In December 2019, the "COVID-19" outbreak broke out. The outbreak spread rapidly and widely. On March 11 of the following year, the World Health Organization proposed that the "COVID-19" pneumonia epidemic could be called a "global pandemic". "For a while, people around the world changed their minds when they talked about the 'epidemic'.
In fact, this is not the first large-scale epidemic in human history. Which one is more severe than the previous plague?
Streets with only pandemic responders after the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019
4 plagues with widespread impact
"Fixed in history": smallpox
In the history of human development, there have been many man-made, systematic and systematic genocides against peoples. The advanced weapons and colonial marauders in these genocides are undoubtedly the protagonists.
But the "worst genocide in human history" was not caused by them. The real culprit is "smallpox". Smallpox is a very old virus that was used to invade the Americas in the late 15th century. Residents generously gave the Indians used blankets from the sick.
Smallpox wiped out the Indians
Since then, the plague has swept across the American continent. In about 100 years, the number of Native Americans has decreased from 20 million to 30 million to less than 1 million.
But as the saying goes, "how high is the devil", smallpox eventually lost to the people, because in the 1870s, an English doctor named Edward Jenner discovered cowpox and finally gave people a way to fight the virus. Smallpox virus.
Note that Sun Simiao (581-682), a famous physician of the Tang Dynasty, wrote "A Thousand Golden Fangs":
"Puncture the perimeter of the eye with needles and knives, causing bleeding. Take yellow pus from the wound and apply it to it, and without letting water for three days, the pus will fall from the root. ”
Sun Simiao was a famous physician of the Tang Dynasty
This is actually an earlier "human pox" method. After the emergence of the Ming Dynasty, this method of preventing smallpox became more prevalent.
Of course, limited by time, this "pox method" is more dangerous than the vaccinia vaccination found by Edward Jenner, and Edward's vaccinia vaccination only reduced the smallpox mortality rate of patients to about 1/3.
Later, developed countries gradually controlled the disease through improved and purified vaccinia vaccines and systematic universal vaccination.
Vaccination drawing
Fast forward to October 26, 1979, when the World Health Organization declared that "smallpox had been eradicated from the world", and the epidemic went down in history.
Plague Companion: The plague
In addition to smallpox, plague caused many headaches for people. The spread of plague is inextricably linked to rats. This "plague partner" can spread more than 95% of the plague. The most famous of the many plagues was the Black Death. In the mid-14th century, the Black Death ravaged Europe. After the Black Death swept through Europe, it spread further to the Middle East, North Africa and India. Asia has not been spared.
Portrait during the Black Death
Between 1348 and 1352, about 25 million people died from the Black Death. This is not enough. For more than 300 years, the Black Death continued to ravage the world.
For example, in November 1910, an outbreak of plague broke out in Harbin, mainland China. The disaster first began in Fujiadian. Due to the very fast rate of spread, it endangered the entire northeastern region in a short period of time.
At the time, the city's daily death toll averaged more than 50. In order to prevent the further spread of the plague, Chinese and Russian officials held a special meeting to discuss ways to control the plague. They also hired specialists to control the plague.
Epidemic prevention doctor during the plague in Harbin
Wu Liande played an important role in this scourge. After the plague in Harbin was effectively controlled, he went to Changchun, Shenyang and other places to continue to do a good job in plague prevention and control.
At the end of April, the plague in the three northeastern provinces completely disappeared. This plague prevention and control provides a classic benchmark for the fight against infectious diseases in densely populated metropolitan areas. Some of the principles of prevention and treatment are still in use today.
Old photographs from the plague period in Harbin
"Deadly epidemic": Spanish flu
Before 1918, the flu did not cause widespread panic, but the outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918 made people no longer dare to take the "flu" lightly. It should be emphasized here that the Spanish flu did not originate in Spain, and the "patient zero" of this flu has nothing to do with Spain.
Because it happened during the outbreak of the First World War, the European belligerents did not allow the news of the epidemic to spread, causing panic among the population. However, Spain was "honest" and, as a neutral country, did not fear the spread of war. The Spanish media in the country were not interested in covering the First World War on a daily basis.
The death rate from the Spanish influenza pandemic is also alarming
They wanted to tell people about the flu closer than war. As a result, for a while, only the Spanish media said that "the flu is terrible" and "this disease kills", causing the media in other countries to suffer from influenza. A misunderstanding that originated in Spain led to the name "Spanish flu".
Blue-gray death: cholera
In addition to the Spanish flu, cholera is also a typical infectious disease. According to written records, cholera is about 200 years old. To date, there have been seven cholera pandemics globally.
Cholera in London during cholera epidemics (related painting) Cholera may subside, but it never goes away. When data on patients treated for cholera in different countries is combined, it is not difficult to see that cholera is still widespread in nearly 70 countries, causing about 21,000-143,000 deaths each year.
Cholera was once known as the "blue death" because a patient with cholera was likely to suffer from extreme dehydration, causing his skin to appear blue-gray.
The skin of cholera patients turns blue-gray due to extreme dehydration
The burden of cholera on the world is largely immeasurable. After all, there are too many blind spots in the world, and most cases go unreported. This makes it impossible for humans to detect and control cholera, not to mention the huge differences in the political and economic environment of different countries. These discrepancies also hinder an accurate assessment of the current situation of cholera outbreaks.
COVID-19 VS 4 plagues
The plague disease, which was once very prevalent in history, has caused great harm to humans, and the outbreak of the new coronavirus has so far caused more than 6.62 million deaths (December 8, Beijing time).
Hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic
Judging by the death toll alone, the new crown does not seem to be as dangerous as the four plagues. You know, smallpox claimed hundreds of millions of lives before it was completely eradicated;
Beginning in 1348, the plague lasted for more than 300 years and claimed more than 75 million lives;
The Spanish influenza pandemic, which began in 1918, killed between 2.5 and 100 million people (the world's total population at the time was only about 1.7 billion);
As for cholera, it claimed 140 million lives in several epidemics and continues to occur worldwide to this day.
Cholera continues to cause enormous harm to humanity
But the threat of COVID-19 cannot be underestimated if we consider medical conditions. When the four plagues broke out, the scientific and medical level of mankind lagged far behind today, resulting in a large number of deaths.
With the continuous development of human medicine, some once-deadly plagues are no longer a serious concern for us.
For example, smallpox directly took human lives. And the plague. Although it exists now, there are very few of them. After all, people today no longer treat the Black Death with bloodshed as they once did. The Spanish flu is just a microcosm of the history of the pandemic.
Paintings of once-popular bloodletting therapy scenes
Years after the COVID-19 outbreak, we still can't say with certainty that "it has been completely eliminated". Like cholera, it is more severe than other plague viruses.
However, now that the new crown epidemic has been brought under control, some countries and regions have gradually begun to implement "easing" policies. We must do our best to "protect" in our daily lives so that the "new crown" does not find us as much as possible.