In this final installment of  The History of Pandemics we will be looking at the Pandemics of the last 200 years including the current COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Cholera Pandemics of the 19th Century 

There was a multitude of Cholera Pandemics in the 1800s that killed millions of people. Cholera spread throughout many countries including Russia, Britain, America, Japan, Spain, India, Indonesia, and Italy. Each of the Cholera pandemics were usually enclosed to small areas but caused a couple hundred-thousand deaths. Even after a vaccine was created in 1885, more Cholera pandemics happened.

The Russian Flu -1889

The Russian Flu pandemic of 1889 originated in Siberia and then travelled throughout the rest of Russia, and from there it travelled to the rest of Europe. It first began to outbreak in St. Petersburg where it infected approximately a quarter of the people in the city. The Flu spread fast and there were cases throughout the whole globe only a year after the first appearance of the flu. Although it spread thr0ughout the whole globe and there were millions of cases, it didn’t have a high death rate. There ended up being a little less than one million deaths worldwide from the Russian Flu. 

Spanish Flu- 1918

The Spanish Flu pandemic was caused by a strain of influenza that couldn’t be treated. The strain spread like wildfire throughout Europe, the United States, and even parts of Asia. What made things even worse was that the Spanish Flu arose during the first world war. The flu was rampant amongst soldiers and it spread even faster in the harsh conditions of the trenches. The Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and caused 50 million deaths worldwide making it one of the most deadly pandemics in modern history.  

COVID-19 Pandemic- 2020

COVID-19 took us all by surprise because nearly everyone alive hadn’t been through anything like it. For over a year, almost the whole world was on lockdown due to the pandemic and millions of people went into poverty. The pandemic isn’t done yet but as of now there have been 3.8 million deaths caused by COVID-19 worldwide. This pandemic is bound to be remembered for centuries to come and will go down in history.

This concludes The History of Pandemics as of 2021. We can all hope there wont be anymore anytime soon. If there is, we can look back at our history and be more prepared.