The most deadly epidemics of humanity throughout history

Weather of Arabia - The new strain of the "Corona" virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has spread almost all over Asia and reached all over the world.

The virus has killed 536,814 people, with more than 11,579,837 confirmed cases in countries around the world, including 684,868 cases in the Arab world.

With the world preoccupied with fighting the spread and creation of a vaccine for the "Covid-19" virus, the Chinese authorities recently announced the third level of risk of a new epidemic, "bubonic or bubonic plague" in northern Inner Mongolia .

Returning to the history of epidemics, the world has witnessed a deadly spread of epidemics throughout history that destroyed entire countries and claimed millions of lives. Here's a closer look at the worst epidemic viruses so far:

The most deadly epidemics of humanity throughout history

The Antonine Plague

The Antonine Plague, sometimes referred to as the Galen plague, spread in the year 165 AD, at the height of Roman power throughout the world, during the reign of the last of the five emperors, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (161-180 AD).

The first stage of the spread of the Antonine plague lasted until 180 AD, and this spread greatly affected the entire Roman Empire.

While the second fascism occurred in 251-266 AD, which compounded the effects of the disease on the Roman Empire, and according to historians was the main pillar of its fall.

Doctor Galen (129 - 216 AD), a Greek physician and author of Methodus Medendi , witnessed an outbreak and described his symptoms and course which is likely to be smallpox .

The cause and spread of the disease

The epidemic is likely to have appeared in China shortly before the spread of tuberculosis in the 16th century AD west along the Silk Road and through merchant ships destined for Rome. Sometime between late 165 and early 166 AD, the Roman army was in contact with the disease through the siege of Silosia (a major city on the Tigris River). The forces returning from the wars in the east spread the disease north to Gaul and between the forces stationed along the River Rhine .

Mortality and economic impacts

Roman historian Dio Cassius (155-235 AD) estimated 2,000 deaths per day in Rome at the height of the outbreak. In the second outbreak, the death rate was much higher, rising to 5,000 a day.

The total number of deaths was estimated at 5 million, the disease caused the death of up to a third of the population in some areas, and the Roman army was destroyed .

This plague lasted until about 180 AD, and historians note that Emperor Marcus Aurelius was one of his victims .

Black plague :

The Black Plague or the Black Death which is the epidemic that destroyed Europe between 1347 and 1351, causing relatively greater lives than any other epidemic or war known to date .

The Black Plague began to spread in China and Inner Asia at the beginning, and the Black Death destroyed Jani Beg's army while besieging the Genoa commercial port, which is the coast of Feodosia now located in the Crimea (1347) .

As his forces disintegrated, Jannbij threw the plague-infested bodies into the city in an attempt to hit his enemies. From Cava, the Genoa ships carried the epidemic westward to the Mediterranean ports, where they spread inside, affecting Sicily (1347), North Africa, the mainland of Italy, Spain, and France (1348); Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries (1349).

London suffered violently between February and May 1349 from the Black Death and East Anglia and Yorkshire during that summer and the Black Death reached the far north of England, Scotland, Scandinavia and the Baltic states in 1350 .

There was a repetition of the plague in 1361--13, 1369--71, 1374--75, 1390, 1400 . Modern research has assumed that during that time period, the plague was introduced to Europe several times, coming from Central Asia via fleas that were in mice that lived on merchant ships .

The plague killed an estimated 25 million people, nearly a third of the population of the European continent at the time. The Black Death lasted for centuries, especially in cities. Incidents of the Great Plague included the London epidemic (1665-66), in which 70,000 people died.

Asian flu :

The Asian flu was an epidemic of influenza A viruses, a subtype H2N2 that originated in China in 1956, and lasted until 1958.

In the first few months, it spread throughout China and its regions, but by the summer, it reached the United States, where it initially infected relatively few people .

After several months, many cases of HIV infection were reported, especially in young children, the elderly and pregnant women .

Estimates of the number of deaths vary according to the source, but the World Health Organization estimates the final outcome at two million and 69,800 people, in the United States alone, and the epidemic has spread to Asian and European countries that have experienced an outbreak of the virus .

Zika fever

The Zika virus is transmitted through blood-sucking mosquitoes such as the Egyptian Aedes mosquito, and its symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes .

The first local transmission of the Zika virus was reported in Brazil in May 2015, during a boat race at the World Sprint Championship in August 2014, which was held in Rio de Janeiro .

The virus then spread to affect more than 1.5 million people in 68 countries, and researchers linked the virus to the infection of thousands of children born in Brazil born with partial epilepsy (a neurological disorder in which the child suffers from a brain and an abnormally small head).

Is there a second wave of Covid-19 disease and when does it begin?

Hong Kong flu

The disease has spread within 17 days, since the first case was reported on July 13, 1968 in Hong Kong, in Singapore and Vietnam, and within 3 months it has spread to the Philippines, India, Australia, Europe and the United States .

The Hong Kong flu virus has killed more than a million people, including 500,000 residents of Hong Kong itself, or nearly 15% of its population at the time .