Page 31 - April-May 2020 Neat

20 of the Worst Epidemics & Pandemics
20 of the Worst Epidemics
and Pandemics in History
Continued from Page 30
18. H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-
2010
The 2009 swine flu pandemic was caused by a
new strain of H1N1 that originated in Mexico in
the spring of 2009 before spreading to the rest
of the world. In one year, the virus infected as While Zika is usually not harmful to adults or “We need to be able to test widely, we need to
many as 1.4 billion people across the globe and
killed between 151,700 and 575,400 people,
according to the CDC.
The 2009 flu pandemic primarily affected
children and young adults, and 80% of the
deaths were in people younger than 65, the
CDC reported. That was unusual, considering
that most strains of flu viruses, including those
that cause seasonal flu, cause the highest
percentage of deaths in people ages 65 and
older. But in the case of the swine flu, older
people seemed to have already built up enough
immunity to the group of viruses that H1N1
belongs to, so weren't affected as much. A
vaccine for the H1N1 virus that caused the
swine flu is now included in the annual flu
vaccine.
19. West African Ebola epidemic:
2014-2016
Ebola ravaged West Africa between 2014 and
2016, with 28,600 reported cases and 11,325
deaths. The first case to be reported was in
Guinea in December 2013, then the disease
quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The confirmed cases of infection and a death toll of more widely throughout the country, there are a
bulk of the cases and deaths occurred in those
three countries. A smaller number of cases
occurred in Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, the United
States and Europe, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reported.
There is no cure for Ebola, although efforts at distancing policies in order to contain the
finding a vaccine are ongoing. The first known
cases of Ebola occurred in Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976, and the
31
virus may have originated in bats. economic rout.
20. Zika Virus epidemic: 2015-present But states including Alaska, Georgia, South
day Carolina, Tennessee and Texas are beginning to
allow restaurants and other establishments to
serve customers. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said
consumer retail and services can start reopening
on May 12.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday the
state plans to reopen its economy in phases.
However, the ongoing lack of testing
capabilities is one of the main factors keeping
many families, employers and institutions from
resuming business, even though stay-at-home
The impact of the recent Zika epidemic in South orders have officially been lifted in several
America and Central America won't be known states.
for several years. In the meantime, scientists
face a race against time to bring the virus under While some states have been more aggressive in
control. The Zika virus is usually spread testing, Konyndyk told CNBC’s “Squawk Box
through mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, Asia” that the country at large is not seeing a
although it can also be sexually transmitted in decline in coronavirus infections and that there
humans. needs to be more testing.
children, it can attack infants who are still in the be able to trace the contacts of those cases that
womb and cause birth defects. The type of we find, we need to reinforce the hospital
mosquitoes that carry Zika flourish best in system and we need to do far more to protect
warm, humid climates, making South America, people in high risk facilities like elder care
Central America and parts of the southern homes. None of that is in place yet,” said
United States prime areas for the virus to Konyndyk. “So no, we are not remotely ready.”
flourish.
Testing 2% of people in each state monthly
The US is not even would be a major jump — roughly 1.6% of the
U.S. population has been tested in total so far,
‘remotely’ ready to re- according to the Covid Tracking Project.
open for business, says
Yet some experts say the country needs to
outbreak preparedness perform closer to 20 million to 30 million tests
a day to begin getting the economy back to
expert normal, due to concerns about pre-symptomatic
and asymptomatic transmission.
CNBC
“Right now, we’ve got much of the country
quarantined, so if someone gets sick, the
chances they can spread to others are smaller,”
The U.S. is not even “remotely prepared” to re- said Konyndyk.
open, an expert said on Tuesday as some states
are set to lift lockdowns that had been imposed “If you begin reopening before you have the
to contain the coronavirus outbreak. ability know who’s sick, or frankly, before those
people have the ability to know they have it, you
“We’re not remotely prepared neither in terms run into enormous risks,” added Konyndyk.
of the epidemiology of the outbreak in the
United States, nor in terms of our preparedness Citing examples from places like Japan’s
capacities to begin suppressing this virus in Hokkaido where strict curbs were lifted too
ways other than through social distancing,” said soon, Konyndyk raised concerns about
Jeremy Konyndyk, senior policy fellow at the subsequent waves of infections.
Center for Global Development, a think tank.
His expertise includes global outbreak “We will face second waves and third waves of
preparedness. this even under the best of circumstances. But if
we reopen too early, we’re going to be be much
The U.S. has reported more than 988,000 worse because the virus now is seeded so much
over 56,000 so far, according to John Hopkins lot more people who can potentially spread it.”
University.
Rushing to reopen could “torpedo” both
The pandemic, which first emerged late last economies and public health, he said.
year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has
prompted U.S. states to impose strict social “It’s not like you can pick one or the other. You
have to get the health back on track in order to
outbreak. These measures, including closing get the economy back on track,” said
nonessential businesses and ordering residents Konyndyk. []
to stay home, have led to a devastating