History Repeats – Since 1720 There’s Been A Pandemic Every 100 Years
One minute read. Written by Agastya Sharma, a grade 6 student.
Every century, the Earth has experienced major epidemics and has seen death in a new form
One minute read. Written by Agastya Sharma, a grade 6 student (junior editor I Kid You Not).
Obviously, you know how badly the Covid-19 has affected the world. It’s all over the news.
But did you know the pattern of the pandemics every century? If yes, then there’s absolutely no point in reading this article. Oh well, read it anyway.
So, every century, the Earth has experienced major epidemics and has seen death in a new form. If you’re a Percy Jackson fan, then Thanatos was having a field day with souls to be reaped.
In 1720, France saw an epidemic that killed over a hundred thousand people. The plague of Marseilles lasted for two years. It was a branch of the bubonic plague, one of the last. Plagues have always been a threat to human society. And the bubonic plague in total was responsible for the deaths of 25 million people. At that time, that was a third of Europe’s population.
In 1820, the yellow fever outbreak hit a record high. The USA had been suffering from yellow fever since 1793 and the outbreak continued to the 1890s. The estimated death count recorded 1000000. At that point in time, that was 10% of the United States’ population. If 10% of the world’s population is destroyed, that would be a death toll of nearly 800 million people. Wow.
1920. The time of the Spanish influenza. It is also known as the 1918 flu pandemic. The only reason it is even called the Spanish flu is because during world war I, the media was not allowed to report cases in Germany, the UK, France and the USA. They were free to report about Spain, creating a false impression of the country being largely affected. Epidemiological data cannot place the exact origin of the deadly flu.
Now, about a hundred years from the influenza outbreak, the Coronavirus has once again struck fear into our hearts. Conspiracy theorists believe that these outbursts are created by a spiteful organization to cause a sixth mass extinction.
But even as these pandemics have come to an end, we are hopeful that with 2020, even the Novel Coronavirus expires. Will something happen in 2120? Who knows – none of us will be here to find out!
Written by Agastya Sharma
Agastya is a grade 6 student who is passionate about reading and writing.
Want to write for I Kid You Not? We publish children’s writing.
Reach out at: ikidyounott@yahoo.com
Comments
Bubonic Plague was only one kind of Plague.
Three kinds of Plague were spread:
Bubonic, Septicemic, Pneumonic Plague.
And it also destroyed an entire civilization and killed over a hundred million people.