Journal of Infectious Diseases & Travel Medicine (JIDTM)

ISSN: 2640-2653

Review Article

Pandemics throughout History

Authors: MH Heydargoy, MH Bakhshian, SMA Mousavi Sagharchi, SD Vosoughinia, D Beyranvand, E Sharifat, S Omidi, M Keshavarz Afshar, G Pishyare, A Mousavi Sepehr

DOI: 10.23880/jidtm-16000176

Abstract

Throughout history, the world has faced various diseases, some of which have become pandemics. A pandemic means a disease whose epidemic has spread beyond several continents. For example, the AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics have been the closest pandemics in the past years. Bacteria and viruses often cause these diseases. Some of these diseases that have become pandemics have been transmitted to humans by animals as carriers or mediators and have caused disease. These diseases are called zoonotic. The first disease that became pandemic can be mentioned as the plague disease first occurred during the rule of the Parthians. The battle between the Romans and the Parthians in the Tigris, region caused the Antonine plague pandemic that spread to Europe in 165-180 AD. Plague has always been among the diseases with the highest mortality. After that, other terrible diseases such as smallpox with 56 million deaths, or the Spanish flu with 50 million deaths appeared. The latest pandemic that we have been involved in is the COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared by the WHO as a new pandemic on March 11, 2020. We can study past pandemics and learn from them how to deal with future pandemics in order to have the lowest death rate. Maybe another pandemic is coming. According to the statistical data of the coronavirus family, from 1890 to 2019, they have been the cause of four pandemics, and in the last three pandemics, we have seen the distance between them decrease and they become stronger, the possibility of another epidemic in the next seven years from the family there is a coronavirus. By studying historical, statistical, and medical sources, this article examines and provides complete information regarding the pandemics that have existed in history.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemic; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome; Smallpox; Influenza; Infectious Diseases; Plague

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