1557 influenza pandemic

1557 flu pandemic
The 1557 flu pandemic spread across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
The 1557 flu pandemic spread across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
DiseaseInfluenza
Virus strainunknown
LocationAsia, Africa, Europe, Americas
Date1557–1559
Deaths
unknown

In 1557, a pandemic strain of influenza emerged in Asia, then spread to Africa, Europe, and eventually the Americas. This flu was highly infectious and presented with intense, occasionally lethal symptoms. Medical historians like Thomas Short, Lazare Rivière and Charles Creighton gathered descriptions of catarrhal fevers recognized as influenza by modern physicians[1][2][3][4][5] attacking populations with the greatest intensity between 1557 and 1559.[6][7] The 1557 flu saw governments, for possibly the first time, inviting physicians to instill bureaucratic organization into epidemic responses.[4] It is also the first pandemic where influenza is pathologically linked to miscarriages,[8] given its first English names,[2][9] and is reliably recorded as having spread globally. Influenza caused higher burial rates, near-universal infection, and economic turmoil as it returned in repeated waves.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :27 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Eichel, Otto R. (December 1922). "The Long-Time Cycles of Pandemic Influenza". Journal of the American Statistical Association. 18 (140). Taylor & Francis: 451. doi:10.1080/01621459.1922.10502488. JSTOR 2276917.
  4. ^ a b Alibrandi, Rosemarie (2018). "When early modern Europe caught the flu. A scientific account of pandemic influenza in sixteenth century Sicily". Medicina Historica. 2: 19–26.
  5. ^ Taubenberger, J.K.; Morens, D.M. (April 2009). "Pandemic influenza – including a risk assessment of H5N1". Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics). 28 (1): 187–202. doi:10.20506/rst.28.1.1879. ISSN 0253-1933. PMC 2720801. PMID 19618626.
  6. ^ Creighton, Charles (1894). A History of Epidemics in Britain: From the extinction of plague to the present time. Cambridge, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 307–308.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Institute of Medicine (US) Forum on Microbial Threats; Knobler, Stacey L.; Mack, Alison; Mahmoud, Adel; Lemon, Stanley M. (2005). The Story of Influenza. National Academies Press (US). Archived from the original on 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :28 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).