An epidemic is a
disease that can be spread from person to person
and affects many individuals all at the same time in a
location where the disease is not permanently prevalent. A pandemic is like an epidemic,
but is much larger in scale. Pandemics can affect whole
countries, continents, and sometimes even
the entire world. Today, we're going
to take a look at the most destructive
epidemics and pandemics in human history. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. After that, we'd be grateful
if you'd leave a comment and let us know what unsettling
historical topics you would like to hear about. OK. Ready to hear some scary stuff? Remember, we did warn you. [MUSIC PLAYING] Striking at about 430 BCE
during the Peloponnesian War, the Plague of Athens
took out somewhere in the area of 100,000 people
within a three year period. If that doesn't
sound too impressive, keep in mind that's a full
25% of the entire Athenian population of the day. In order to help others
later identify it, the Athenian general
and historian Thucydides recorded his own
eyewitness account of the plague and its symptoms. He described his sickness as
presenting with a high fever, diarrhea, and a pustular rash. Equally disturbing is
Thucydides' description of the social effects
of the epidemic. He claimed that a widespread
belief the plague could not be survived caused
people to start behaving like criminals and mobs. He wrote, "The catastrophe
was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what
would happen next to them, became indifferent to every
rule of religion or law." [MUSIC PLAYING] Also known as the
Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague ravaged the
Roman Empire from 165 to 180 CE. While the nature of the
plague isn't known today, it's believed that it might
have been an outbreak of measles or smallpox. Whatever the case,
historians think it was likely brought to Rome
by troops returning from war. At its most deadly,
the Antonine Plague was killing a full quarter of
all who became infected by it. In the end, it is
believed to have killed roughly 60 million people. And it wasn't just the poor
and needy who suffered. The list of the dead is
believed to have included Lucius Verus, a Roman emperor. [MUSIC PLAYING] From about 249 to 262
CE, the Roman Empire was afflicted by an
epidemic that eventually came to be known as
the Plague of Cyprian, in honor of the
early Christian saint and writer who
recorded the event. Contemporary accounts suggest
the symptoms included vomiting, bloodshot eyes, loss
of hearing, blindness, and loss of coordination. Historians don't agree on which
disease was behind the plague, but candidates include
smallpox, some type of flu, or a strain of the Ebola virus. It is believed that the
epidemic at its worst, was killing 5,000
people a day in Rome. In the aftermath,
the empire faced some of its most difficult
years and very nearly collapsed. [MUSIC PLAYING] The Plague of Justinian
infected the Byzantine Empire around 541 CE and
is considered one of the first recorded pandemics. You may want to check out some
of our other videos about it. At its peak, this plague killed
roughly 10,000 people a day and ultimately took the lives
of roughly 100 million people around the world. While many suspected the
Plague of Justinian originated in China or India and was then
spread through sea trading routes, the particular
virus or disease that caused the pandemic
was never identified. It lasted 225 years before
it finally disappeared. And it managed to
alter the course of human political history by
preventing the Byzantine Empire from spreading into Italy. [MUSIC PLAYING] Smallpox is the name for a
highly contagious disease that is caused by variola virus. Though no one knows how
smallpox came into existence or how it spread so fast,
the earliest known cases come from Egypt and India. The oldest known
evidence for smallpox actually comes from the mummy of
the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V. Ramses died in 1145 BCE. And his remains show signs
of the same pockmarks that are associated with
this particular disease. Smallpox epidemics
are believed to have killed massive numbers of
people during the Middle Ages and within the Roman Empire. It was eventually introduced
to the Western hemisphere in the 17th century. Brought by European
explorers and settlers, it led directly to the deaths
of millions of people native to North, South,
and Central America. It is also believed
to have decimated the populations of the Aztec
and Inca civilizations. As if all that's not
frightening enough, the Japanese smallpox epidemic,
which lasted only from 735 to 737 CE, killed off
approximately one-third of the entire
population of Japan. [MUSIC PLAYING] Malaria is an infectious
disease caused by a parasite
found in mosquitoes that infects as many as 200
million people every year. Highly resistant
to drugs, it is one of the most consistently deadly
pandemics in human history. Spread principally through
those same mosquitoes, malaria typically impacts
less developed countries. Though scientists
didn't understand it or how it was spread
until the 1800s, this particular epidemic
has been around a while. Documented descriptions that
match the symptoms of malaria date all the way
back to 2700 BCE. Some even believe it may
have been responsible for the demise of Genghis Khan. [MUSIC PLAYING] Black Death is the
colloquial name for the bubonic plague, which
ravaged Europe's population throughout most of the 1300s. It is the most notorious
pandemic in human history. And we have plenty of
videos about this one. Caused by a bacteria called
"Yersinia pestis," which is highly deadly to
humans, the plague was spread by fleas who were
themselves immune to it. The fleas would
latch onto rats, who were spread by merchant ships
moving from Asia to Europe. The Black Plague
is characterized by oozing, bleeding
sores and high fevers. During the 14th
century, it is thought to have killed somewhere
in the neighborhood of 50 million people throughout
Asia, Africa, and Europe. In fact, it is
believed 30% to 60% of Europe's total population
was completely wiped out. It was also persistent. Various forms of
the plague continued to spring up and become
a recurring threat for the next century or so. Each time it reappeared,
it claimed even more lives. [MUSIC PLAYING] The Cocoliztli
Epidemic, also known as the "Great Pestilence,"
was an incident that occurred from 1545 to
1548 in what is today Mexico. A mysterious illness
or illnesses, characterized by high
fevers and bleeding, swept through the
Mexican highlands. While the identity of the
sickness is still unknown, some modern researchers
suspect a strain of salmonella called "Paratyphi C" might
have been the initial cause. Today, estimates
for the death toll range from five to
15 million people, making it the deadliest
epidemic in Mexican history. [MUSIC PLAYING] Another outbreak of the bubonic
plague, the Moscow Plague, killed 50,000 to
100,000 people in 1770. There is no exact figure. But it is believed this
outbreak killed about one-third of Moscow's population
at the time. Before all was said
and done, the city experienced food shortages
and intense rioting. If there is a
silver lining, it's that after this
reappearance in Moscow, the bubonic plague essentially
disappeared from Europe in the 18th century. [MUSIC PLAYING] The pandemic that has come to
be called the "Spanish flu" started in 1918 and would go
on to infect an entire third of the world's population. Estimates on the
death rate vary. But this particular
sickness is believed to have affected roughly
500 million people and taken the lives of between
20 and 50 million people worldwide in just two years. Scientists would later
identify the Spanish flu as a particularly brutal
flu strain called "H1N1." The so-called Spanish
flu also serves as a warning about what can
be concluded from the name given to a pandemic. Scientists are unsure of where
in the Spanish flu originated. France, China, and
Britain have all been suggested as a potential
birthplace of the virus, and so has the United States,
where the first known case was reported at a military base
in Kansas on March 11, 1918. So why is it called
the Spanish flu? Well, though it was one of
the most ruthless pandemics in history, it struck
during World War I. And most of its
destruction wasn't reported on at the time
because of censorship. Spain, however, was a neutral
country during the war and its newspapers were the
only ones to cover the pandemic. This led to the
misnomer "Spanish flu," which has caused some
people to falsely believe the disease originated in Spain. [MUSIC PLAYING] The third pandemic
was an outbreak of the bubonic plague
that originated in China and lasted from
1855 to the 1950s. Yes, this outbreak actually
lasted almost 100 full years. The pandemic slowly spread
beyond Asia to other continents and is believed to ultimately
have taken the lives of as many as 15 million people. It wasn't until 1898
that Paul-Louis Simond discovered the
cause of the disease was brown rats and rat fleas. This discovery, the first time
a scientist had conclusively demonstrated what
caused the plague, helped curb the
spread of the sickness and eventually led to the
creation of a vaccine. [MUSIC PLAYING] The swine flu pandemic
lasted from 2009 to 2010 and is believed to have killed
over 200,000 people worldwide. Rooted in a unique influenza
virus that had never previously been identified in
animals or humans, it posed a huge
problem for scientists. The closest related flus were
the North American swine, H1N1, virus and the Eurasian
swine, H1N1, virus. But investigations
quickly showed that most of the people infected
had never been exposed to pigs. This made it clear that
the new virus was only affecting humans. At the time, the 2009
H1N1 was considered one of the most deadly
modern pandemics and served as a warning about
how incredibly vulnerable we humans still are
to influenza strains. [MUSIC PLAYING] The 2014 Ebola outbreak was the
largest known breakout of Ebola in history and constituted the
first actual Ebola epidemic. This outbreak, which would
last roughly two years, would prove especially
destructive to the people of West Africa. Finally, in March 2016, the
World Health Organization determined that the
situation was under control. Sadly, this was long after
at least 28,616 cases had been confirmed and at
least 11,310 deaths had occurred throughout Liberia,
Guinea, and Sierra Leone. [MUSIC PLAYING] Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome, more widely known by the acronym AIDS,
has caused the deaths of millions of people. Scientists believe the
disease originated in Africa during the 1920s and
spread slowly from there. By 1981, a case
had been reported in Los Angeles, California. The emergence of the disease
had deep and lasting effects on American culture. On the upside, safe sex
and the use of condoms became far more common. On the downside, in
addition to the lives lost, the epidemic triggered
waves of bigotry that were directed at
the LGBT community. The virus form of
AIDS, known as "HIV," attacks the immune system. A person infected
with HIV can contract AIDS when their body becomes too
weak to fight off infections. However, not all of those
who are infected with HIV will get AIDS. Many with the virus are able
to live normal, healthy lives, thanks to antiretroviral
treatments which have become more widely
available over the years. However, not everyone
was so lucky. According to the World
Health Organization, since the beginning
of the epidemic, 75 million people have
become infected with HIV, and about 32 million
have died from it. So what do you think? Which of these
historical plagues would scare you the most? Let us know in the
comments below. And, while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
