What is a pandemic and how is it different from an epidemic? Why and when do they happen? What can cause them in the modern world? And what does the film "Pandemic of Lies" say about this?
Difference
Let's get it right. In fact, a pandemic is a mass disease of people. Just like an epidemic. However, they differ in their scale. If it is customary to call an epidemic an outbreak of a disease when its prevalence is above a certain level for a given region, then it becomes a pandemic when it crosses the borders of the state in which it arose, and when the number of infected is comparable to the population.
As we can see, this definition is rather vague. And Ebola, for example, which has spread to several states, is of concern to the entire world community, but cannot be called a pandemic in the full sense of the word. While a seasonal epidemic of the usual flu, "walking", say, in Europe, fits her definition.
From history
Where would modern medicine be without microbiology and virology? These related sciences have been of great help to mankind. Apparently, since the advent of intelligent man, our race has suffered fromviruses and microorganisms. This is evidenced by ancient chronicles and excavations of burials (in the latter, for example, typhoid bacteria are still found). But what can I say, if only in the last two thousand years more people died from pandemics caused by terrible diseases of the past than as a result of world wars! According to some reports, up to five hundred million people became victims of black smallpox alone. Let's briefly talk about the most famous pandemics in human history.
Smallpox
The pandemic (that was it) was rampant everywhere. It was also called natural, or black, smallpox. The disease that killed millions during the dark times is caused by a virus. On average, the death rate from it around the world reached forty percent. It was spread all over the place. Often infected with it from pets. Moreover, people endured the disease of animals, and subsequently this helped many to avoid already human smallpox. This was the reason for the first vaccinations (or rather, variolations - they instilled smallpox pus), although the effect of the latter weakened over the course of life.
There are known cases of deliberate infection of the Indians of the North American continent. For the latter, this disease was fatal in 90% of cases. The pandemic is one of those tools that helped the migrants to occupy foreign territory. The British specially gave and sold smallpox-infected blankets and clothes to the Indians so that the terrible virus would clear the New World for them.
Thanks to widespread vaccination, the disease has been completely managedwin already in Soviet times. And the variola virus is stored in only a few laboratories in the world. In the event of an outbreak, it could be used to make a vaccine.
Plague
Acute disease with extremely high mortality. It proceeds with damage to internal organs, lymph nodes, sepsis develops. Bubonic and pneumonic plague are known. Occurs in natural foci, its carriers are rodents. Called by the Plague Wand. With modern methods of treatment, mortality can be reduced to five percent. In ancient times, however, pandemics of this disease were known, killing millions of people. So, the Plague of Justinian, which appeared in 541-700. in Egypt, killed up to 100 million people around the world. In Byzantium alone, half of the entire population died from it. Another famous pandemic was the Black Death. Then (1347-1351) the plague came to Europe from China. Thirty-four million people died from it.
But the story of the plague doesn't end there. During the so-called Third Pandemic, six million people died in India alone. But, unlike the first two cases, the disease "traveled" around the world for more than fifty years. It was able to spread across the continents thanks to developed trade relations.
Cholera pandemics
There were several of them. The first pandemic occurred in 1816 in Bengal. Countries such as India, China and Indonesia have been hit hard by it. The number of victims is in the tens of millions. Then cholera also reached Russia. More than two million people died from it here. There are seven knowncholera pandemics. All of them arose already in modern times. Until the nineteenth century, cholera was a local disease. Apparently, one of the reasons for its pandemics can also be considered the development of trade relations between countries.
Typhoid: typhoid, typhus and relapsing
The disease is characterized by severe fever, intoxication and mental disorders. The first known pandemic (this is 430-427 BC) happened during the Peloponnesian War. Then the fourth part of the Athenian army died from it, which undermined the dominance of this state in the region. It was only now possible to find out the cause of this disease thanks to excavations of mass graves. Typhoid bacteria have been found on the remains of ancient warriors.
There were epidemics in later times. So, for example, during the First World War in Russia and Poland, up to three and a half million people died of typhus.
Thunderstorm of the present
The most famous influenza pandemic at the moment, the so-called "Spanish flu", according to some sources, claimed the lives of up to one hundred million people at the beginning of the twentieth century. A feature of the disease is its rapid spread and low mortality. And only when a person becomes infected with the influenza virus from animals or birds, it becomes deadly for him. So, apparently, it was in the case of the "Spaniard". The peculiarity of this pandemic was that it circled the globe three times, each time fading and flaring up again with renewed vigor. Moreover, the mortality rate also increased sharply. Interesting Factsthis is also featured in the documentary Pandemic of Lies.
According to the World He alth Organization, up to five hundred thousand people a year die from seasonal influenza epidemics worldwide. And this despite the fact that there are regular vaccinations of the population. However, this is not a pandemic. However, scientists do not exclude the occurrence of such a virus if the virus of a common seasonal disease mutates and acquires properties that are fatal to humans. Just like it was in cases of swine and bird flu epidemics. Vaccines against these strains have not yet been proven effective.
In conclusion
Influenza is, of course, a threat to humanity. But medicine, in principle, is always ready for it. However, an influenza pandemic occurs, as usual, suddenly. Such terrible diseases of antiquity as plague, cholera, typhoid and smallpox, fortunately, practically no longer threaten us. But we should not forget about hidden pandemics. They are characterized by a long course of the disease. These are HIV, tuberculosis and, to a lesser extent, malaria. Millions of people die each year from each of these diseases. An effective cure for them has not yet been found. Many now say that Ebola is a pandemic.
So, let's make a conclusion from all of the above. A pandemic is a disease, the number of cases of which is comparable to the population of the region, while it crosses the borders of several states, and the mortality from it is kept at a high level. And, despite all the achievements of modern medicine, the threats of antiquity are being replaced by new ones, viruses andbacteria adapt to drugs, and old vaccines become ineffective. Perhaps in this way nature wants to say something to man?..
