Many people may have heard the word pandemic for the first time due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, even before COVID-19, the pandemic still existed. Let’s look at what kind of disease this big epidemic has become and what made the public use the word pandemic. ......Ed
We call the recent outbreak of COVID-19 a ‘pandemic.’ Do Soongsilians know virus from pandemic? Viruses are microorganisms that proliferate through intracellular infection of living hosts, and plagues exist in all living organisms and cause various diseases. In the 19th century, it was first known that not only bacteria but also viruses can cause disease. A pandemic refers to a phenomenon or disease in which a plague spread widely worldwide. Epidemics occur only in a limited area, but pandemics, on the other hand, spread over an extensive area. As COVID-19 did, infectious diseases that drive human death can become facilitators of war, change the social structure, or make a lot of money for someone. In this way, plagues have lived together in human history and had a profound impact on humanity, and ST starts to look back on that history at the end of COVID-19.
Black Death
Around 1350, the plague, or Black Death, struck Europe. The disease at the time is assumed to be lymph node plague. The death toll ratio to the total population is higher than any other natural, man- made, or epidemic in the past 2000 years. The vector of plague is the rat flea, which was discovered in 1894 by the Swiss physician Alexandre Yersin. As time passed, hygiene ideas took hold, and with Marseilles in 1722, the plague finally subsided on the continent. The Black Death caused enormous human casualties, but those who survived benefited from improved social and economic conditions. The lack of labor due to the declining population gave artisans and farmers a previously unimaginable advantage in negotiating with the landlords. After the Black Death, for the first time in history, land could be passed on to daughters. It is noteworthy that the cataclysm of the Black Death had such a positive effect because those who remained contributed to technological innovation in European countries in the future while effectively utilizing limited resources.
Smallpox
May 8, 1980, is the day when smallpox, one of the first epidemic diseases in human history, was completely eradicated. The damage that smallpox has done tohumankind over the centuries has been considerable. In the early 16th century, European explorers and conquerors brought smallpox to the New World, killing many natives. Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec civilization because many native Mexicans died from smallpox. Smallpox swept the Inca Empire around 1526 as well as the Aztec kingdom. Within 10 years, the Inca Empire lost between 50 and 90 percent of its inhabitants. Later, in the 18th century, it was discovered that conquistadors deliberately tried to spread the plague by taking advantage of the vulnerability of Native Americans to smallpox. The peak of smallpox in Europe was in the 18th century when Peter II of Russia and Louis XV of France contracted smallpox and died. Fortunately, a new treatment method called vaccination appeared after the 18th century, and smallpox disappeared into history as Edward Jenner developed an innovative smallpox vaccine.
Cholera
Cholera is a disease that emerged in modern Europe. The typical symptoms of cholera are acute vomiting and diarrhea. It was originally a common disease in India but was spread by soldiers. In September 1830, Moscow was the first major city in Europe to be attacked by cholera. Since then, it severely hit Poland, then Western and Central Europe. Among the notable victims of the first cholera pandemic were German idealist philosopher Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel, Prussian officer August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, and the 11th President of the United States James Knox Polk. Historian Thomas Nipperdey at the time explained that the anxiety caused by cholera led to improvements in the city’s living conditions. Later, John Snow of England discovered that cholera infection was carried out through water, and in 1883, the method of infection of cholera was also revealed. However, even today in the 21st century, cholera is common in countries facing war or other crises.
Flu
An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, but flu spread near the Somme and Marne rivers, killing many people from the spring of 1918 to 1920. The flu that was prevalent at the time was nicknamed the Spanish flu because of the effects of World War I. This is because Spain, a non-combatant nation, reported flu news more freely than newspapers in other countries. In March 1918, the first flu patient appeared in the United States. By April, many German soldiers guarding the trenches were down with influenza. In August 1918, the second flu pandemic spread worldwide. At the time, Franklin Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy of the United States, also got the flu. In 1920, the flu spread to Japan, and many people were sacrificed. It’s been 100 years since flu pandemics wreakedhavoc worldwide, but epidemiologists are still warning that a pandemic could happen on a large scale.
Just as various plagues have affected human society in history, COVID-19 has also had a profound impact on our society. First, COVID-19 has become the driving force behind the progress of the ‘non-face-to-face system.’ Since COVID-19, non-face-to-face services have been activated in various fields, unimaginable fields before the outbreak of COVID-19, such as lectures, meetings, interviews, and concerts to minimize infection through contact, and even after the pandemic, non-face-to-face services have been steadily used for their convenience and progress. In addition, the rate of eating out has decreased, the number of delivery orders has increased rapidly, and the word ‘corona blue,’ which refers to a mental disorder caused by not being able to meet people or go out, has appeared.
What posture should we take at the point where the end of COVID-19 is visible? What is certain is that other plagues will inevitably emerge besides the coronavirus. Therefore, we must follow the most basic quarantine rules, such as washing our hands, and know that plagues are always looking for opportunities behind us and looking for the right time to reveal themselves.
Kim Tae-eun (Planning Editor)
rhfelddl01@soongsil.ac.kr
Park Seo-jin (Web Editor)
linasj1@soongsil.ac.kr
