The Age Of Receding Pandemics

Throughout the history, influenza viruses have caused several pandemics or global epidemics, killing many people. For example, the influenza strike in 1918 to 1919 infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, which is one-third of the planet’s population at the time and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people. More than 25 percentage of the U.S. population were affected, and caused 675,000 deaths in U.S during the pandemic.(History, 2015). There were no effective treatments for this type of influenza and no available vaccines can prevent its spread during the period. (History, 2015) U.S government required general population to wear masks and other protective equipments in public areas, and many public places also closed due to the influenza strike. Health care providers tried everything they knew to save people, but none shows any evidence of effects. (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2015). Scientists found out that the influenza virus had invaded their lungs and caused pneumonia, which made so many people died from the pandemic (History,2015). Another influenza strike happened

The Black Death, a horrible pandemic plague that spread through all of Europe, taking 25,000,000 people along with it. In 1347, a mysterious pandemic appeared in the city-states of Italy just as Europe was recovering from famine. The Epidemic did not end until 1351 partly due to the belief of the people that this plague was spread through the air and was gods way of punishing them for their sins. Although this plague killed many people, its effects led life to the way it is today. The three most important effects of the Black Death on Western Europe were the changing relationships between people and the church, the People beginning to express their faith and

As the horrendous experiences of the First World War began to wind down, a new terror emerged in the form of the Spanish Influenza that circumnavigated the world, not once but twice within a two-year period. While the general public commonly remembered experiences of the war in literature, art, prose and memorials, those of the 1918 pandemic were not. Research completed by this author on the subject of German bias during the First World War found little mention of the influenza pandemic in The Burlington Hawk-Eye, the state?s longest continually operating newspaper, published in Burlington, Iowa. However, the Burlington Public Library Board, in its meeting minutes, recommended the

Every year, millions of people start talking about the influenza virus and getting their vaccines as the flu season approaches, which starts around the October-November period and reaches its peak between December and March. Therefore, public health officials around the world- and in the U.S in particular- are constantly challenged by properly preparing for the annual influenza dilemma, given that this viruses, and other respiratory viruses, are a serious health threat to the U.S population and the world as a whole. Furthermore, what makes the influenza virus even more challenging to control is that it can mutate rapidly and reassort to form new strains, having the ability to reside in multiple animal hosts. In fact, many scientists and researchers have been doing in-depth intensive research so as to understand the mechanism behind this unique characteristic of the virus, try to find new ways to control it, and explore different areas of protection and vaccination.

Amongst the devastation and despair the Black Death left in its wake, it also brought with it some much-needed change to the way medieval Europeans were living. Although it ended many innocent lives, it also began a new era of social and economic living. In the years following the first outbreak of the plague, medical knowledge and awareness of hygiene dramatically improved, as did the living and working conditions of the workers. Other benefits included the rapid growth of Europe’s middle class and thus the fall of the feudal system, the loss of the church’s supreme authority, and the increase in economic power for medieval women.

epidemics to childhood ills." (6) It was in this form that diseases were carried to

The book The Great Influenza by John Barry takes us back to arguably one of the greatest medical disasters in human history, the book focuses on the influenza pandemic which took place in the year 1918. The world was at war in the First World War and with everyone preoccupied with happenings in Europe and winning the war, the influenza pandemic struck when the human race was least ready and most distracted by happenings all over the world. In total the influenza pandemic killed over a hundred million people on a global scale, clearly more than most of the deadliest diseases in modern times. John Barry leaves little to imagination in his book as he gives a vivid description of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and exactly how this pandemic affected the human race. The book clearly outlines the human activities that more or less handed the human race to the influenza on a silver platter. “There was a war on, a war we had to win” (Barry, p.337). An element of focus in the book is the political happenings back at the time not only in the United States of America but also all over the world and how politicians playing politics set the way for perhaps the greatest pandemic in human history to massacre millions of people. The book also takes an evaluator look at the available medical installations and technological proficiencies and how the influenza pandemic has affected medicine all over the world.

In August of last year, an adult in Pueblo County, Colorado succumbed to the bubonic plague. The Health Department did not specify who it was, just saying that it was an adult. This was the first case of someone contracting the plague in Pueblo County since 2004. It is thought that the person caught the disease from fleas on a dead animal. According to the CDC, about seven people every year contract the plague in the United States.

Diseases can be preventable and curable but many still manage to devastate on international scales, whether it was during the Middle Ages or today. These illnesses are sometimes underrated in their effects on the human race where symptoms can range from minimal to down-right devastating and painful. No matter where it started, they can bring devastating effects to the surrounding area. When someone wants to know about a disease, they want to know where it came from, it's symptoms, and how it affected the community in which it appeared. The Black Death, Ebola, and the Zika virus are examples of large-scale illnesses that vary in all three of these topics but still managed to threaten humans on a bigger scale than expected. Diseases like the

Close your eyes and imagine a world full of a black cloud of sickness. People no longer have any hope or want in being equal. People are turning on each other and parents even deny their own children. This would soon become a reality if the plague were to come to America now. There would be so much contention and the morals around the world would decrease. There will no longer be a love for other people and people would only act for themselves.We would act even worse than the horrible way that the people acted in the middle ages.We would be very immoral and we might take joy in the pain of others. This would be the most immoral action that we could take. If the black plague hit the world today we would never be the same. Even if we lost our connection with people we would also become crazy. The plague would affect the world today as we know it for the worse.

In the book, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, John Barry discusses the 1918 influenza pandemic. In the prologue, Paul Lewis, a physician who spent most of his time in the laboratory, was introduced. He had encountered the disease only once, but he had seen the devastating affects it had on the human body and this was enough impetus for him to try to end this virus. After the prologue, Barry shifts the topic to medicine in America (this was my favorite part of the book). Admission into medical school wasn’t based on academic scholarship or merit; instead, it was based on whether the applicant could pay the tuition. So William Henry Welch established the John Hopkins School of Medicine, a school that would

The 1918 Flu Pandemic was a disaster because it was the deadliest in modern history. This disease killed many people. In fact, more U.S. soldiers in WWI died of the flu rather than in battle. The virus was profoundly contagious back in 1918. It was a virus that besieged the respiratory system. Meaning that if anyone who had the flu coughed or sneezed and an uninfected person inhaled it, they would catch it as well.

Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new

With the introduction of agricultural and the rise of the Industrial Revolution, living standards have been elevated, while epidemics and famine have been diminished (prb.org). Ever since the 18th century, the human race has only continued to make improvements. For example, in the medical field. The creation of vaccines, medicine, and an increased knowledge of the spread of diseases have all helped to eliminate common causes of death, leading to overpopulation. Not only is overpopulation caused by an accelerated number of births, but it is also due to a decrease in the number of deaths, with 360,000 people are being born every day and only 151,600 deaths a day

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.