Don’t We Have Anything to Learn From the Past? Perspective of Epidemics

Year : 2024 | Volume : 14 | Issue : 03 | Page : 21 27
    By

    Anindita Joardar,

  1. Assistant Professor, Department of Neurogenetics, Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, 52/1A Sambhunath Pandit Street, Annexe-I, IPGME&R, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Abstract

History gives us the chance to learn from the past. In this article, a few of history’s biggest outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics have been chronicled. The difference between these three are: an outbreak is when an illness occurs in an unexpectedly high number of individuals. It may stay in one area or extend more widely. An outbreak lasts up to several days to years. Sometimes, a single case of a contagious disease is considered as an outbreak by experts. An epidemic is labeled when an infectious disease spreads quickly and affects many people at a time. It affects a larger area than an outbreak but lesser area than pandemic, usually limited to a city or country. Whereas a pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads across the whole world engulfing various countries or continents. It may last up to years with several waves. These include Plague of Athens, Antonine Plague, Plague of Cyprian, Plague of Justinian, Cocoliztli Epidemic, Great Plague of Marseille, etc. from ancient times as well as Russian Flu, Spanish Flu, Influenza Pandemic, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Swine Flu Pandemic, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Ebola, and the very recent COVID-19 Pandemic, etc. in modern times. In the past few years, COVID-19 has engulfed the whole world. Humanities’ reliance on one another has increased the chances of diseases spreading. Urbanization has helped in forming denser neighborhoods. These have a profound effect on the spread of COVID-19. But due to public lethargy to understand the gravity of the situation, multiple waves became inevitable. Indeed, we, humans never learn from our past.

Keywords: Epidemics, pandemics, MERS, Ebola, SARS, swine flu

[This article belongs to Research & Reviews: A Journal of Medicine ]

How to cite this article:
Anindita Joardar. Don’t We Have Anything to Learn From the Past? Perspective of Epidemics. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Medicine. 2024; 14(03):21-27.
How to cite this URL:
Anindita Joardar. Don’t We Have Anything to Learn From the Past? Perspective of Epidemics. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Medicine. 2024; 14(03):21-27. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/rrjom/article=2024/view=182225


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Regular Issue Subscription Review Article
Volume 14
Issue 03
Received 14/07/2024
Accepted 28/08/2024
Published 11/11/2024
211

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