In the face of the tens of thousands of deaths left by the COVID-19 around the world, people are asking where this virus came from, like a biblical plague, which has spread to more than 180 countries.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Many, especially the young, have never experienced a similar threat. But this is by no means the only pandemic that has hit humanity. Others, more lethal, have wiped entire civilizations off the face of the earth.
THE BLACK DEATH
It is estimated that it leftover 200 million deaths between 1347 and 1351. It became the largest outbreak of plague in the history of Europe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), poor hygiene, poor medicine and poor nutrition, coupled with easy spread through travel on trade routes, are among the main causes of its lethal extent.
It is said that its origin is a variant of the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Among its main symptoms were: fever above 40 degrees, cough, bleeding, acute thirst, blue or black skin spots, the appearance of bumps, which then exploded, and gangrene.
According to current knowledge, the pandemic first broke out in Asia and never again it manifested with the force it did at the time.
THE SMALLPOX
It is considered one of the most devastating diseases that have ever existed in human history. It was so deadly that it even contributed to the decline of entire civilizations. It spread through Asia, Africa and Europe, eventually reaching the Americas during colonization.
For smallpox to spread from one person to another, direct and prolonged contact is required. It can also be transmitted through direct contact with infected body fluids or contaminated objects.
According to the WHO, this pandemic was eradicated in 1979 after a vaccination program that is considered one of the most important victories of modern medicine. But before this, it claimed the lives of 56 million people around the planet.
SPANISH FLU
This is the first pandemic caused by the flu virus, according to experts. It became the third most deadly in human history, leaving between 40 and 50 million deaths in its wake. About 27 percent of the global population was infected. Patient Zero is thought to have been a Kansas City cook, as dozens of cases were reported within hours of his admission, to the point that the hospital collapsed.
Unlike other flu epidemics that basically affect children and the elderly, many of its victims were healthy people with high immune defenses, young people, healthy adults and animals. Among their symptoms were a grayish face, dilated pupils, fever, rapid pulse and extreme exhaustion.
The name of this disease is not due to the fact that it originated in Spain or that it was the country that suffered the most. It was because it was the European nation that gave it the greatest coverage, unlike neighboring countries, which censored the figures for deaths.
HIV/AIDS
Caused by a human immunodeficiency virus, AIDS has killed at least 25 million people worldwide. It originated in primates in Central and West Africa at the beginning of the last century and has been rampant since 1981.
According to WHO, there are currently 37.9 million people infected with HIV worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest-hit region, with 61 percent of new infections coming from there. The virus spreads from person to person through blood, semen, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and breast milk.
THE THIRD PLAGUE
The name refers to this pandemic as the third outbreak of bubonic plague that affected the European society.
The first was the Justinian Plague and the second was the Black Death. It emerged in Yunnan, China. From there, it spread all over the world, although nowhere did it have such a deadly impact as in India, where it caused about 10 million deaths.
The disease is caused by a bacterium usually transmitted by the flea bite of an infected host, often a black rat. This outbreak left 12 million people dead in 1855.
SARS
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ranged from a simple cold to severe pneumonia, caused by a coronavirus, which spread from mammals in China. According to the WHO, out of a total of 8,098 infections, 774 people died.
During the spring of 2009, this virus spread rapidly around the world: the disease spread in the United States and Canada and crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to reach Spain, England and New Zealand.
H1N1 INFLUENZA
Initially, it was believed that H1N1 was originated in Mexico, but with the help of hindsight analysis, it was possible to collect data suggesting that the strain had been in circulation globally for several months before being identified.
It is a virus of porcine origin with two genes of Eurasian lineage, it was qualified as an acute viral disease of the respiratory tract that affected mainly children, young people and middle-aged adults for which more than 18 thousand people died around the world.
Today it circulates as a seasonal influenza virus.
EBOLA
It is an infectious disease caused by a virus that affects humans and primates. Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, severe weakness, and muscle, head and throat pain, followed by vomiting. It left a figure of 28,000 infections and 11,300 deaths.
It spread in December 2013 in Guinea, when a 2-year-old child from the remote village of Meliandou fell ill. Before this case, there were no records of the virus in the country.
The infection occurs through contact with bat droppings or through the consumption of infected bushmeat; it is transmitted from person to person. The virus is spread through sweat, saliva, feces or semen.
