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 EPIDEMICS AND PANDEMICS 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 pandemic. 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 Yersinia pestis. I. INTRODUCTION An outbreak of a disease at a larger scale in a particular region is called as epidemic. 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 human history 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 burial. 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 smallpox 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. Plague of Athens: 430 B.C. 100 Journal of Natural Remedies Vol. 21, No. 3, (2020) 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. Antonine Plague: 165- 180 A.D. The Antonine Plague which was expected to have killed over 5 million people in the Roman Empire 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 measles. It occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. 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. Plague of Cyprian: 250- 271 A.D. Another plague affected the people of Rome 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. Plague of Justinian: 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 bubonic plague. It devastated more than 30 million lives in the Byzantine Empire 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. Black Death: 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 Asia Minor and Europe. 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 viral hemorrhagic fever 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 101 Journal of Natural Remedies Vol. 21, No. 3, (2020) A yellow fever epidemic had broken out after the American War of Independence at Philadelphia, the then capital of the United States 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 India, 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.