4 ms·

It's fantastic to me that pandemics were possible many centuries ago, though maybe the definition applied is different than to a current outbreak. > The outbre

by dmos62 7y ago

It's fantastic to me that pandemics were possible many centuries ago, though maybe the definition applied is different than to a current outbreak. > The outbreak of influenza reported in 1173 is not considered to be a pandemic, and other reports to 1500 generally lack reliability. The outbreak of 1510 is probably a pandemic reported with spreading from Africa to engulf Europe. The outbreak of 1557 is possibly a pandemic. The first influenza pandemic agreed by all authors occurs in 1580.

pjc50 7y ago
The plagues were even more deadly. And very global. And, er, came from China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
leetcrew 7y ago
people have been trading for a long time. the modern point-to-point connections didn't exist, obviously, but east asia and western europe have been indirectly connected through trade routes since ancient times [0]. as long as the disease wasn't virulent enough to kill most hosts in a single leg of transit, it could be spread across all of asia and europe. the world-wide spread would be slower, but intra-community spread would probably be even faster due to the lower standards of sanitation and medical understanding. a truly global pandemic probably wouldn't have been possible with the lack of connectivity between eurasia and the americas. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
qqqqquinnnnn 7y ago
As soon as there was global trade, pandemics could spread. Colonist arrival to the americas was a semi-pandemic - but there were epidemics of the plague, of cholera, that spread from Asia to Europe and back for many years. there's an article on pandemics in antiquity: https://demystifyingscience.com/blog/2020/2/27/whats-in-a-pandemic-part-1 https://demystifyingscience.com/blog/2020/2/27/whats-in-a-pa...

by dmos62 7y ago

pjc50 7y ago

The plagues were even more deadly. And very global. And, er, came from China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

leetcrew 7y ago

people have been trading for a long time. the modern point-to-point connections didn't exist, obviously, but east asia and western europe have been indirectly connected through trade routes since ancient times [0]. as long as the disease wasn't virulent enough to kill most hosts in a single leg of transit, it could be spread across all of asia and europe. the world-wide spread would be slower, but intra-community spread would probably be even faster due to the lower standards of sanitation and medical understanding. a truly global pandemic probably wouldn't have been possible with the lack of connectivity between eurasia and the americas. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road

qqqqquinnnnn 7y ago

As soon as there was global trade, pandemics could spread. Colonist arrival to the americas was a semi-pandemic - but there were epidemics of the plague, of cholera, that spread from Asia to Europe and back for many years. there's an article on pandemics in antiquity: https://demystifyingscience.com/blog/2020/2/27/whats-in-a-pandemic-part-1 https://demystifyingscience.com/blog/2020/2/27/whats-in-a-pa...