these 10 deadly pandemics have taken their toll

The Coronavirus epidemic is spreading worldwide. However, this is not the first epidemic to strike down the population. Back on these diseases that have taken their toll.

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In France, with more than 1,400 people infected, and 30 deaths recorded, we are already talking about “stage 3” of the epidemic.

Coronavirus may soon enter the stage of “pandemic” : The World Health Organization (WHO) is formal: keep yourself informed and stay alert.

To take a step back on this health crisis, we looked at 10 pandemics that have marked history in the past:

1) The plague of Athens:

Between 430 and 426 years before our era, a wave of typhoid fever strikes ancient Greece. It would have decimated a third of the local population, which had only 200,000 inhabitants.

2) Antonine plague:

The epidemic struck the Roman Empire around 65 and 66 and killed 10 million people.

3) Justinian’s plague:

It considerably weakened the Eastern Roman Empire between the 6th and 8th centuries.

4) The black plague:

The famous and fearsome black plague spread terror in the Middle Ages between 1347 and 1353. Near 30 million people would have died, or about 40% of the European population at the time.

5) Yellow fever, in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries:

Also called “vomito negro” (“black vomit”) or American plague, yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by mosquitoes. The term “yellow” recalls the color of some patients.