Fatal Pandemics That Affected Human Population Over the Years

Pandemic had influence and change the course of history multiple times. It is defined as the epidemic of infectious disease that spread across the world. Many of the pandemics have killed a large percentage of the human population over the ages.

Some of the deadly pandemics that changed the course of human history:

Smallpox

The contagious diseases spread in America in 1492 killing 30% of those infected. It has claimed about 20 million people approximately. The pandemic helped Europeans to colonise and develop the empty land which has greatly impacted on the global economy.

Cholera

Its first pandemic has occurred in India in between 1817 to 1823. It was brought by British soldiers and spread after ingesting food and water contaminated by bacteria. It has killed more than 1.5 million people worldwide.

HIV/AIDS

It usually destroys a person’s immune system and it was first reported in 1981 and continue till today. It is a sexually transmitted disease which has impacted more than 75 million people worldwide.

SARS

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was first identified at China in 2003. It is believed to have originated from bats and spread through cats and then to humans, infecting around 8,096 people. It is spread from respiratory droplets through coughs and sneezes.

Ebola

The virus was first started in Guinea in 2014 and spread to other West African countries. It has infected more than 28 thousand people.

SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus which has symptoms like respiratory problems, fever and cough and leads to death. It is spread through respiratory droplets. The World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is officially a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It has infected more than 33.4 million people globally.

The first case was reported on November 17, 2019, in China’s Hubei Province. The virus had spread globally to more than 163 countries and there is no vaccine available yet.

All the pandemics has impacted the human population, killing millions. It has a huge effect on the decline of the global economy. The widespread of diseases has made life more difficult, some losing jobs and others losing their loved ones. Every pandemic has made a huge turnover in history, impacting everyone affected by its implications.