Diseases That Shaped Human History | World's biggest Plagues
Channel: Anna Tiurina
Date: 2020-08-08

This video will tell you about diseases that shaped human history.

Antonine Plague
One of the worst ancient pandemics to affect the world was definitely the Antonine plague. The Antonine Plague, also known as Plague of Galen, was brought to the world by Roman Empire troops that were coming back from the Near East. This plague could possibly be smallpox or measles, and may have also claimed the life of Roman Emperor Lucius Verus. The disease broke out again nine years later and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day in Rome, one quarter of those who were affected, which gives the disease a mortality rate of about 25%. The total deaths have been estimated at 5 million, and the disease killed as much as one third of the population.

Bubonic Plague in China
 This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately led to more than 12 million deaths in India and China, with about 10 million killed in India alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1960, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. The first was primarily bubonic and was carried around the world through ocean-going trade, through transporting infected persons, rats, and cargoes harboring fleas.

HIV Pandemic in Africa
The HIV pandemic in Africa emerged in Congo in the late 1970s, and supposedly it had jumped from chimpanzees to humans. In the countries of sub-Saharan Africa most affected, AIDS has raised death rates and lowered life expectancy among adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by about twenty years. Furthermore, the life expectancy in many parts of Africa is declining, largely as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic with life-expectancy in some countries reaching as low as thirty-four years. That's because HIV transmission is most likely to occur in the first weeks after infection, which is usually before people notice and still engage in relations with more than one sexual partner in the same time period. 

Black Death
The black death is known as the world's deadliest pandemic, also called 'the Plague'. It was the most fatal pandemic in human history, with deaths calculated at around 200 million in North Africa and Eurasia. The black death caused effects not only in people's health, but also in the social, economic and even religious aspects, with people calling it a punishment from God. It's believed that the Black Death originated in Central Asia or East Asia, where it travelled the Silk Road until reaching Crimea. For comparison, most plagues have affected countries for a few years or low decades. The black death affected Europe for 200 years, after which it recovered to its previous population level.

COVID-19
Finally, we of course have the covid-19, the world's current pandemic and the one most documented by social media and the newer generations. Ironically enough, covid-19 wasn’t as dangerous as other pandemics we have mentioned here. Rather, it’s because of the effects it has had on global economy, business and travel that we have decided to place it in our list of history-defining diseases. 

 What’s your personal experience with covid-19? 
So, what do you think of these global pandemics that shaped human history? 
Let us know in the comments below!

Thanks for watching and have a GREAT DAY! :) 

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Attributions:

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/p8gxfxrp CC-BY-4.0

The angel of death striking a door during the plague of Rome: an engraving by Levasseur after Jules-Elie Delaunay

De Fotografía propia / PierreSelim, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52242304

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jr2d6q5w CC-BY-4.0
By Unknown author - Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images»Historical photographs of China 中国摄影史图片库»The Manchurian Plague 1910-11 (2), original: „Чума въ Маньчжуріи“ въ 1910-1911 г.г., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=451747

By Stephen Codrington, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=220287

By USAID Africa Bureau - Midwife draws blood to establish HIV patient's CD4 countUploaded by Elitre, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21460037

By COSV, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16195272

By Thomas Splettstoesser (www.scistyle.com) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39388497

By Flappiefh - Own work from: Natural Earth; The origin and early spread of the Black Death in Italy: first evidence of plague victims from 14th-century Liguria (northern Italy) maps by O.J. Benedictow., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66468361