10 Deadliest Pandemics In History Were Much Worse Than Coronavirus So Far

The Federalist ^ | April 18, 2020 | Dan Carpenter

[RedStateRocker]

Well, actually, the “dark ages” are considered bo be 476-800, from the fall of Italian Rome to Charmalagne. The plague actually occurred in the late middle ages, which are usually considered to be 1300 - 1500.

Sorry to be pedantic, but the 1350s was *NOT* the ‘dark ages’ - which were called such because of the extreme lack of historical records following the dissolution of Western Rome.

[crusty old prospector]

This won’t even make the Top 20.

[fireman15]

It would have been a LOT worse if it had happened in the past.

It is becoming more and more obvious that this one wouldn't have even been noticed in the past. It would have been lost in the noise of the seasonal flu numbers. Nothing that governments around the world have done have been effective, largely because their reactions have been based on models using false assumptions.

[Kaslin]

It supposedly originated at Fort Riley, Kansas. This is what I found from an article from May 19, 2017

Source By Season Osterfeld, Fort Riley Public Affairs May 19, 2017 FORT RILEY, Kan. -- More than 25 scientists from around the globe visited Fort Riley May 10 to hear the history of the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak at the installation and tour the museums.

The scientists were in Manhattan, Kansas, May 7 to 10 for the 8th International Conference on Emerging Zoonosis hosted by staff of Kansas State University. The conference is held every three years and consists of an interdisciplinary forum of physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, immunologists, virologists, microbiologists, public health experts and others. During the event, the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans and the economic impact of transboundary diseases were discussion topics.

With the assistance of retired Lt. Col. Arthur DeGroat, director of military affairs at Kansas State University, and Capt. Jamie Pecha, 1st Infantry Division preventive medicine officer, the international scientists received the history of the H1N1 Influenza, or Spanish Flu, that struck Fort Riley and spread across the world in 1918.

Fort Riley is believed to be the origin of the world-wide epidemic that killed millions, said Robert Smith, director of the museum division at Fort Riley.

"It was probably the greatest pandemic the world has ever seen," he said. "They (researchers) think it killed between 2 and 4 percent of the world's population. It was even greater than the bubonic plague back in the 14th century." "They thought it mutated from pigs and then infected some Soldiers, some draftees, from Pascal County, Kansas, and they came here to train at Fort Riley and then the first recorded flu case here was a cook of all people," he said

. Stephanie Hober, grant specialist, Kansas State University Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases, said the tour and history were enjoyable and gave the group local background information on an epidemic several have studied.

"They're getting to see the historical significance of Fort Riley in the outbreak of the Spanish Flu and the impact it had on the surrounding area here in the time it happened and the advances they've made since that time," she said.

Understanding the history of the 1918 Spanish Flu and how it spread through a military installation, across the nation and internationally helps scientists develop a larger picture on how viruses and diseases transform into pandemics and on to epidemics, said conference co-host Dr. Jürgen Richt, from Kansas State University's Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases.

"It's history and it's very good that Fort Riley is a historic place and has a historian who is very able to describe well the history of how from Fort Riley these disease evolved and causes millions and millions of deaths," Richt said. "It's very important to have this historical perspective."

Richt said the conference gets the scientists and experts communicating across disciplines when they normally would not. They can exchange information and work together to understand, treat and prevent diseases that travel between humans and animals.

"We have to bring these people together, they often don't speak," he said. "The medical doctors don't speak with the veterinarians and vice versa and we can solve these problems so far. These zoonosis can become epidemics … We have to understand, not only from the human side, but also what's going on in the animal reservoirs, and only then can we have a clear picture of what the risks are for these diseases to spread and come to our shores and what we need to stockpile now, like (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) vaccines … These are the kinds of questions we have to address and that's why we bring together epidemiologists, virologists, bacteriologists and so on."

[fireman15]

Shouldn’t malaria, measles and polio have made the list? They all seem much more serious than this “Covid 19” oitbreak.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Back in those days diseases were thought to be caused and spread by BAD AIR (Miasma). That is why the Plague Doctors had a beak shaped mask as the beak was full of flowers and perfumes to modify what the doctors breathed.

Another way it was believed diseases were spread was a sick person could cast an EVIL EYE on a well person causing them to also become sick.

[Burma Jones]

Interesting article, but one glaring error. The Black Death did not lead to the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages is a somewhat archaic term given to early medieval period, after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Author was off by 800 years or so, equivalent to the gap from Magna Carta to Brexit.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Yellow Fever killed 1 in 10 of the citizens of Memphis in the 1870s.

Democrats always welcomed in new diseases. Here is Boss Tweed welcoming a new immigrant.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/de/2c/16/de2c1667592f49dc26023ba7c42fc413.jpg

And on the West Coast...
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/FC17GwfW3uXNlMIIGew_jPb0wYI_1AhFEOly1x2Bu8KJDNU85DLgx2YraxviIMEbVVjjyo7aUeeEhNGyK2DtA3aPzmSAAgfNvg1au6zpSQZ5HBA

[carikadon]

This same graphics site also includes the spread rate of different diseases. CV is not nearly as transmittable as other diseases.

https://2oqz471sa19h3vbwa53m33yj-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/deadliest-pandemics-R0-disease-spread.jpg

[Nifster]

The R0 of smallpox is much higher than for the Wuhan Flu. We did not shut down the country. We quarantined the sick

[Fitzy_888]

[Buried Lead.]

Coronavirus deaths: Why NI’s statistics are changing

By Eimear Flanagan

BBC News Northern Ireland | 15 April 2020

(...)

The PHA toll consists of patients who die within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 diagnosis, whether or not Covid-19 was the cause of their death.

(...)

How does Nisra calculate its weekly death toll?

Nisra’s figures are compiled from formal death registrations, a process which can take up to five days.

Its coronavirus-related death toll not only includes patients who have tested positive for Covid-19, but it also includes “suspected cases” in which Covid-19 been mentioned on the death certificate.

In these cases, the patient was not tested for coronavirus, but a doctor completing their death certificate has diagnosed a suspected case based on Covid-19 symptoms rather than a laboratory result.

(...)

Link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-52291997

[Let's Roll]

Thank you for pointing this out. You weren’t pedantic to point out a discrepancy of hundreds of years.

My interest in art history alone had me going wh-a-a-at ? dark ages in the 14th Century? I don’t think so.

[Labyrinthos]

“By far the deadliest pandemic of all time, the Black Death radically shaped the course of human history, plunging Europe into the Dark Ages.”

I hate to pick, but the Dark Ages (a/k/a “Early Middle Ages”) lasted from the 5th to the 10th century. The Black Death of 1347 to 1351 occurred during the Late Middle Ages.