IMPACT OF PANDEMICS ON TRIBAL CULTURE OF ODISHA : With Special Reference to COVID –19 IMPACT OF PANDEMICS ON TRIBAL CULTURE OF ODISHA: With Special Reference to COVID - 19 I HISTORY OF EPIDEMICS occurrence. It is a sudden, severe AND PANDEMICS IN widespread outbreak of a disease pre- INDIA existing in the community. India, being a third-world country, has Pandemics, on the other hand, refer to encountered a variety of epidemics the worldwide spread of diseases. and pandemics through time. Several These are the global health problems accounts of influenza, cholera, that need to be addressed and treated dengue, smallpox and several others viciously along with proper measures have been recorded throughout to avoid transmission to other history; while we have been able to countries. There have been a eradicate some; many diseases still significant number of pandemics continue to pose a threat to the throughout history and in many community. It is not uncommon for instances; their control had been sudden and rapid outbreaks to occur difficult because of the lack of a in India and many articles direct the proper, working global surveillance cause for this in such developing system3 . As far as India is concerned, countries being malnutrition, lack of there have been only two major, sanitation and lack of a proper public significant pandemics throughout health system (Rice et.al, 20001 , John, history. While cholera had been et.al 2). Epidemics is an unusual predominant throughout the 19th occurrence in a community or region century with increasing death tolls of disease, specific health related every year, the influenza pandemic behaviour or other health-related came later on in the early 20th events clearly in excess of expected century4 5. The influenza pandemic 1 Rice AL, Sacco L, Hyder A, Black RE. 2000. Malnutrition as an underlying cause of childhood deaths associated with infectious diseases in developing countries. Bulletin of the World Health organization. 2000; 78:1207-21. 2 John TJ, Dandona L, Sharma VP, Kakkar M. 2011. Continuing challenge of infectious diseases in India. The Lancet. 2011;15; 377(9761):252-69. 3 Hughes JM, Wilson ME, Pike BL, Saylors KE, Fair JN, LeBreton M, Tamoufe U, Djoko CF, Rimoin AW, Wolfe ND. The origin and prevention of pandemics. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2010 Jun15; 50(12):1636-40 4 Ramamurthy T, Sharma NC. Cholera outbreaks in India. In Cholera Outbreaks 2014 (pp. 49- 85). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 5 Mills, Ian D. “The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic-the Indian experience.” The Indian Economic & Social History Review23.1 (1986):1-40. IMPACT OF PANDEMICS ON TRIBAL CULTURE OF ODISHA : With Special Reference to COVID-19 3 was short but devastating and after a started in 1976 with Ebola, which long time, quite recently, came yet ravaged West Africa and killed 13,500 another flu pandemic by the H1N1 people; the Nipah virus of 1998 with strain6 a 78% fatality; and then the Coronaviruses of the last 20 years: th Before the 20 century, the plague SARS of 2002, which spread to 29 caused by rats was the recurring countries with 774 deaths; MERS in pandemic (there had been other 2012 that spread to 28 countries pandemics though like cholera and resulting in 858 deaths; and of course small pox). There had been three big COVID-19, the pandemic that has plague pandemics, the last being in the devastated the world more than th late 19 century. And rats were seen anyone in this world today. The as responsible for the plague and they coronaviruses are also contagious had spread it by travelling on ships. viruses causing respiratory diseases Two small articles by Sujit Mahapatra like the flu. In fact, the Centers for on 20th April7 and 25th April8 provides Disease Control and Prevention a glimpse of the history of Pandemics (CDC) of the US estimates, three and the carriers all over the world. quarters of new or emerging diseases In the last 100 years, flu became the that infect humans originate in new plague. Although the first animals. influenza epidemic is recorded in the Scientists discovered the bat origins of th 16 century, the flu became pandemic certain viruses after the outbreak of from the time of the 1889-90 flu, now SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory called the Russian flu. The Spanish Flu Syndrome in 2003. It was discovered of 1918-19 was the most damaging as that bats contain hundreds of other it infected a third of the entire coronaviruses, a group of related population of the world with more viruses causing respiratory ailments people dying from it than from World ranging from harmless ones like the War 1. Then followed the Asian Flu common cold to MERS that had a of 1957-58, the Hong Kong Flu of 1968- fatality rate of 34%. As they grow, 69 and, more recently, the Swine Flu (COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus or of 2009-10, which ended up infecting a new strain of the virus), the different more than a billion people and killing strains infect bats, which seem to be a few lakhs. co-evolving with the viruses. Hence, In the last 50 years, there has been bats have powerful immune systems another interesting pattern: and do not fall sick. But when these pandemics originating in bats. It viruses jump from them to other 6 Mishra B. 2015 resurgence of influenza a (H1N1) 09: Smouldering pandemic in India?. Journal of global infectious diseases. 2015;7(2):56 7 https://odishabytes.com/pandemics-in-history-shipping-the-virus/ 8 https://odishabytes.com/pandemics-in-history-2-rats-and-the-plague/ 4 IMPACT OF PANDEMICS ON TRIBAL CULTURE OF ODISHA : With Special Reference to COVID-19 species such as a civet or a pangolin The 21st century pandemics such as or a human, the result can be deadly, SARS and MERS unlike the plague as we see now. were not spread by rats or rat flea, and air travel played a significant role in It seems, Ships have always played a the transport of infectious diseases. At significant role in pandemics in the same time, COVID-19 has brought history. After all, as many of us now the attention back to ships as they know, the word ‘quarantine’, was first accounted for the first horror story of used in the 14th century for ships that the epidemic outside China. were made to wait for 40 days outside Venice before passengers were 1.1 THE 19th CENTURY allowed to disembark. This is because PANDEMICS the bubonic plague, which had wiped First Cholera Pandemic (1817) out about a third of Europe and a much of Asia, was supposed to have This is considered to be the first major a 37-day period from infection to epidemic of the 19th century in British- death. Hence, it was assumed that colonized India and was described as anyone healthy after 40 days was safe probably the most terrifying of all9. It from infecting others. is believed that the year 1817 had brought a very heavy rainfall leading Ships have historically been seen as to flooding which could have been the the transporters of pandemics, when cause for such a rapid spread10. While diseases travel across geographies as the Europeans living in India then and they have been used for international the elite were not seriously affected, trade. The voyages of Christopher the slum dwellers and people in rural Columbus and others led to poverty were hit the worst11. This was decimation of entire indigenous probably due to the differences in populations in the Americas with the living conditions, personal hygiene spread of small pox, measles and the and practices. plague, which were foreign to the natives. This story continued till the Second Cholera Pandemic (1829) 20th century with most pandemics. That is because the ships carried the The second outbreak started around rats that carried the plague. Therefore, 1826 from Bengal and spread through elaborate protocols were followed the rivers to various parts of northern earlier to ensure that ships were rid of India. After affecting the United rats. Provinces (UP), its impact was huge 9 Arnold, David. 1986. ‘Cholera and colonialism in British India’ Past & Present. 113:118- 151. 10 Collins, A. E. “The geography of cholera.” Cholera and the Ecology of Vibrio cholerae. Springer, Dordrecht, 1996. 255-294. 11 Pollitzer R, Swaroop S, Burrows W. History of the disease. Cholera. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.1959:11-50. IMPACT OF PANDEMICS ON TRIBAL CULTURE OF ODISHA : With Special Reference to COVID-19 5 on areas around Punjab and Delhi but agreed that it was from Mecca that the most significant is its pandemic infection spread to several countries16 spread to countries like China12 13. 17 . The Kumbh Mela at Hardwar in Cholera spread far and wide, all along April 1867 has been considered to be the trade routes from China affecting responsible for the epidemic spread several cities and villages alike. In each of cholera in northern India18. The place, it lasted for a few weeks and Madras Presidency in 1877 was the killed hundreds of people every day14. worst hit and the cholera epidemic was responsible for about 10% of the Third Cholera Pandemic (1852) annual mortality then19. The third cholera pandemic started Fifth Cholera Pandemic (1881) around 1852 and lasted till the late 1860s. It is significant in history The fifth cholera pandemic was because of its spread to countries that considerably less fatal as compared to were until then not affected. Though the previous four. It was during this India was not its major area of pandemic (1881-1869) that Robert impact, in the later phase of Koch proved that cholera was pandemic, small spurts of cases were transmitted through the fecal-oral noted in Bengal.