5/27/2020 Pandemic In Spanish
In the first year of the pandemic, the average life expectancy in the United States had already dropped by 12 years. The source of the Spanish Flu virus is not as easily traceable as the coronavirus. Mar 15, 2020 CANTON The most severe pandemic to hit Stark County was the flu of 1918 and early 1919, which sickened thousands and killed at least 463 people. Known at the time as 'Spanish.
![]()
The resulted in dramatic mortality worldwide.A pandemic (from πᾶν, pan, 'all' and δῆμος, demos, 'people') is an of that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple, or worldwide. A widespread disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected people such as recurrences of are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide.Throughout history, there have been a number of pandemics of diseases such as. One of the most devastating pandemics was the (also known as The Plague), which killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century. Other notable pandemics include the (Spanish flu) and the. Current pandemics include and the. The goals of community mitigation: (1) delay outbreak peak; (2) reduce peak burden on healthcare, known as flattening the curve; and (3) diminish overall cases and health impact.The basic strategies in the control of an outbreak are containment and mitigation.
Containment may be undertaken in the early stages of the outbreak, including and isolating infected individuals to stop the disease from spreading to the rest of the population, other public health interventions on infection control, and therapeutic countermeasures such as which may be effective if available. When it becomes apparent that it is no longer possible to contain the spread of the disease, management will then move on to the mitigation stage, in which measures are taken to slow the spread of the disease and mitigate its effects on society and the healthcare system. In reality, containment and mitigation measures may be undertaken simultaneously.A key part of managing an infectious disease outbreak is trying to decrease the epidemic peak, known as 'flattening the epidemic curve'. This helps decrease the risk of health services being overwhelmed, and provides more time for a vaccine and treatment to be developed.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions may be taken to manage the outbreak. In a flu pandemic, these actions may include: personal preventive measures such as hand hygiene, wearing face-masks, and self-quarantine; community measures aimed at such as closing schools and cancelling mass gatherings; community engagement to encourage acceptance and participation in such interventions; and environmental measures such as cleaning of surfaces.Another strategy, suppression, requires more extreme long-term non-pharmaceutical interventions so as to reverse the pandemic by reducing the to less than 1. The suppression strategy, which includes stringent population-wide social distancing, home isolation of cases, and household quarantine, was undertaken by China during the where entire cities were placed under lockdown, but such strategy carries with it considerable social and economic costs. Current pandemics HIV/AIDS. Estimated HIV/AIDS prevalence among young adults (15-49) by country as of 2008originated in Africa, and spread to the United States via Haiti between 1966 and 1972. Is currently a pandemic, with infection rates as high as 25% in southern and eastern Africa.
In 2006, the HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in was 29%. Effective education about safer sexual practices and precautions training have helped to slow down infection rates in several African countries sponsoring national education programs. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). People queueing outside a pharmacy to buy face masks and medical suppliesA which originated in, province, in late December 2019, has caused a cluster of cases of an acute respiratory disease, which is referred to as (COVID-19). According to media reports, more than 200 countries and territories have been affected by COVID-19, because major outbreaks of the disease have occurred in the,. On 11 March 2020, the characterized the spread of COVID-19 as a. As of 7 April 2020, the number of people infected with COVID-19 reached 1.34 million worldwide, the death toll was 74,808 and the number of patients recovered was 286,655.
Notable outbreaks. See also:, andIn human, it is generally such as and tuberculosis, which constitute most of the widespread outbreaks, coming about as a result of the of animals. There have been a number of particularly significant epidemics that deserve mention above the 'mere' destruction of cities:., from 430 to 426 BCE. During the, killed a quarter of the Athenian troops, and a quarter of the population over four years.
This disease fatally weakened the dominance of, but the sheer virulence of the disease prevented its wider spread; i.e. It killed off its hosts at a rate faster than they could spread it. The exact cause of the plague was unknown for many years. In January 2006, researchers from the analyzed recovered from a underneath the city, and confirmed the presence of responsible for typhoid.
Contemporary engraving of Marseille during the in 1720–1721., from 165 to 180 AD. Possibly smallpox brought to the Italian peninsula by soldiers returning from the Near East; it killed a quarter of those infected, and up to five million in all. At the height of a second outbreak, the (251–266), which may have been the same disease, 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in., from 541 to 750, was the first recorded outbreak of the. It started in, and reached the following spring, killing (according to the Byzantine chronicler ) 10,000 a day at its height, and perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants.
The plague went on to eliminate a quarter to half the of the known world. It caused to drop by around 50% between 550 AD and 700 AD., from 1331 to 1353.
The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 to 200 million people. Eight hundred years after the last outbreak, the returned to. Starting in, the disease reached Mediterranean and western Europe in 1348 (possibly from Italian merchants fleeing fighting in ), and killed an estimated 20 to 30 million Europeans in six years; a third of the total population, and up to a half in the worst-affected urban areas. It was the first of a cycle of European that continued until the 18th century.
There were more than 100 plague epidemics in Europe in this period. The disease recurred in England every two to five years from 1361 to 1480. By the 1370s, England's population was reduced by 50%. The of 1665–66 was the last major outbreak of the. The disease killed approximately 100,000 people, 20% of London's population.
The started in China in 1855, and spread to India, where 10 million people died. During this pandemic, the United States saw its first outbreak: the. Today, isolated cases of plague are still found in the western United States., from 1918 to 1920. It infected 500 million people around the world, including people on remote and in the, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million people. Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, with higher survival rate for those in between, but the Spanish flu had an unusually high mortality rate for young adults.
Spanish flu killed more people than did and it killed more people in 25 weeks than AIDS did in its first 25 years. Mass troop movements and close quarters during World War I caused it to spread and faster; the susceptibility of soldiers to Spanish flu might have been increased due to stress,.
![]()
Improved transportation systems made it easier for soldiers, sailors, and civilian travelers to spread the disease. Aztecs dying of smallpox, (compiled 1540–1585)Encounters between European explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced epidemics of extraordinary virulence. Disease killed part of the native population of the in the 16th century. Half the native population of in 1518 was killed by smallpox. Also ravaged in the 1520s, killing 150,000 in alone, including the emperor, and in the 1530s, aiding the European conquerors.
Killed a further two million Mexican natives in the 17th century. In 1618–1619, smallpox wiped out 90% of the Native Americans.
During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the Native Americans. Smallpox epidemics in and brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the. Some believe the death of up to 95% of the of the was caused by Europeans introducing diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza. Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of to these diseases, while the had no such immunity.devastated the native population of, killing around 50% of in the early years of British colonisation. It also killed many. As late as 1848–49, as many as 40,000 out of 150,000 are estimated to have died of,.
Introduced diseases, notably smallpox, nearly wiped out the native population of. Measles killed more than 40,000, approximately one-third of the population, in 1875, and in the early 21st century devastated the population. The population decreased drastically in the 19th century, due in large partto infectious diseases brought by Japanese settlers pouring into.Researchers concluded that was carried from the New World to Europe after ' voyages. The findings suggested Europeans could have carried the nonvenereal tropical bacteria home, where the organisms may have mutated into a more deadly form in the different conditions of Europe. The disease was more frequently fatal than it is today. Syphilis was a major killer in Europe during the.
Between 1602 and 1796, the sent almost a million Europeans to work in Asia. Ultimately, fewer than a third made their way back to Europe. The majority died of diseases. Disease killed more British soldiers in India and South Africa than war.As early as 1803, the Crown organized a mission (the ) to transport the to the, and establish mass vaccination programs there. By 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, the elimination or control of disease in tropical countries became a driving force for all powers. The epidemic in Africa was arrested due to mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk.
In the 20th century, the world saw the biggest increase in its in human history due to lessening of the in many countries due to. The has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to an estimated 6.8 billion in 2011. Main article:Since it became widespread in the 19th century, cholera has killed tens of millions of people. Previously restricted to the, the pandemic began in, then spread across India by 1820. 10,000 British troops and countless Indians died during this pandemic.
It extended as far as China, (where more than 100,000 people succumbed on the island of alone) and the before receding. Deaths in the Indian subcontinent between 1817 and 1860 are estimated to have exceeded 15 million persons. Another 23 million died between 1865 and 1917. Deaths during a similar period exceeded 2 million. Reached Russia (see ), Hungary (about 100,000 deaths) and Germany in 1831, London in 1832 (more than 55,000 persons died in the ), France, Canada , and United States (New York City) in the same year, and the Pacific coast of North America by 1834. It is believed that more than 150,000 Americans died of cholera between 1832 and 1849. Deeply affected Russia, with more than a million deaths.
A two-year outbreak began in England and Wales in 1848 and claimed 52,000 lives. Throughout Spain, cholera caused more than 236,000 deaths in 1854–55. It claimed 200,000 lives in Mexico. Spread mostly in Europe and Africa. At least 30,000 of the 90,000 pilgrims fell victim to the disease. Cholera claimed 90,000 lives in Russia in 1866.
In 1866, there was an outbreak in North America. It killed some 50,000 Americans. The 1883–1887 epidemic cost 250,000 lives in Europe and at least 50,000 in the Americas.
Cholera claimed 267,890 lives in (1892); 120,000 in Spain; 90,000 in Japan and 60,000 in. In 1892, cholera contaminated the water supply of, and caused 8,606 deaths. Had little effect in Europe because of advances in, but Russia was badly affected again (more than 500,000 people dying of cholera during the first quarter of the 20th century).
The sixth pandemic killed more than 800,000 in India. The 1902–1904 cholera epidemic claimed more than 200,000 lives in the. Began in, called after the new biotype responsible for the pandemic, and reached in 1963, India in 1964, and the in 1966. Since then the pandemic has reached Africa, South America, and Central America.Influenza. Advice for travelers (in French and English) on the risks of epidemics abroad; posters from the Charles De Gaulle airport, Paris. The Greek physician, the 'Father of Medicine', first described influenza in 412 BC.
The first influenza pandemic was recorded in 1580, and since then, influenza pandemics occurred every 10 to 30 years. The, also known as Russian Flu, was first reported in May 1889 in,. By October, it had reached and the. It rapidly spread west and hit in December 1889, South America in February–April 1890, India in February–March 1890, and Australia in March–April 1890. The and subtypes of the Influenza A virus have each been identified as possible causes. It had a very high attack and, causing around a million fatalities.
The ', 1918–1919. First identified early in March 1918 in U.S. Troops training at,. By October 1918, it had spread to become a worldwide pandemic on all continents, and eventually infected about one-third of the (or ≈500 million persons). Unusually deadly and virulent, it ended almost as quickly as it began, vanishing completely within 18 months. Within six months, some 50 million people were dead; some estimates put the total number of fatalities worldwide at over twice that number.
About 17 million died in India, 675,000 in the United States, and 200,000 in the United Kingdom. The virus that caused Spanish flu was also implicated as a cause of in children. The virus was recently reconstructed by scientists at the studying remains preserved by the Alaskan. The virus has a small but crucial structure that is similar to the Spanish flu. The ', 1957–58. A H2N2 virus first identified in China in late February 1957. It caused about two million deaths globally.
The Asian flu spread to the United States by June 1957 and caused about 70,000 deaths in the U.S. The ', 1968–69. A H3N2 virus first detected in Hong Kong in early 1968, and spread to the United States later that year. This pandemic of 1968 and 1969 killed approximately one million people worldwide.
It caused about 34,000 deaths in the United States. The ', 2009–10. An H1N1 virus first detected in Mexico in early 2009, and spread to the United States later that year.
This pandemic was estimated to have killed around 284,000 people worldwide. It was estimated to have caused about 12,000 deaths in the United States alone.Typhus is sometimes called 'camp fever' because of its pattern of flaring up in times of strife. (It is also known as 'gaol fever' and 'ship fever', for its habits of spreading wildly in cramped quarters, such as jails and ships.) Emerging during the, it had its first impact in Europe in 1489, in Spain.
During fighting between the Christian Spaniards and the Muslims in, the Spanish lost 3,000 to war casualties, and 20,000 to typhus. In 1528, the French lost 18,000 troops in, and lost supremacy in Italy to the Spanish. In 1542, 30,000 soldiers died of typhus while fighting the in the Balkans.During the (1618–1648), about eight million Germans were killed by bubonic plague and typhus. The disease also played a major role in the destruction of 's in Russia in 1812. During the retreat from Moscow, more French military personnel died of than were killed by the Russians.
Of the 450,000 soldiers who crossed the on 25 June 1812, fewer than 40,000 returned. More military personnel were killed from 1500–1914 by typhus than from military action.
In early 1813, Napoleon raised a new army of 500,000 to replace his Russian losses. In the campaign of that year, more than 219,000 of Napoleon's soldiers died of typhus. Typhus played a major factor in the. During, typhus epidemics killed more than 150,000 in. There were about 25 million infections and 3 million deaths from in from 1918 to 1922. Typhus also killed numerous prisoners in the and Soviet prisoner of war camps during World War II.
More than 3.5 million died out of the 5.7 million in Nazi custody. Smallpox. A child with smallpox infection, c.
1908was a contagious disease caused by the. The disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans per year during the closing years of the 18th century. During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths. As recently as the early 1950s, an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year. After successful campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in December 1979. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated, and one of two infectious viruses ever to be eradicated along with.
Measles Historically, was prevalent throughout the world, as it is highly contagious. According to the U.S., 90% of people were infected with measles by age 15. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, there were an estimated three to four million cases in the U.S. Measles killed around 200 million people worldwide over the last 150 years. In 2000 alone, measles killed some 777,000 worldwide out of 40 million cases globally.Measles is an, meaning it has been continually present in a community, and many people develop resistance. In populations that have not been exposed to measles, exposure to a new disease can be devastating. In 1529, a measles outbreak in killed two-thirds of the natives who had previously survived smallpox.
The disease had ravaged, and the civilization. Tuberculosis. In 2007, the prevalence of TB per 100,000 people was highest in, and was also relatively high in Asian countries like.One-quarter of the has been infected with, and new infections occur at a rate of one per second. About 5–10% of these latent infections will eventually progress to active disease, which, if left untreated, kills more than half its victims. Annually, eight million people become ill with tuberculosis, and two million die from the disease worldwide.
In the 19th century, tuberculosis killed an estimated one-quarter of the adult population of Europe; by 1918, one in six deaths in France were still caused by tuberculosis. During the 20th century, tuberculosis killed approximately 100 million people.
TB is still one of the most important health problems in the developing world. Leprosy , also known as Hansen's disease, is caused by a,. It is a with an incubation period of up to five years.
Since 1985, 15 million people worldwide have been cured of leprosy.Historically, leprosy has affected people since at least 600 BC. Leprosy outbreaks began to occur in Western Europe around 1000 AD.
Numerous leprosoria, or, sprang up in the Middle Ages; estimated that in the early 13th century, there were 19,000 of them across Europe. Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009is widespread in and subtropical regions, including parts of the,. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria. Poses a growing problem in the treatment of malaria in the 21st century, since resistance is now common against all classes of antimalarial drugs, except for the.Malaria was once common in most of Europe and, where it is now for all purposes non-existent. Malaria may have contributed to the decline of the. The disease became known as '.
Became a real threat to colonists and alike when it was introduced into the Americas along with the. Malaria devastated the colony and regularly ravaged the South and Midwest of the United States. By 1830, it had reached the Pacific Northwest. During the, there were more than 1.2 million cases of malaria amongsoldiers of both sides. The southern U.S.
Continued to be afflicted with millions of cases of malaria into the 1930s. Yellow fever has been a source of several devastating epidemics. Cities as far north as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston were hit with epidemics.
In 1793, one of the largest in U.S. History killed as many as 5,000 people in Philadelphia—roughly 10% of the population. About half of the residents had fled the city, including President George Washington. In colonial times, West Africa became known as 'the white man's grave' because of malaria and yellow fever. Concerns about future pandemics. Main article:Antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, sometimes referred to as ', may contribute to the re-emergence of diseases which are currently well controlled.
For example, cases of tuberculosis that are resistant to traditionally effective treatments remain a cause of great concern to health professionals. Every year, nearly half a million new cases of (MDR-TB) are estimated to occur worldwide. China and India have the highest rate of multidrug-resistant TB. The (WHO) reports that approximately 50 million people worldwide are infected with MDR TB, with 79 percent of those cases resistant to three or more antibiotics.
In 2005, 124 cases of were reported in the United States. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis was identified in Africa in 2006, and subsequently discovered to exist in 49 countries, including the United States. There are about 40,000 new cases of XDR-TB per year, the WHO estimates.In the past 20 years, common bacteria including, and, have developed resistance to various such as, as well as whole classes of antibiotics, such as the. Antibiotic-resistant organisms have become an important cause of healthcare-associated (nosocomial) infections (HAI).
In addition, infections caused by community-acquired strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in otherwise healthy individuals have become more frequent in recent years.Viral hemorrhagic fevers Viral hemorrhagic fevers such as, and are highly contagious and deadly diseases, with the theoretical potential to become pandemics. Their ability to spread efficiently enough to cause a pandemic is limited, however, as transmission of these viruses requires close contact with the infected, and the vector has only a short time before death or serious illness. Furthermore, the short time between a vector becoming infectious and the onset of symptoms allows medical professionals to quickly vectors, and prevent them from carrying the pathogen elsewhere. Genetic mutations could occur, which could elevate their potential for causing widespread harm; thus close observation by contagious disease specialists is merited.
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the to more severe diseases such as (MERS-CoV) and (SARS-CoV). A new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causes, or COVID-19.was declared a pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020.Some coronaviruses are, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.
Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from to humans, and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Standard recommendations to prevent the spread of infection include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs, and avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
The recommended distance from other people is 6 feet, a practice more commonly called social distancing.Severe acute respiratory syndrome In 2003 the Italian physician (1956–2003) was the first to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome as a new and dangerously contagious disease, although he became infected and died. It is caused by a dubbed. Rapid action by national and international health authorities such as the helped to slow transmission and eventually broke the chain of transmission, which ended the localized epidemics before they could become a pandemic. However, the disease has not been eradicated and could re-emerge. This warrants monitoring and reporting of suspicious cases of atypical pneumonia. Influenza. Main article:In February 2004, virus was detected in birds in, increasing fears of the emergence of new variant strains.
![]()
It is feared that if the avian influenza virus combines with a human influenza virus (in a bird or a human), the new subtype created could be both highly contagious and highly lethal in humans. Such a subtype could cause a global influenza pandemic, similar to the or the lower mortality pandemics such as the and the.From October 2004 to February 2005, some 3,700 test kits of the 1957 virus were accidentally spread around the world from a lab in the U.S.In May 2005, scientists urgently called upon nations to prepare for a global influenza pandemic that could strike as much as 20% of the world's population.In October 2005, cases of the avian flu (the deadly strain ) were identified in. EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: 'We have received now confirmation that the virus found in Turkey is an avian flu H5N1 virus. There is a direct relationship with viruses found in Russia, Mongolia and China.' Cases of bird flu were also identified shortly thereafter in, and then. Possible cases of the virus have also been found in, and the United Kingdom.By November 2007, numerous confirmed cases of the strain had been identified across Europe.
However, by the end of October, only 59 people had died as a result of H5N1, which was atypical of previous influenza pandemics.Avian flu cannot be categorized as a 'pandemic' because the virus cannot yet cause sustained and efficient human-to-human transmission. Cases so far are recognized to have been transmitted from bird to human, but as of December 2006 there had been few (if any) cases of proven human-to-human transmission. Regular influenza viruses establish infection by attaching to receptors in the throat and lungs, but the avian influenza virus can attach only to receptors located deep in the lungs of humans, requiring close, prolonged contact with infected patients, and thus limiting person-to-person transmission.Zika virus. Main articles:, andAn outbreak of began in 2015 and strongly intensified throughout the start of 2016, with more than 1.5 million cases across more than a dozen countries in.
The World Health Organization warned that Zika had the potential to become an explosive global pandemic if the outbreak was not controlled. Economic consequences In 2016, the Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future estimated that pandemic disease events would cost the global economy over $6 trillion in the 21st century—over $60 billion per year. The same report recommended spending $4.5 billion annually on global prevention and response capabilities to reduce the threat posed by pandemic events.Biological warfare. Further information:In 1346, according to secondhand and uncorroborated accounts by Mussi, the bodies of Mongol warriors who had died of plague were thrown over the walls of the besieged city of (now ).
After a protracted siege, during which the army under was suffering the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants. It has been speculated that this operation may have been responsible for the arrival of the in Europe. However, historians believe it would have taken far too long for the bodies to become contagious.The population was devastated after contact with the by introduction of fatal diseases. In a well documented case of germ warfare involving British commander and Swiss-British officer Colonel, their correspondence included a proposal and agreement to give smallpox-infected blankets to Indians in order to 'Extirpate this Execrable Race'. During the late in the, as recorded in his journal by sundries trader and militia Captain, on 24 June 1763, dignitaries from the Delaware tribe met with Fort Pitt officials, warned them of 'great numbers of Indians' coming to attack the fort, and pleaded with them to leave the fort while there was still time. The commander of the fort refused to abandon the fort.
Instead, the British gave as gifts two blankets, one silk handkerchief and one linen from the smallpox hospital to two Delaware Indian dignitaries. The dignitaries were met again later and they seemingly hadn't contracted smallpox. A relatively small outbreak of smallpox had begun spreading earlier that spring, with a hundred dying from it among Native American tribes in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes area through 1763 and 1764.
The effectiveness of the biological warfare itself remains unknown, and the method used is inefficient compared to respiratory transmission and these attempts to spread the disease are difficult to differentiate from epidemics occurring from previous contacts with colonists, as smallpox outbreaks happened every dozen or so years. However historian believes that the attempt at biological warfare was 'unquestionably effective at Fort Pitt'.During the (1937–1945), of the conducted on thousands, mostly Chinese. In military campaigns, the Japanese army used biological weapons on Chinese soldiers and civilians.
Plague fleas, infected clothing, and infected supplies encased in bombs were dropped on various targets. The resulting, and plague were estimated to have killed around 400,000 Chinese civilians.Diseases considered for or known to be used as a weapon include, and.Spores of weaponized anthrax were accidentally released from a military facility near the Soviet of in 1979. The is sometimes called 'biological '. In January 2009, an training camp in was reportedly wiped out by the plague, killing approximately 40 Islamic extremists. Some experts said the group was developing biological weapons, however, a couple of days later the Algerian Health Ministry flatly denied this rumour stating 'No case of plague of any type has been recorded in any region ofAlgeria since 2003'.
See also.
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus has surpassed 100,000 worldwide, and deaths have been recorded in 18 countries and territories. Health experts say COVID-19 is more lethal than the seasonal flu.But some experts say based on what’s known right now, there are no signs it will be as catastrophic as the worst pandemic in recent memory: the.We don’t know for certain, but at this point, “I think it’s nowhere near as bad as 1918,” said, an infectious diseases expert at UCLA.The 1918 flu is the quintessential pandemic, estimated to have killed 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the U.S.
It’s the one that public health professors teach to students to show just how widely a disease can spread. The 1918 flu was unusually bad for, with fatalities high in those younger than 5, between the ages of 20 and 40 and those 65 and above.The new coronavirus, by contrast, has so far spared babies, toddlers and young children from death, according to a in China. It’s estimated to be mild in of those infected. The risk of death is substantially higher for those aged 70 and older and those with underlying medical problems.“The younger you are, the less chance you will have any disease from it,” said Dr. Otto Yang, a UCLA infectious diseases specialist.
“So it really is the people that are already sick, or very elderly, at the highest risk, and that’s very different than that flu.”. An oft-cited fatality rate for the 1918 flu is “.” That’s caused some people to worry the coronavirus could end up becoming as bad as the 1918 flu.But, a postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that based on what’s known so far, the Spanish flu was almost certainly worse. She called the “greater than 2.5%' estimate “the lowest number that can be supported with available data.”Leigh said a global case fatality rate for the 1918 flu has never been definitively calculated, because — as with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — there is not good data on the total number of people who were infected. Leigh said it’s possible the global case fatality rate for the 1918 Spanish flu may have been closer to 10%.In the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, the fatality rate held steady at around 2%. This week, it inched up above 3%. But experts cautioned that both of those figures probably overstate the true death toll, since there are surely thousands of people who have been infected with the coronavirus but never got tested because their symptoms were mild or nonexistent. A marginal change in the death rate during an outbreak also doesn’t necessarily suggest the virus grew more dangerous.
It could simply mean that experts have gotten hold of more reliable data.The case fatality rate of the 1918 Spanish flu also varied between countries, with poorer ones taking a bigger hit.
![]() Comments are closed.
|