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Research Outline
Prepared for Arne | Delivered April 13, 2020
Pandemic Origins - Overview
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Goals
To understand the five largest novel pandemics in history by identifying their places of origin, number of deaths, and the process through which they spread from animals to humans.
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Early Findings
The five largest novel pandemics in history are the
Justinian Plague
(541-543 AD), the
First Cholera Pandemic
(1817-1823), the
Spanish Flu
caused by H1N1 (1918-1920), the
Asian Flu
caused by H2N2 (1957-1958), and the
AIDS
pandemic (1981-present).
The
Justinian Plague
took place between 541 and 542 AD. It was caused by the bacterium
Yersinia pestis
, and it is the first recorded plague pandemic caused by this microorganism.
The
First Cholera Pandemic
originated in India, in 1817. It spread through the entire Asian continent, across the Mediterranean, and it reached
Europe
, where it disappeared in 1823.
The Spanish Flu was caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus, a
novel virus
that caused an estimated 50 million deaths worldwide.
The
Asian Flu
was caused by a different strain of influenza A virus, the H2N2 strain, which resulted from H1N1 and avian viral genes, creating a new deadly virus.
The AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) pandemic started in 1981, and it is caused by the
HIV
virus. By 2018, it had been estimated that
32 million
had died from this disease.
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