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Period: 541 to 542
Plague of Justinian
Is the first major pandemic that struck the Byzantine Empire. The bacterium responsible has been identified as your Sania pestis.
Is most commonly known as bubonic plague, it was a pathogen carried by rats.
25 to 50 million people had died. -
1347
A mysterious illness
Ships return to the shores of Sicily with sailors stricken for a mysterious illnes that formed dark swellings or buboes and the armpits and groin. -
Period: 1347 to 1351
Black death
This was the name given to the mysterious illness. The Venetians banned sailors from entering their cities for 40 days, creating the quarantine. This quarantine helped to deter the outbreak, but still claimed 200 lives.
This evolved into the chickenpox and caused 20 million deaths on the pre-columbian population. -
Spanish flu
500 million people were infected in this pandemic. This illness impacted more on young adults. By the end of 1920 the illness claimed the lives of 50 to 100 million people. -
Period: to
COVID-19
It is still not known with certainty how the virus that causes this pandemic arose, what is known is that it came from an animal and that it originated in China. Currently, the number of deaths and infections is still not known with certainty.