HOW WE CONQUERED OUTBREAKS IN HISTORY (WWZ VS SMALLPOX AND PLAGUE)
IS IT THE END OR ARE WE NOT EVEN CLOSE? Human civilization has experienced some of the deadliest diseases in history. Global unity has been the essential weapon to deal with them.
By Rukhsar Amir
25th November 2021
Right at the time when human beings think that there is no such unbeatable thing for them, nature presents them with a new enigma. Diseases have remained one of the enigmatic things that have popped up into the lives of human forms thereby leaving them in a new quest for answers. The world has seen many deadly outbreaks in history be it the deadliest plague or notorious smallpox. These have been times where humanity has been the most demanding of all times. We have conquered many catastrophes in history- some on time while others took their time endangering the life-forms.
Small Pox:
The coronavirus kills around 0.5 per cent of the people it infects. Now imagine a virus killing 30% of the population that it infects. That’s Smallpox. Smallpox is one of the deadliest diseases experienced by human forms. D.A. Henderson, previous executive of disease surveillance at the Centers for Infection Control and Prevention, gave the remarks, “In the challenge of Smallpox versus War, War lost,”, noticing that the most destroying World War I and World War II had a combined passing toll much littler than that of smallpox (Piper, 2021). Historians trace the spread of the virus back to the 6th century and it continued till the 18th century until a cure was found. Much of its spread was due to traders, crusaders, explorers and new settlers who took this virus from one part of the world to the other. As the virus was busy taking the lives of people, so were the early physicians who were keen to try anything to save the world from this disease. That was the time when Edward Jenner came up with his revolutionary vaccine that was to take the world out of the brink of disaster. With the development of vaccines mass vaccination started. Although eradicating smallpox was difficult at that time due to the lack of resources and its large-scale transmission rate, yet due to worldwide collaboration and the introduction of concepts like ring vaccination and herd immunity, the vaccination procedure helped lower smallpox transmission. At this point, smallpox remains the first and only human disease which has been eradicated through vaccination.
The Black Death:
“… and so many died that all believed it was the end of the world.”
Another main outbreak in history was the mysterious plague that remained taking the lives of people without leaving any clue of its cause. However, it was later discovered how the deadly pandemic was caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis. It killed more than 25 million people for over just a couple of years until a cure was found. Since it was a contagious disease and much of its transmission occurred through trade routes, so the cutting off of mobility was the main way to stop its spread. It was during that time when sailors were held in their ships for 30 days which later changed to 40 days thus becoming known as quarantine (Latin for 40) and is still being used as quarantine. The plague was so contagious that it even spread to domestic animals thus increasing the chances of its spread. Historians say that due to the severity of the disease people had developed such a panic that they even abandoned their dying loved ones. It can be one of the reasons that the plague was conquered because people were themselves keen to follow the social distancing principles so that they don’t contract the disease from others. As the famous Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio said about the response of people during the plague, “each thought to secure immunity for himself”. The plague was conquered much through preventive measures and collective action by the people but it remained in some parts of the world as an endemic. In 1984, with the development of the antibiotic Streptomycin, most forms of plagues have been treated and still is the disease treated through antibiotics.
How did WWZ present the conquering of the
outbreak?
Zombies swarm in smart ways in World War Z. Image Credit: Saber Interactive |
No matter
how large a catastrophe is, there is always a way to get out of it. It is just
that we need the right direction to find the solution before the catastrophe
finds us. In situations of outbreaks, the major thing required is social unity.
The idea that an individual is not only responsible for his own life and to the
lives of his family but is now responsible for the whole of humanity, is what
needs to be promoted. Cooperation with institutions and among each other can
help in reaching a cure for diseases ahead of time. Now as we gradually come
out of the mouth of a pandemic, we need to ask ourselves how much are we
prepared to deal with any such issue that arises in the future?
References:
1. HOWARD, J. E. N. N. Y. (2020, July 6). The plague was one of history’s deadliest diseases—then we found a cure [web log]. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-plague.
2. ROOS, D. A. V. E. (2021, March 4). [web log]. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.history.com/news/pandemics-end-plague-cholera-black-death-smallpox.
3. Hajar, R. (2012). The air of history (part II) medicine in the Middle Ages. Heart Views, 13(4), 158. https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-705x.105744
Comments
Post a Comment