Editing Pandemic (section)

=== Pandemics in history ===
{{See also|List of epidemics and pandemics}}Historical accounts of epidemics are often vague or contradictory in describing how victims were affected. A rash accompanied by a fever might be smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, or [[varicella]], and it is possible that epidemics overlapped, with multiple infections striking the same population at once. It is often impossible to know the exact causes of mortality, although [[ancient DNA]] studies can sometimes detect residues of certain pathogens.<ref name="pest">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA62 |title=A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective |vauthors=Alchon S |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8263-2871-7 |page=62 |access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref>[[File:The Triumph of Death P001393.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Pieter Brueghel the Elder|Pieter Bruegel]]'s ''[[The Triumph of Death]]'' ({{circa|1562}}) reflects the social upheaval and terror that followed the plague, which devastated medieval Europe.]]
[[File:1918 Headlines from Chicago newspapers - Spanish flu - 1918 influenza pandemic.jpg| thumb|upright=1.5|1918 Chicago newspaper headlines reflect mitigation strategies for the [[Spanish flu]], such as increased ventilation, arrests for "open-face sneezes and coughs", sequenced inoculations, limitations on crowd size, selective closing of businesses, curfews, and lockdowns.<ref name=USAtoday_20201122>{{cite news | vauthors = Hauck G |others=Graphics by Karl Gelles|title=We're celebrating Thanksgiving amid a pandemic. Here's how we did it in 1918 – and what happened next |url=https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/11/21/covid-and-thanksgiving-how-we-celebrated-during-1918-flu-pandemic/6264231002/ |work=[[USA Today]] |date=22 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121183814/https://eu.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/11/21/covid-and-thanksgiving-how-we-celebrated-during-1918-flu-pandemic/6264231002/ |archive-date=21 November 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

It is assumed that, prior to the [[Neolithic Revolution]] around 10,000 BC, disease outbreaks were limited to a single family or clan, and did not spread widely before dying out. The domestication of animals increased human-animal contact, increasing the possibility of zoonotic infections. The advent of agriculture, and trade between settled groups, made it possible for pathogens to spread widely. As the population increased, contact between groups became more frequent. A history of epidemics maintained by the Chinese Empire from 243 B.C. to 1911 A.C. shows an approximate correlation between the frequency of epidemics and the growth of the population.<ref name=":03">{{cite journal | vauthors = Høiby N | title = Pandemics: past, present, future: That is like choosing between cholera and plague | journal = APMIS | volume = 129 | issue = 7 | pages = 352–371 | date = July 2021 | pmid = 33244837 | pmc = 7753327 | doi = 10.1111/apm.13098 }}</ref>

Here is an incomplete list of known epidemics which have spread widely enough to merit the title "pandemic".
* [[Plague of Athens]] (430 to 426 BC): During the [[Peloponnesian War]], an epidemic killed a quarter of the Athenian troops and a quarter of the population. This disease fatally weakened the dominance of [[Athens]], 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 [[University of Athens]] analyzed [[teeth]] recovered from a [[mass grave]] underneath the city and confirmed the presence of [[bacteria]] responsible for [[typhoid fever]].<ref>[http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000BF619-9B78-13D6-9B7883414B7F0135&chanID=sa003 "Ancient Athenian Plague Proves to Be Typhoid"]. ''Scientific American.'' 25 January 2006.</ref>
* [[Antonine Plague]] (165 to 180 AD): Possibly measles or smallpox brought to the Italian peninsula by soldiers returning from the Near East, it killed a quarter of those infected, up to five million in total.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4381924.stm Past pandemics that ravaged Europe]. ''BBC News'', 7{{nbsp}}November. 2005</ref>
* [[Plague of Cyprian]] (251–266 AD): A second outbreak of what may have been the same disease as the Antonine Plague killed (it was said) 5,000 people a day in [[Rome]].<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Horgan J |title=Plague of Cyprian, 250–270 CE |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/992/plague-of-cyprian-250-270-ce/ |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=World History Encyclopedia }}</ref>
* [[Plague of Justinian]] (541 to 549 AD): Also known as the ''First Plague Pandemic''. This epidemic started in [[Egypt]] and reached [[Constantinople]] the following spring, killing (according to the Byzantine chronicler [[Procopius]]) 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 [[human population]] of the known world and was identified in 2013 as being caused by [[bubonic plague]].<ref>{{cite web |date=20 May 2013 |title=Modern lab reaches across the ages to resolve plague DNA debate |url=http://phys.org/news/2013-05-modern-lab-ages-plague-dna.html |website=phys.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Little LK |title=Plague and the end of Antiquity: the pandemic of 541-750 |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge (Mass.) |isbn=978-0-521-84639-4}}</ref>
* [[Black Death]] (1331 to 1353): Also known as the ''Second Plague Pandemic.'' The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 to 200 million. Starting in Asia, the disease reached the Mediterranean and western Europe in 1348 (possibly from Italian merchants fleeing fighting in [[Crimea]]) and killed an estimated 20 to 30 million Europeans in six years;<ref>[http://www.medhunters.com/articles/deathOnAGrandScale.html Death on a Grand Scale]. ''MedHunters.''</ref> a third of the total population,<ref>Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, in ''[[L'Histoire]]'' No. 310, June 2006, pp. 45–46, say "between one-third and two-thirds"; Robert Gottfried (1983). "Black Death" in ''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]'', volume 2, pp. 257–267, says "between 25 and 45&nbsp;percent".</ref> and up to a half in the worst-affected urban areas.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Plague |volume=21 |pages=693–705}}</ref> It was the first of a cycle of European [[Second plague pandemic|plague epidemics]] that continued until the 18th century;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://urbanrim.org.uk/plague%20list.htm |title=A List of National Epidemics of Plague in England 1348–1665 |publisher=Urbanrim.org.uk |date=4 August 2010 |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508010316/http://urbanrim.org.uk/plague%20list.htm |archive-date=8 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> there were more than 100 plague epidemics in Europe during this period,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/16/health.books |title=Black Death blamed on man, not rats |newspaper=The Observer | vauthors = Revill J |date= 16 May 2004|access-date=3 November 2008 | location=London}}</ref> including the [[Great Plague of London]] of 1665–66 which killed approximately 100,000 people, 20% of London's population.<ref>[http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/plague.html The Great Plague of London, 1665]. ''The Harvard University Library, Open Collections Program: Contagion.''</ref>
* [[1817–1824 cholera pandemic]]. Previously endemic in the [[Indian subcontinent]], the pandemic began in [[Bengal]], then spread across India by 1820. The deaths of 10,000 British troops were documented - it is assumed that tens of thousands of Indians must have died.<ref name="cbc-cholera">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/cholera-s-seven-pandemics-1.758504 Cholera's seven pandemics], cbc.ca, December 2, 2008.</ref> The disease spread as far as China, [[Indonesia]] (where more than 100,000 people succumbed on the island of [[Java]] alone)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cholera - Pandemic, Waterborne, 19th Century {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/cholera/Cholera-through-history |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and the [[Caspian Sea]] before receding. Subsequent cholera pandemics during the 19th century are estimated to have caused many millions of deaths globally.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pollitzer |first=R. |date=1954 |title=Cholera studies |journal=Bulletin of the World Health Organization |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=421–461 |issn=0042-9686 |pmc=2542143 |pmid=13160764}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McNeill |first=William Hardy |title=Plagues and peoples |date=1998 |publisher=Anchor Books |isbn=978-0-385-12122-4 |edition=Reprint [der Ausg.] Garden City, NY, 1976 |location=New York}}</ref>[[File:Chevalier Roze à la Tourette - 1720.PNG|thumb|[[Great Plague of Marseille]] in 1720 killed a total of 100,000 people]]
* [[Third plague pandemic]] (1855–1960): Starting in China, it is estimated to have caused over 12 million deaths in total, the majority of them in India.<ref>{{cite web |title=History's Seven Deadliest Plagues {{!}} Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance |url=https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/historys-seven-deadliest-plagues |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=www.gavi.org }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/zoonotic/en/index4.html |title=Zoonotic Infections: Plague |publisher=World Health Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420003315/http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/zoonotic/en/index4.html |archive-date=20 April 2009 |access-date=5 July 2014}}</ref> During this pandemic, the United States saw its first outbreak: the [[San Francisco plague of 1900–1904]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm00bu.html Bubonic plague hits San Francisco 1900–1909]. ''A Science Odyssey. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).''</ref> The causative bacterium, ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'', was identified in 1894.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Yersin A |year=1894 |title=La peste bubonique à Hong-Kong |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23590#page/692/mode/1up |journal=Annales de l'Institut Pasteur |volume=8 |pages=662–67 |language=fr}}</ref> The association with fleas, and in particular rat fleas in urban environments, led to effective control measures. The pandemic was considered to be over in 1959 when annual deaths due to plague dropped below 200. The disease is nevertheless present in the rat population worldwide and isolated human cases still occur.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 July 2022 |title=Plague |url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=World Health Organization }}</ref>
* The 1918–1920 [[Spanish flu]] infected half a billion people<ref name="Taubenberger">{{cite journal |vauthors=Taubenberger JK, Morens DM |date=January 2006 |title=1918 Influenza: the mother of all pandemics |url=https://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm |url-status=dead |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=15–22 |doi=10.3201/eid1201.050979 |pmc=3291398 |pmid=16494711 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006002531/http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm |archive-date=6 October 2009 |access-date=7 September 2017}}</ref> around the world, including on remote [[Pacific islands]] and in the [[Arctic]]—killing 20 to 100 million.<ref name="Taubenberger" /><ref>{{cite web| title=Historical Estimates of World Population| url=https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709092946/https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php| url-status=dead| archive-date=9 July 2012| access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, but the 1918 pandemic had an unusually high mortality rate for young adults.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gagnon A, Miller MS, Hallman SA, Bourbeau R, Herring DA, Earn DJ, Madrenas J | title = Age-specific mortality during the 1918 influenza pandemic: unravelling the mystery of high young adult mortality | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 8 | issue = 8 | pages = e69586 | year = 2013 | pmid = 23940526 | pmc = 3734171 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0069586 | bibcode = 2013PLoSO...869586G | doi-access = free }}</ref> It killed more people in 25 weeks than AIDS did in its first 25 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/|title=The 1918 Influenza Pandemic|website=virus.stanford.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100127100727/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/spanish%20flu%20facts/111285 | archive-date = 27 January 2010 | url-status = dead | url = http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/spanish%20flu%20facts/111285 | title = Spanish flu facts | work = Channel 4 News }}</ref> Mass troop movements and close quarters during World War{{nbsp}}I caused it to spread and [[mutation|mutate]] faster, and the susceptibility of soldiers to the flu may have been increased by stress, [[malnourishment]] and [[chemical attack]]s.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Qureshi AI | title=Ebola Virus Disease: From Origin to Outbreak| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7zyXCgAAQBAJ&q=Ebola+Virus+Disease:+From+Origin+to+Outbreak+Adnan+1918+pandemic&pg=PA42| page=42| publisher=Academic Press| date=2016| isbn=978-0128042427}}</ref> Improved transportation systems made it easier for soldiers, sailors and civilian travelers to spread the disease.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131211093810/http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=65022 Spanish flu strikes during World War I], 14 January 2010</ref>