1580 influenza pandemic

1580 flu pandemic
The 1580 flu pandemic spread from Asia to Africa and Europe, then America.
DiseaseInfluenza
Virus strainunknown
LocationAsia, Africa, and Europe
Date1580-1582
Deaths
Thousands in cities

In 1580 a severe influenza pandemic was recorded on several continents. The virus originated in Asia and spread along the Silk Road through the Middle East into Europe and Africa, where newly established maritime trade routes and moving armies facilitated its worldwide spread. Contemporary historian Johann Boekel wrote that it spread over all of Europe in six weeks,[1] in which thousands died and nearly everyone was infected. Those who witnessed the epidemic variously called the disease nicknames like coqueluche,[2] Shaufkrankeit,[3] castrone,[4][5] or variations of catarrh[6] or fever.[3][7] Physicians of the time increasingly appreciated that "epidemic catarrhs" were being directly caused by a contagious agent[8][9][2] instead of the stars or environment.[9]

The speed with which this disease propagated across societies and the symptoms strongly resembling influenza have been the basis for historians and academics to commonly identify this as a flu pandemic. Many contemporary epidemiologists consider this to be the first ever influenza pandemic.[10][11]

  1. ^ Grove, David (2014). Tapeworms, Lice, and Prions: A Compendium of Unpleasant Infections. Oxford, UK: OUP Oxford. p. 505. ISBN 978-0-19-964102-4.
  2. ^ a b Suau, Jean (1586). Traicte de la Merveilleuse et Prodigieuse Maladie, Epidemique et Contagieuse, appellée Coqueluche, tres-docte, & tres-utile, saict et composé en forme de Dialogue (in French). Paris: Didier Millot. pp. 32–33.
  3. ^ a b Morens, David M.; Taubenberger, Jeffery K. (November 2010). "Historical thoughts on influenza viral ecosystems, or behold a pale horse, dead dogs, failing fowl, and sick swine". Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. 4 (6): 327–337. doi:10.1111/j.1750-2659.2010.00148.x. ISSN 1750-2640. PMC 3180823. PMID 20958926.
  4. ^ Reynolds, Sir John Russell (1880). A System of Medicine: General diseases and diseases of the nervous system. Philadelphia, PA: H.C. Lea's Son & Company. p. 33.
  5. ^ Campana, Cesare (1607). Delle Historie del Mondo (in Italian). Appresso i Giunti. p. 2.
  6. ^ Delorme, Raige (1836). Dictionnaire de médecine: ou, Répertoire général des sciences médicales considérées sous le rapport théorique et pratique (in French). Paris: Béchet. p. 287.
  7. ^ Desruelles, Henry-Marie-Joseph (1827). Traite De La Coqueluche ... Ouvrage courome (etc.) (in French). Paris: J. B. Bailliere. p. 25.
  8. ^ Stenglin, Lucas (1580). Theses de natura, causis et curatione morbi epidemici anni 1580 (in Latin). p. 4.
  9. ^ a b Hirsch, August (1883). Handbook of geographical and historical pathology v. 1 1883. Vol. 106. Translated by Creighton, M.D., Charles. London: New Sydenham Society. pp. 31–32.
  10. ^ "The History of Influenza". Home. January 1, 1927. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  11. ^ "Influenza - Causes, Treatments & Pandemics". HISTORY. February 28, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.