History of Infectious Disease

History of Infectious Disease Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Professor Date History of Infectious Disease In recent days, humanity has encountered a deadly pandemic that has resulted in the loss of millions of individuals across the world. The world joined together to fight a new coronavirus disease that posed significant challenges to public health. However, COVID-19 is not the only face-off disease historically affecting humans. There have been various other deadly illnesses, from smallpox and the Black Death to H1NI influence, that humanity has faced throughout history. Viruses, pathogens, fungi, bacteria, and parasites cause such illnesses. The occurrences have primarily been led by novel and infectious tensions of current illnesses, leading to prevalent panic and death. Most historians trust that virulent illnesses might have influenced the failure of civilizations, including the Roman Empire and the Khmer Empire. Even though humanity has made boundless efforts to comprehend and treat such infectious illnesses, they remain a substantial hazard to public health today. This essay explores the history of contagious diseases and reflects on how such illnesses impacted human society, economy, culture, and politics, both historical and present day. Summary of Three Infectious Diseases The History of Smallpox The history of smallpox is found in the description of medical writings from ancient India and the Egyptian investigations of the mummies of individuals who died more than 3000 years ago. However, this history is long and complicated, with incorrect starts, dead ends, and unsighted lanes. Smallpox was among the most dreaded illnesses of the pre-modern age (Berche, 2022). It was most dreaded that all people would be recognized as falling during the pandemic. Smallpox is believed to have been instigated in Africa and then spread to Europe and America. The initial occurrence befell in China during the 13th century, and the illness rapidly spread globally (Meyer et al., 2020). It was announced into China in the 1st century CE through the southwest, and during the 6th century, it was spread from China to Japan, where historians believe that it murdered almost one-third of the populace in the 700s. Historians believe that the arrival of smallpox into Europe was in the 7th and 8th centuries by Arab armies. During the 9th century, a Persian doctor offered a conclusive account of the disease and separated smallpox from chickenpox and measles. Smallpox is spread through contact with diseased individuals or items. It might also be spread over the air when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. By 1509, Spanish settlers introduced it into the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, spreading it to Mexico in 1520 (Berche, 2022). Smallpox was distressing to native people since they had no immunity to the virus. It was introduced into Australia in 1789 and became the primary cause of death in Aboriginal people between 1780 and 1870 (Meyer et al., 2020). However, in modern days, smallpox has been addressed through a huge universal immunization effort. The striving vaccination package was introduced in the 1960s, which reduced smallpox cases considerably but remained unchecked in other parts of the world, such as Africa, with relatively lower mortality rates. The History of H1N1 or Swine Flu The capability to trace swine flu in humankind can be traced back to when the pandemic infested Spain in 1918, affecting almost one-third of the world’s populace and leading to about 50 million deaths (Anderson et al., 2021). However, the cause was not identified, but the responses started to arise in the 1930s when related flu identified as H1N1 diseases were linked to pigs and persons. The cruelty of this disease might differ from mild to severe. The initial explanations of the disease and mortality were recorded in Kansas in March 1918 and then in April in the UK, Germany, and...