Is it a pandemic, or an epidemic? An epidemic is a sudden increase in the number of cases of disease more than what’s typically expected of the population in that area. However, pandemic is defined as an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, affecting a large number of people.
Official terms aside, COVID-19 is not the first disease outbreak faced by humankind. Here are some of the biggest outbreaks that changed the course of history:
Justinian Plague (541 AD)
Death Toll: 25 million
Cause: Bubonic plague
Location: Afflicted the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities.
The Black Death (1346 – 1353)
Death Toll: 75 – 200 million
Cause: Bubonic plague
Location: It was said to have originated in Asia and the plague most likely jumped continents via the fleas living on the rats that so frequently lived aboard merchant ships. From 1346 to 1353, the plague ravaged Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Third Plague Pandemic (1855)
Death Toll: 15 million
Cause: Bubonic plague
Location: It started in China and moved to India and Hong Kong.
Spanish Flu (1918)
Death Toll: 20 – 50 million
Cause: Influenza
Location: Historians theorised that it originated in China and was spread by Chinese labourers being transported by rail across Canada on their way to Europe.
Asian Flu (1957 – 1958)
Death Toll: 2 million
Cause: Influenza
Location: Asian Flu travelled from the Chinese province of Guizhou to Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States.
Ebola (1976)
Death Toll: 14,693
Cause: Ebola virus
Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo
HIV/AIDS Pandemic (Peak: 2005 – 2012)
Death Toll: 36 million
Cause: HIV/AIDS
Location: It was first identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, and has proven itself as a global pandemic, killing more than 36 million people since 1981.
SARS (2003)
Death Toll: 813
Cause: Influenza
Location: China
H1N1 (2009)
Death Toll: 123,000 – 203,000
Cause: Swine-origin influenza
Location: US and Mexico
MERS (2012)
Death Toll: 858
Cause: Novel coronavirus
Location: Saudi Arabia
H7N9 Bird Flu (2013)
Death Toll: 616
Cause: Chicken avian influenza viruses
Location: China
