Epidemics

Origins and Outbreaks

Humankind has documented evidence of disease outbreaks occurring throughout the world since the development of written records. Hippocrates documented an outbreak of deadly influenza occurring throughout Greece and neighboring countries in 412 b.c.e. An outbreak of leprosy also occurred during this time and has been documented in both literary and religious works. Smallpox affected the New World just as George Washington and the Continental army battled British troops.

Both sides suffered tremendous losses from this epidemic. Physicians developed crude methods of inoculating both soldiers and the public by using variolation. These physicians captured matter from the pustule of an infected person and placed it beneath the skin of an unaffected person, potentially causing immunity. This also served to reduce the size of the outbreak, thereby potentially saving thousands of lives.

A majority of disease outbreaks remain localized (endemic) or regionalized (epidemic). However, others can spread globally, which is defined as a pandemic. Disease outbreaks typically follow a cycle, beginning with infection of a population, either on a small or large scale, severe illness, or eventual death of the host. A host can be most any animal, from migratory waterfowl to humans. Viruses often die themselves once they have run their course. Humans have the ability to develop immunity to bacteria or virus strains once they have become infected and survived the illness. Unfortunately, bacteria or viruses have the ability to mutate or evolve into new, more deadly strains. Humans typically do not have immunity from these new strains, which can potentially lead to an epidemic. Examples include the 1918 Spanish influenza, which begin as an epidemic and eventually resulted in over 40 million deaths. Similar epidemics occurred in 1957 and 1968. Most recently, an outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) and swine influenza (H1N1) occurred in 2009 and 2010. Each of these is a variation of influenza Type A.

Epidemics not only affect individuals from a medical standpoint but can also affect them economically. Because commerce is totally dependent on people, the economy can quickly become stagnant if people are not purchasing goods and services. This can lead to a global recession. Moreover, people are needed to sell these goods, operate stores, and provide routine services such as fuel and water delivery.

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