mexico & Central America was known as Cocoliztli epidemic. Cocoliztli means pest in Aztec language. This was a which killed more than 50 million people in the New World. Some studies estimated that 90% of the indigenous population of the western hemisphere, that belong to the Aztec and Inca civilizations was disappeared because of these Smallpox and Cocoliztli epidemics. Since it weakened the military of the Aztec and Inca, the Europeans particularly the Spanish, the British, the French and the Portuguese annexed the new world. 3.3. Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: 1793

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A yellow fever epidemic had broken out after the American War of Independence at Philadelphia, the then capital of the of America. It was carried and transmitted by mosquitoes

4. Cholera: 1817- 1923 A.D. The word cholera is originated from Greek: kholera which means "bile". Cholera is caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae. Cholera is likely to have its origins in the Indian subcontinent. It was evidenced for centuries. There were seven cholera pandemics had occurred in the past 200 years. The first cholera pandemic occurred in the Bengal Province of , in 1817. It lased till 1824. The disease spread from India to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Eastern Africa because of British Indian Army which carries the diseased persons. The second cholera pandemic lasted from 1826 to 1837. It affected North America and Europe. The third pandemic started in 1846 and lasted till 1860. It affected North Africa and reached up- to South America. The fourth pandemic erupted in India in the year 1863 spread up-to Europe. It came to an end in the year 1875. The fifth cholera pandemic was persisted from 1881 to 1896. This was also started in India and spread to Europe, Asia, and South America. The sixth pandemic started in 1899 and lasted until 1923. It affected Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, India, and the Philippines. The last and the seventh pandemic originated in 1961 in Indonesia. It was marked that it was caused by the new strain of Vibrio cholera. Therefore, it was named as El Tor. It is said that the new strain of the bacteria is still alive in the developing countries.

5. European Plagues During the medieval period the European continent faced many devastating epidemics and pandemics especially plagues. Most of these medieval plagues were the continuation of the Black Death or the bubonic plague of the 14th century. Therefore they are known as the second and third wave of the Black Death. Various plagues which had affected Europe during the 17th century to the 18th century are listed here. 5.1. Great Plague of Milan: 1629 – 1631 A. D.

The Italian Plague which erupted in 1629 and lasted till 1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague. This Italian Plague otherwise known as the Great Plague of Milan ravaged northern and central Italy. This epidemic claimed possibly one million lives, or about 25% of the population of Italy. It had contributed to the decline of Italy's economy in a greater manner.

5.2. Great Plague of : 1665 A. D. During the reign of Charles II there was a plague occurred in London and it washed away 15% of the population of the itself. It was happened in the year 1665. 5.3. Great Plague of Marseille: 1720 - 1723 A. D. In 1720-1723 another plague occurred in the city of Marseille in . It was estimated that 30% of the city population perished because of this plague. 5.4. Russian Plague: 1770 A. D. Just fifty years after this, in 1770, there occurred a plague in Russia. The Empress Catherine II who was the crown of that time took hasty measures to eradicate this menace. With her severe efforts the plague was controlled in 1772 with the total death toll of 100,000 people.

6. Third Plague: 1855 – 1945 A.D. This plague is known as third plague because it being the third major bubonic plague outbreak to affect European society. The first was the Plague of Justinian, which ravaged the Byzantine Empire in 541 and 542. It persisted in consecutive waves until the middle of the 8th century. The second plague was the Black Death. It killed nearly half of Europe's population in a series of expanding waves of infection from 1346 to the end of the 18th century.

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The was a major bubonic plague caused by Yersinia pestis. This pandemic was begun in , China, in 1855. This bubonic plague spread to all through the world. Ultimately it led to more than 12 million deaths in India and China alone. Casualty patterns show that the third plague persisted between the later part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century had two waves and two forms. The first was primarily bubonic and was carried around the world through ocean-going trade. It was transmitted through transporting diseased persons, and cargoes. The second, more dangerous strain was primarily pneumonic in character. It had a virulent person-to-person contagion. This strain was largely confined to Asia. 7. Flu Pandemic During and after 19th century, flu became the most spreading epidemic and pandemic of the world. It is believed that the causes for the occurrence of this flu might be the rapid urbanization and industrialization. Further the developments in the transport sector also paved the way for the speedy transmission of the diseases. Important among the flu are the Russian Flu, , Asian Flu Flu, Swine Flu, SARS, MERS and Covid-19 and so on. 7.1. Russian Flu: 1889 – 1890 A.D. The Russian flu which occurred in Russia from 1889-1890 believed to be caused by the H2N2 virus taken away the life of one million people. 7.2. Spanish Flu: 1918-1920 A.D. The Spanish flu which is considered as the deadliest among the flu broke out during the closure of the I World War. It lasted from 1918 to 1920. It was caused because of a strain of H1N1 virus. It had two waves. The second wave was worse than the first wave. Many notable personalities lost their life due to this. Though it is known as Spanish flu it spread across the globe and killed 40-50 million people. Despite its immense effect on the globe, this Spanish flu started to fade away quickly. Therefore it was known as forgotten pandemic. 7.3. Asian Flu: 1957- 1958 A.D. Asian flu affected mostly the people of Asia and the United States during 1957-1958. Originated from China it claimed more than one million lives. The virus caused this flu is H2N2 virus or avian flu virus. 7.4. : 1968- 1970 A.D. Hong Kong flu which lasted from 1968 to 1970 was caused by H3N2 virus. This was seen as the continuation of Asian flu.

8. AIDS: 1981 – present Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in short AIDS is the deadliest pandemic of modern era. It is caused because of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It was at first diagnosed in 1981. Since then it has claimed nearly 35 million lives.

9. Pandemics of New Millennium The most important pandemic of 21st century are SARS, Swine flu, , MERS, Zika and the present Covid-19 pandemics 9.1. SARS: 2002 – 2004 A.D. The first ever pandemic of new millennium was SARS- Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome, caused by corona virus. It affected the Asian countries like Singapore and China. Totally 770 people died because of this pandemic. 9.2. Swine Flu: 2009 – present The next was Swine Flu. It was caused by the H1N1 virus. Though it was on its peak during 2009- 2010, it is alive even now. Every now and then it visits the places around the globe. The reported death toll of this pandemic was 200,000. 9.3. Ebola Epidemic: 2014 – 2016 A.D. Next was the Ebola epidemic which attacked the West African countries during 2014- 2016. It is also alive till today. It was caused by the Ebola virus.

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9.4. MERS: 2015 – present Another version of SARS is MERS, MERS means Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. This is alive from 2015 to till date. This is caused by the corona virus. 9.5. Zika Epidemic: 2015 – present Another Epidemic which was alive till today from 2015 is Zika virus. It attacked the South and Central American Countries. 9.6. Covid-19 : 2019 – present The present pandemic is the deadliest pandemic of the 21st century. It is also caused by the corona virus. It affected almost all the countries around the globe. Though it was identified in China in November 2019 it collapsed the total Europe during the months of March and April. It is shaking the New World and the Asian countries even today. Thus so many epidemics and pandemics occurred throughout the history of the world. However, humanity did not perish with them. Though many people died, the humanity had come up with new enthusiasm and efforts. The deadliest and the most dangerous pandemics like Black Death and Spanish Flu were faded away and humanity survives. Even AIDS is not having much influence on humans now a day. So the human beings should not give up their hopes. If we have a comparative analysis of the pandemics through the ages, in most cases the death rate is diminishing except one or two. Table 1 Name Time period Type / Pre-human host Death toll

Antonine Plague 165-180 Believed to be either smallpox 5M or measles Plague of Justinian 541-542 Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, 30-50M Japanese smallpox 735-737 Variola major virus 1M epidemic Black Death 1347-1351 Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, 200M fleas New World Smallpox 1520 – onwards Variola major virus 56M Outbreak Italian plague 1629-1631 Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, 1M fleas Great Plague of 1665 Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, 100,000 London fleas Cholera Pandemics 1-6 1817-1923 V. cholerae bacteria 1M+ Third Plague 1885 Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, 12M (China fleas and India) Yellow Fever Late 1800s Virus / Mosquitoes 100,000- 150,000 (U.S.) Russian Flu 1889-1890 Believed to be H2N2 (avian 1M origin) Spanish Flu 1918-1919 H1N1 virus / Pigs 40-50M Asian Flu 1957-1958 H2N2 virus 1.1M Hong Kong Flu 1968-1970 H3N2 virus 1M HIV/AIDS 1981-present Virus / Chimpanzees 25-35M Swine Flu 2009-2010 H1N1 virus / Pigs 200,000 SARS 2002-2003 Corona virus / Bats, Civets 770 Ebola 2014-2016 Ebola virus / Wild animals 11,000

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MERS 2015-Present Corona virus / Bats, camels 850 COVID-19 2019-Present Corona virus – Unknown 570K ( as on (possibly pangolins) 13 July 2020) Source: LePan, Nicholas. “Visualizing the History of Pandemics.” Visualcapitalist, 14 March 2020, www.visualcapitalist.com /history-of-pandemics-deadliest Note: Many of the death toll numbers listed above are best estimates based on available research. However, they are subject to debate based on new evidence. Further, if the occurrence of epidemics and pandemics is divided into two having the 19th century as a divider the 1st part or first half was filled up with Cholera, Plague and so on which would be a result of war or other happenings. However, the second part or second half is filled with flu which would be the result of rapid urbanization and industrialization, though the transmitting cause might be the animals like rats, pigs and mosquitoes and so on.

II. CONCLUSION Therefore it is evident that unhygienic environments and pollution are the cause for the rapid spreading of the pandemics. Further, developments in transport and information technology made the world as a global village. Obviously spreading of contagious diseases is inevitable. However the human beings should develop a positive attitude that pandemics may come and go but humanity should be alive.

REFERENCES 1. Echenberg, Myron. Africa in the Time of Cholera: A History of Pandemics from 1817 to the Present. Vol. 114. Cambridge University Press, 2011. 2. Hays, Jo N. Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history. Abc-clio, 2005 3. Little, Lester K., ed. Plague and the end of antiquity: the pandemic of 541-750. Cambridge University Press, 2007. 4. Guiyoule, Annie, et al. "Plague pandemics investigated by ribotyping of Yersinia pestis strains." Journal of Clinical Microbiology 32.3 (1994): 634-641. 5. Potter, Christopher W. "A history of influenza." Journal of applied microbiology 91.4 (2001): 572-579. 6. Saunders-Hastings, Patrick R., and Daniel Krewski. "Reviewing the history of pandemic influenza: understanding patterns of emergence and transmission." Pathogens 5.4 (2016): 66. 7. Andrews, Evan. “6 Devastating Plagues.” History, A&E Television Networks, August 22, 2018, www.history.com/news/6-devastating-plagues 8. History.com Editors. “Pandemics That Changed History.” History, A&E Television Networks, 19 May 2020, www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/pandemics-timeline 9. History.com Editors. “Spanish Flu.” History, A&E Television Networks, 19 May 2020, www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic

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