Pandemic´s History Pablo Negrete

Plague of Justinian

541

This was the first major pandemic in history. It struck the Byzantine Empire and the bacterium responsible has been identified as Yersinia pestis.

Black Death

1346

It formed dark swellings or buboes. The Venetians banned sailors from entering their cities for 40 days and they started quarantine. While these quarantine efforts did help to deter the outbreak in the end the Black Death took up to 200 million lives across Eurasia.

Chicken Pox

1500

Also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus.

Measles

1757

Is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days.

Spanish flu

1918

It impacted young adults the hardest. Half of those that died were between the ages of 20 and 40 and the 99% were under the age of 65. By the end of 1920, Spanish flu claimed the lives of 50 to 100 million peolpe.

Covid 19

2020

All available evidence for COVID-19 suggests that SARS-CoV-2 has a zoonotic source. Since there is usually limited close contact between humans and bats, it is more likely that transmission of the virus to humans happened through another animal species, one that is more likely to be handled by humans.