Pandemic History

"There is no battle between human beings and nature, unless we attempt to ruin it or disturb the equilibrium of natural forces and resources." --- Adam Ford, 2020




A pandemic is defined as "an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people" (World Health Organization,2009). By this definition, pandemics can be said to occur annually in each of the temperate southern and northern hemispheres, given that seasonal epidemics cross international boundaries and affect a large number of people. However, seasonal epidemics are not considered pandemics.




In this historically accurate essay, Adam Ford, with his usual expertise reconstructs through an accurate elaboration of historical sources, the cyclical alternation of the great pandemics, like the "Black Plague" and the "Spanish Flu", that have afflicted the globe and the human society.




The shocking truth that emerges is that evidence recommends that the probability of pandemics has increased exponentially over the past century.




This is due to globalization (frequent intercontinental travel with too little regulations), reckless urbanization, and unbalanced exploitation of natural resources (air, water and land)




These trends will likely continue and so the risk for pandemics will also intensify.




With the analisys proposed by Ford in this essay, we will retrace with the author what were the causes and factors that triggered these terrible pandemics and the effects they had on humanity as a whole. Epidemics that, like the "Black Plague" and the "Spanish Flu", have afflicted almost all the inhabitants of the globe, in historical moments that already had very hard and dangerous living conditions, such as the Middle Ages or the period immediately after the WW1.




Retrace with Ford the events that led to the great pandemics of human history:




- Smallpox

- The Black Plague

- Malaria

- Cholera

- Tuberculosis

- Spanish Influenza (1918-20)

- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

- Ebola Virus