Brains
Infectious diseases are as old as humankind. Pandemics are nothing new. This chart shows a visual representation of mankind’s pandemics, in order from deadliest to least deadly. Although new and still unfolding by the day, the COVID-19 pandemic we currently face is the third least deadly pandemic we’ve faced so far. We got this!
Visual Capitalist wrote in a recent article:
Disease and illnesses have plagued humanity since the earliest days, our mortal flaw. However, it was not until the marked shift to agrarian communities that the scale and spread of these diseases increased dramatically.
Widespread trade created new opportunities for human and animal interactions that sped up such epidemics. Malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox, and others first appeared during these early years.
The more civilized humans became – with larger cities, more exotic trade routes, and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and ecosystems – the more likely pandemics would occur.
We’ve been through this before and we can make it through it again. Thankfully, we now have many factors that contribute to battling pandemics that we didn’t always have before, ranging from improved technology, lightning fast, interconnected news coverage and social media, advanced medical knowledge (wash your damn hands!), and much, much more.
