COVID+
COVID+
The first death from a confirmed case of Covid-19 was announced in China more than one year ago, on January 11, 2019. By sheer number of casualties, Covid-19 ranks among the 10 deadliest plagues in history.
However, these rankings should come with caveats. The methods for determining the timeliness of prior epidemics are not particularly good, and they rely heavily on guesswork. The calculation of the current Covid-19 mortality toll have severe faults as well such as the Excess Death Measures, with some countries performing high testing and death reporting, but others with less testing and death reporting.
Furthermore, while Covid-19's overall worldwide mortality toll is in the top ten highest in history, this is primarly due to the world's population growth. The Black Death for example killed roughly 30% of the population, between tens of millions and a hundred million people, but a disease that lethal now would kill more than 2 billion people if it spread over the globe like Covid-19 has.
With these important points in mind, we can learn how Covid-19 compares to other pandemics.
Smallpox has estimated to have originated 3000 years ago and is the only
human disease that has been successfully eliminated. Although there is no
recorded data that spans the 3000 years, it is estimated to have killed 500
million people in the last 100 years [2].
Due to new vaccine technology that
provided immunity to susceptible people, the spread of the disease declined and
was officially eradicated in 1977. Infected patients developed rashes across
their whole body and it is estimated that the death rate is around 30%.
Smallpox is an airborne disease meaning transmission occurs through coming in
contact with an infected droplets through coughing and sneezing. Smallpox
heavily affected different regions of the world at different time periods and the
most affected group and time period is not thoroughly known. [3]
Polio is estimated to originate as early as the Egyptian era but the
first cases were recorded in the 19th century in parts of Europe. Although
death rates aren’t as high as Smallpox and HIV, a defining trait
of polio is that infected patients have a chance to become permanently
paralyzed in their limbs.
The majority of cases don’t lead to any symptoms or
only light flu-like symptoms. Presently the disease is eradicated except for
the 3 countries Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. The eradication is due to
vaccines developed in the 1950s but no treatment has been found to treat
already infected patients. Polio is transmitted via consuming food or water
containing feces of an infected patient.
This form of transmission has major
implications on countries with low sanitation and the reported cases show this,
affecting the earlier 20th century of North America, West Europe and
Africa. [4]
HIV is commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease and its outbreak
began in 1990. Causing the deaths of nearly 1 million people every year it is
considered one of the “world’s most fatal infectious diseases”.
Patients may
experience flu-like symptoms otherwise the infected patient may be symptomless
for years while their immune system deteriorates. HIV mainly transmits sexually
but can also pass from mother to child during birth. Transmission can also
occur through the contact of blood coming from an infected person.
Although
global cases and deaths have halved over the last decade, countries with high
poverty have been affected the most such as Sub-Saharan Africa.[1]
The first known cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Wuhan, China in
December 2019. By March 2020 the virus had spread to almost every country and
at the time of this writing (20/0/2021) there have been 228 million cases and
4.68 million deaths making it one of the most lethal pandemics in history.
It
took the efforts of multiple countries to create a MRNA vaccine that offers
immunity and by December 2020 vaccinations were being manufactured and
administered across the globe. Symptoms of Covid-19 include loss of smell and
taste, trouble breathing, fevers, fatigue and headaches. Although it has been
reported that the severity of these symptoms varies widely from person to
person.
Covid-19 is an airborne disease and transmit through inhalation of
droplets from an infected patient. Infected patients can also spread the
disease even if they appear symptomless. The most vulnerable groups are those
who have pre-existing conditions, the elderly and those who have compromised
immune systems. [5]
1. Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie (2018) - "HIV / AIDS". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids [Online Resource]
2. Smallpox (Last updated 18/9/2021) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox
3. Sophie Ochmann and Max Roser (2018) - "Smallpox". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/smallpox' [Online Resource]
4. Sophie Ochmann and Max Roser (2017) - "Polio". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/polio' [Online Resource]
5. Covid-19
Pandemic. (Last updated 20/9/2021). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic