Zoonotic Influenza has caused 5 major pandemics since 1889
They are the ones coloured in red
Years | Pandemic | Pathogens | Vectors |
541–543 | Plague of Justinian
| Yersinia pestis | Fleas associated to wild rodents |
1347–1351 | Black Death
| Yersinia pestis | Fleas associated to wild rodents |
1817–1824 | First cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1827–1835 | Second cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1839–1856 | Third cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1863–1875 | Fourth cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1881–1886 | Fifth cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1885–ongoing | Third plague
| Yersinia pestis | Fleas associated to wild rodents |
1889–1893 | Russian flu
| Influenza A/H3N8? | Avian |
1899–1923 | Sixth cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1918–1919
| Spanish flu
| Influenza A/H1N1 | Avian |
1957–1959
| Asian flu
| Influenza A/H2N2 | Avian |
1961-ongoing | Seventh cholera pandemic
| Vibrio cholerae | Contaminated Water |
1968–1970
| Hong Kong flu
| Influenza A/H3N2 | Avian |
2002–2003 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
| SARS-CoV | Bats, palm civets |
2009–2010
| Swine flu
| Influenza A/H1N1 | Pigs |
2015-ongoing | Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
| SARS-CoV-2 | Bats, dromedary camels |
2019-ongoing | COVID-19 | SARS-CoV-2 | Bats, Pangolins |
NB: HIV/AIDS, or human immunodeficiency virus, is considered by some authors a global pandemic. However, the WHO currently uses the term 'global epidemic' to describe HIV. http://who.int/teams/global-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-programmes/hiv/strategic-information/hiv-data-and-statistics
The Last four Influenza pandemics
The origins of the last 4 influenza pandemics are clearer than the 1889 outbreak origins, hence have been selected for further scrutiny .
🔗 Source: 100 Years Since 1918: Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pdfs/1918-pandemic-webinar.pdf from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
All four pandemics in the last 100 years have had some genes that originated from avian influenza viruses. Zoonotic influenza has led to annual epidemics and four major pandemics over the last century as the above graph shows
Strain | Pandemic | US Deaths 💀🇺🇸 | Worldwide Deaths 💀 🌍 | Vectors |
H1N1 | 1918 Pandemic / ‘Spanish Flu’ | 675,000 | 50,000,000 | 🐖 🐓 |
H2N2 | 1957 Pandemic / ‘Asian Flu’ | 116,000 | 1,100,000 | 🐓 |
H3N2 | 1968 Pandemic | 100,000 | 1,000,000 | 🐓 |
H1H1 | 2009 Pandemic | 12,500 | 575,400 | 🐖 |
1918 -1920 “Spanish Flu”
“The 1918–1919 influenza pandemic killed more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history. The lowest estimate of the death toll is 21 million, while recent scholarship estimates from 50 to 100 million dead.World population was then only 28% what is today, and most deaths occurred in a sixteen week period, from mid-September to mid-December of 1918.
It has never been clear, however, where this pandemic began. Since influenza is an endemic disease, not simply an epidemic one, it is impossible to answer this question with absolute certainty. Nonetheless, in seven years of work on a history of the pandemic, this author conducted an extensive survey of contemporary medical and lay literature searching for epidemiological evidence –the only evidence available. That review suggests that the most likely site of origin was Haskell County, Kansas, USA, in January 1918 [1]”.
🔗 Source: The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications
“The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus.”
🔗 Source: 2009 H1N1 Pandemic (H1N1pdm09 virus)
“…there is every possibility that the virus was introduced into the human host well before 1915 and had an avian ancestry. This suggests that the 1918 virus had been 'smoldering' in, or adapting to, the human host, and offers some support to the earlier suggestion that the human and swine lineages were derived from a common avian-like ancestor around 1905
(ref. 4).”
🔗 Source: The 1918 'Spanish' flu: pearls from swine?
1957 ‘Asian Flu’
“In February 1957, a new influenza A (H2N2) virus emerged in East Asia, triggering a pandemic (“Asian Flu”). This H2N2 virus was comprised of three different genes from an H2N2 virus that originated from an avian influenza A virus, including the H2 hemagglutinin and the N2 neuraminidase genes. It was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and in coastal cities in the United States in summer 1957. The estimated number of deaths was 1.1 million worldwide and 116,000 in the United States.”
🔗 Source: 1957-1958 Pandemic (H2N2 virus)
“By early 1958 it was estimated that ‘not less than 9 million people in Great Britain had Asian influenza during the 1957 epidemic. Of these, more than 5.5 million were attended by their doctors. About 14,000 people died of the immediate effects of their attack”
🔗 Source: History lessons: the Asian Flu pandemic
1968 “Hong Kong Flu”
“The subsequent 1968 influenza pandemic—or “Hong Kong flu” or “Mao flu”
as some western tabloids dubbed it—would have an even more dramatic impact, killing more than 30 000 individuals in the UK and 100,000 people in the USA, with half the deaths among individuals younger than 65 years—the reverse of COVID-19 deaths in the current pandemic.”
🔗 Source: Revisiting the 1957 and 1968 influenza pandemics
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(2031201-0/fulltext
“The Hong Kong flu killed up 4 million people globally, at a time when intercontinental travel was on the upswing (1969 was the year the Boeing 747 first flew). The H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus was behind the pandemic”
🔗 Source: 9 pandemics: How they ended
2009 “Swine flu”
457 people died during the pandemic in the UK
our analyses provide consistent evidence that the immediate parents were swine viruses”
🔗 Source: where did the 2009 'swine-origin' influenza A virus (H1N1) emerge?
Swine flu (H1N1) - originated in pigs. The CDC estimated that 151,700 - 575,400 people worldwide died during the first year the virus circulated. Virus H1N1 can be found in both pigs and poultry and explains why the 2009 pandemic was named “Swine flu” based on its origins.
“In the spring of 2009, a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged. It was detected first in the United States and spread quickly across the United States and the world. This new H1N1 virus contained a unique combination of influenza genes not previously identified in animals or people. This virus was designated as influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 virus.. On August 10,
2010, WHO declared an end to the global 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, (H1N1)pdm09 virus continues to circulate as a seasonal flu virus, and cause illness, hospitalization, and deaths worldwide every year.
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