Before the new coronavirus, several major epidemics marked the start of the 21st century, but, despite the psychosis triggered by these new diseases, they were far less deadly than the major influenza pandemics of the 20th century.
The current epidemic has left 259 people dead in mainland China for the time being with nearly 12,000 confirmed cases.
– Significant epidemics in the 21st century –
– 2013-2016: Ebola in West Africa
Result: 11,300 dead
Identified for the first time in 1976, this virus triggered, between the end of 2013 and 2016, an epidemic of hemorrhagic fever in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Less contagious than other viral diseases, Ebola is formidable due to a very high case fatality rate (around 40%).
The virus re-emerged in August 2018 in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it has claimed more than 2,200 lives to date.
– 2009-2010: influenza A (H1N1)
Balance sheet: 18,500 dead according to the official WHO balance sheet. But the medical journal The Lancet estimated the death toll between 151,700 and 575,400.
Appeared in Mexico in late March 2009, it was first named swine flu by the WHO. The pandemic alert was launched on June 11, 2009, but this A (H1N1) virus turns out to be much less deadly than feared.
Massive vaccination campaigns are hastily organized. Afterwards, Western countries, in particular Europeans, and the World Health Organization (WHO) are criticized for a mobilization deemed oversized, while each year, the so-called seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000, according to the WHO. .
– 2002-2003: Sras
Result: 774 dead
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome emerged in southern China in late 2002, transmitted from the bat to humans by the civet, a wild mammal sold living in Chinese markets for its meat. It turns out to be frighteningly contagious, causing acute pneumonia, sometimes fatal.
From spring 2003, it causes a real psychosis in Asia. SARS will ultimately affect around thirty countries, but with a limited toll, China and Hong Kong concentrating 80% of the victims, and a mortality rate of 9.5%.
– 2003-2004: avian flu
Balance sheet: 400 dead
Avian influenza, which is the source of a global psychosis, first ravages chicken farms in Hong Kong before being transmitted to humans. WHO declares “a public health emergency of global scope”, but the results will remain very limited.
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– The great pandemics in the 20th century –
– From 1981 to the present day: AIDS
Balance sheet: 32 million dead, according to UNAIDS
In 2018, around 770,000 people died from HIV-related illnesses, which affect the immune system and leave patients vulnerable to opportunistic infections.
But today 24.5 million people have access to antiretroviral treatment which, when taken regularly, very effectively blocks the disease and greatly reduces the risk of contamination.
– 1968-1970: Hong Kong flu
Balance sheet: one million dead (figure quoted by the American organization for the surveillance and prevention of diseases CDC).
She toured the world between summer 1968 and spring 1970, killing many children in particular. Originating in Hong Kong, the virus first crossed Asia and then, in late 1968, the United States. After a few months of being discreet, the virus swept across Europe in late 1969.
For epidemiologists, this flu has gone down in history as the first pandemic of the modern era, that of rapid air transportation.
– 1957-1958: Asian flu
Balance sheet: 1.1 million dead (figure cited by the CDC)
This pandemic struck in two virulent waves. The virus first appeared in a southern province of China in February 1957. It took several months before it reached America and Europe. The elderly were the first victims of this disease, which led to serious pulmonary complications.
– 1918-1919: Spanish flu
Balance sheet: up to 50 million dead (figure cited by the CDC)
The so-called “Spanish” flu, which raged between September 1918 and April 1919, is considered the deadliest in history in such a short period of time.
She killed five times more than the battles of the First World War. The virus makes its first documented victims in the United States, then spreads to Europe, then affects the whole world. Its mortality rate has been estimated at more than 2.5% (CDC).
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