Historical-Geography

A pandemic refers to a widespread infectious disease outbreak from bacteria or viruses, that are associated with the rapid spread of the infection globally. They often occur when people come together in contact with the disease when economic, social, and environmental changes happen. Pandemics have the ability to cause traumatic health impacts and are a reminder of the interconnectedness of the world because the infectious disease has the capability to cross into other regions without a physical barrier. Some regions in the world have a higher chance for an outbreak to happen and spread to and from, due to the size and density of the population. Different types of infectious disease can cause some pandemics to be more severe than others if the bacteria or virus is more transmittable between people. Infectious diseases are often seen along routes of transportation and trade throughout history and as the world becomes increasingly more interconnected.

The first time the plague appeared was in the 6th century and is known as the Plague of Justinian. The plague was carried from Egypt into Europe with infected rats on merchant ships. People were traveling between the two regions because the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of Emperor Justinian, recently conquered Egypt. Eventually the plague reached the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, in 541 CE. The plague destroyed the population living in Constantinople and swept across Europe, Asia, North Africa, and Arabia. People knew that the best way they could protect themselves from the plague was to avoid sick people; however, this did not prevent people from still becoming infected. It killed an estimate of 30-50 million people by the 8th century when it seemed to disappear.

The third pandemic of the plague erupted in 1855 in the Chinese province of Yunnan and also spread by infected rats on ships. This time the infected rats traveled on steamships to other countries and continents, killing around 15 million people before fading out in the 1950s. In 1894, a Hong Kong based doctor named Alexandre Yersin identified the bacteria that caused the Black Death, naming it bacillus Yersinia pestis. There are fewer people becoming infected from the plague. However, there is a possibility the world could experience another plague pandemic because the strain is still as deadly as before.

In November of 2002, the first case of atypical pneumonia appeared in the Guangdong Province of Southern China. In the initial months of the outbreak, the Chinese were slow to report any cases because they were unsure about what they were dealing with and the possibility that the government suppressed doctors from reporting possible cases of the outbreak. A doctor who treated patients with SARS traveled to Hong Kong, China and unknowingly infected many people in the area, causing a start to the larger international population infection rate. From Hong Kong, the virus spread to Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and many other countries. Out of the 29 countries affected by the pandemic of SARS, China and Hong Kong suffered the most infections and casualties. In China there were 5,327 cases and 349 fatalities and Hong Kong had 1,755 cases with 299 deaths. Worldwide SARS infected 8098 confirmed people with 774 deaths in the 2002-03 pandemic. Most of the cases of human transmission occurred in the healthcare setting, which lacked adequate infection control precautions. Once hospitals and other healthcare facilities began to implement appropriate infection control practices, the global number of cases slowed. In 2003 scientists discovered that SARS virus was possibly transmitted from bats to civet cats and then onto humans. With more knowledge of SARS and the quarantining and international cooperation in effect, the pandemic was brought to an end in July 2003.

As a result of the SARS pandemic, more people have become aware of the threat of biological infections and the damage they harm, if they are severe and untreated immediately. According to Anne W. Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology, the level of preparedness for pandemics has improved on the global scale. The world learned that the government and healthcare need to have more transparency between each other with their citizens to inform the possibility of other outbreaks. After officials stated the pandemic ended, there have been only three times that people caught the virus in the laboratory setting, when epidemiologists discovered that SARS-CoV caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. As a result, it is highly unlikely that SARS will return as a pandemic.