An epidemic is defined as “An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely.” (Dictionary.com) A pandemic is defined as “Epidemic over a wide geographic area and affecting a large proportion of the population.” (Dictionary.com) Some of the worst epidemics and pandemics faced by the world in recent past were the Spanish Flu, Cholera, and AIDS; however, there are many more I hope we can cover.
Influenza is the virus that is commonly known as the flu. As you may already know, serious cases of the flu can lead to pneumonia, which can be fatal in small children and the elderly. It is most commonly transmitted through coughing and sneezing. The virus has caused numerous pandemics, but I have chosen to concentrate on the pandemic of 1918.
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu due to the amount of press it received in Spain) was the most destructive outbreak of the disease that has ever occurred. A surprising fact that I found is that the number of deaths that occurred as a result of the violence of World War I is less than the number of deaths due to influenza. Because of the close quarters and the constant movement of the troops, the disease spread particularly fast. Influenza spread also along trade routes and shipping lines. Influenza swept the world between 1918 and 1919. It even reached the arctic. Hardly any countries were left untouched by the deadly disease, but a few were able to keep people from dying from it. The websites I mainly used for my research were the Wikipedia pages for “Spanish Flu” and its page for “Influenza”.
1 comment:
Great post! Thanks for defining pandemic and epidemic, because I didn't really know exactly what those words meant before. The flu is definitely something that is interesting to consider because there are many instances in which the flu has been very deadly to a large group of people. I'd like to know more about flu vaccines? When were they first invented and how effective are they at preventing the flu?
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