Can We Live With It ?

CAN WE LIVE WITH IT?

(A little sneak peek into the history of deadliest Pandemics and origin of word “Quarantine”)

           

 Nowadays, almost every morning we start our day with an update on Corona (blessed are those who have detached themselves from the morning news), flashing on the TV screens various data related to Covid19.  However, if you remember; at the very beginning of this Pandemic, in our country, it was nothing more than a mere social media joke, but sooner this casual banter turned into an ugly life threatening reality.  Especially with locked down in place and routine life coming into a complete stand still there was no way we could have turned a blind eye.

 Initially, I was of the firm belief that within no time there will be a cure of Covid19, but I was seriously surprised when technologically advanced countries like US & Germany, seemed absolutely clueless against this pandemic.  Situation seemed even more precarious when, supposedly, the most powerful man on earth, the US president started giving childlike statement; he went to an extent saying that an injection of disinfectant may be a cure for the virus (No wonder his biggest vote bank is white Americans without college degree).  Nevertheless, it seems that, as the human race flourished and progressed so did infectious diseases.

 Does it mean that we are heading towards some kind of doomsday, the end of mankind; a faceoff with the bane of humanity?  Well personally I don’t think so; because I have a simple stupid yet a hopeful assumption; “what if we can learn a way to live with Corona”.  Yes it sounds stupid because this disease isn’t a joke anymore, it is contagious, it spreads like chain reaction, and it is a virus whose vaccination may take over two to three years.  Agreed; but a little sneak peek into the chapter of history will explain my theory.

 The only stark comparison of Covid19 has been made with a Pandemic that struck in 1918-1920, namely, “Spanish Flu” caused by an H1N1 virus, though figures are not corroborated but it is stated that it had infected close to 500 million (50Crores) people and killed at least 50 million (5 Crore) worldwide.  Fortunately by the end of 1919 the Flu disappeared itself but unfortunately, that treatment model is simply a no go for the treatment of the present Pandemic.  Interestingly some of the deadliest Pandemics in the world were never cured they either simply disappeared or we learnt to deal with them.

 Cholera; to start with, this is the single Pandemic, in the world whose history runs parallel with the written history of humanity.  Its first mentions are found in the Greek literature Hippocrates dated 4th century and in the part of excerpt from “Surshruta Samhita” in Ayurveda dated 5th century.  According to some studies, Cholera is also an alleged annihilator of Maya Civilisation (source uncorroborated).  However, first written account of Cholera is found in the writing of Portugese historian and author of book, “Legendary India” Mr Gaspor Correa, who describes the outbreak in 1543 near the Ganges Delta, with fatality occurring within 8 hours of developing the symptoms.  

 The first reported Cholera Pandemic occurred in 1817 in India (Jessore); it lasted for six years but before it disappeared in 1823, it claimed more than 1Lac lives in Java 1820.  Second Pandemic lasted for two decades 1829-1851, and again between 1852 and 1923, it re-emerged as Pandemic, in four occasions.  In that duration Hungary saw 1.9Lacs dead 1872-73, Hamburg lost 1.5% of its population in 1892.  Most recently in 2017, Somalia and Yemen saw more than 500,000 people infected while 2000 were killed.  However, over the centuries the fatality rate of Cholera has gone down considerably, interestingly there is no definite medicine for Cholera yet, but it has been totally controlled with a more hygienic lifestyle, preventive healthcare along with supportive care system.        

  

 Plague of Justinian or simply “Plague”, it arrived in Constantinople capital of the Byzantine empire in 541 CE.  It decimated entire Constantinople and spread across Europe, Asia, North Africa and Arabia killing 30-50 million (50 Crore) people, it disappeared only to re-emerge as “Black Death” (Return of Plague) in Europe in 1347, claiming 2 million (20 Crore) lives in 04 yrs.  The only solution they could identify was isolation, Venetian controlled port city of Ragusa (present part of Italy) started 30days isolation Law known as Trentino.  Later it was increased to 40 days as Quarantino, the origin of the word, “Quarantine”.  Thereafter in London it reappeared 40 times between 1348 to 1665 killing 20% population. By 1500 England imposed the isolation law for the sick. Homes stricken by plague were marked with a pole outside.  If you had infected family members, you had to carry a white pole when you went out in public.  

 Small Pox, the only endemic to be ended by a vaccine, (a big salute to Dr Edward Jenner) it spread over Europe, Asia and Arabia for centuries with fatality rate of 3 out of 10.  But the death rate is unparalleled in the history, in 15th century, Aztec the modern day Mexico & United States, who had zero immunity to the virus, was infected with it, the virus claimed 90-95 percent population, Maxico went from 11 Million to 01 Million.  

 Well, as I said in the beginning, among the deadliest Pandemic this world has ever seen, definitive cure to very few has been found, yet this humanity thrived as if nothing has ever happened, it survived two World Wars, it has survived numerous catastrophic natural calamities, every day each one of us have been surviving through our personal tragedy and losses, yet here we are ready for more.  Cutting the long story short, we may have to explore an option to survive this Pandemic before a workable solution is in place, and this way of life can range between enhanced personal hygienic practices, supportive care system, preventive healthcare management, regulated social distancing and standardised isolations as norm.  Just for the records in our country every year, road accidents account for more than 1 lac fatalities.  

“The annihilation of the smallpox, the most dreadful scourge of the human species, must be the final result of this practice” 

Dr Edward Jenner.