Humans have fallen prey to deadly diseases much easier than expected. With the advancement of science, we’ve won some battles but clearly not the war; and as experience shows, we’re waiting for the next animal...
Perhaps the most lethal but less talked about weapon of mass destruction is emergence and re-emergence of deadly epidemics and endemics. History clearly proves that epidemics have wreaked more havoc in this world than wars; and not just in terms of the death count.
To begin with, who can forget the Spanish flu? Well, we all can! In fact, our guess is nobody even remembers the fact that this influenza strain brought disaster to Europe in 1918, and wiped out 5.5% of the global population – a 100 million people across the globe died at a time when the population of the world was merely 1,800 million. More than 900 million caught the flu. The flu had a far greater impact than World War I, where total deaths were estimated to be 15 million. In just 18 months if the flu’s existence, it killed about 650,000 Americans, 450,000 Russians, 375,000 Italians, 228,000 British, 500,000 Mexicans, 44,000 Canadians and many millions more in the Asian subcontinent. Considering its severity, it has been named as the most lethal recorded epidemic in human history. And a majority of civilians today have no idea about it.
Many other epidemics have occurred in history. The major plague ran during 1855-1896 worldwide, but mostly in China and India, wherein more than 12 million died. Likewise, endemics like cholera took millions of lives and reemerged on a global scale eight times: during 1817-1823, 1829-1851, 1852-1859, 1863-1879, 1881-1896, 1899-1923, 1961-1970, and from 1991 to the present. And it kills more efficiently than flu. For example, over 20,500 of 30,000 people affected died in Egypt during 1947.
The Asian flu too took 2 million lives worldwide in 1957. Although most Americans had lived through the typhoid and small pox epidemics of 1876 and 1890, its debilitating effects, and those of yellow fever and diphtheria, are still well within living memory across the world.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
Perhaps the most lethal but less talked about weapon of mass destruction is emergence and re-emergence of deadly epidemics and endemics. History clearly proves that epidemics have wreaked more havoc in this world than wars; and not just in terms of the death count.
To begin with, who can forget the Spanish flu? Well, we all can! In fact, our guess is nobody even remembers the fact that this influenza strain brought disaster to Europe in 1918, and wiped out 5.5% of the global population – a 100 million people across the globe died at a time when the population of the world was merely 1,800 million. More than 900 million caught the flu. The flu had a far greater impact than World War I, where total deaths were estimated to be 15 million. In just 18 months if the flu’s existence, it killed about 650,000 Americans, 450,000 Russians, 375,000 Italians, 228,000 British, 500,000 Mexicans, 44,000 Canadians and many millions more in the Asian subcontinent. Considering its severity, it has been named as the most lethal recorded epidemic in human history. And a majority of civilians today have no idea about it.
Many other epidemics have occurred in history. The major plague ran during 1855-1896 worldwide, but mostly in China and India, wherein more than 12 million died. Likewise, endemics like cholera took millions of lives and reemerged on a global scale eight times: during 1817-1823, 1829-1851, 1852-1859, 1863-1879, 1881-1896, 1899-1923, 1961-1970, and from 1991 to the present. And it kills more efficiently than flu. For example, over 20,500 of 30,000 people affected died in Egypt during 1947.
The Asian flu too took 2 million lives worldwide in 1957. Although most Americans had lived through the typhoid and small pox epidemics of 1876 and 1890, its debilitating effects, and those of yellow fever and diphtheria, are still well within living memory across the world.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
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