7.8: Pandemic Prevention
- Page ID
- 306825
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Pandemics have significant health consequences as well as social, economic, political, and mental health impacts. During a pandemic, the fear of the pathogen takes hold, and social aversion ensues. The economic impact is a reduction in interaction with suppliers and a halt in demand for goods and services that require close contact with people. Interventions, such as lockdowns and isolation, could likely take place. This discourages economic growth.
There have been many pandemics throughout history. The first recorded outbreak was the Plague of Athens in 430 BCE, which killed 25% of Athenians, and its cause remains unknown. The most notorious and fatal of all was the Plague (also known as the Black Death), which dated from 1346 to 1353 in Europe, Asia, and Africa and involved three clinical types: the Bubonic Plague, Septicemic Plague, and Pneumonic Plague. The plague is estimated to have killed around 200 million people, and it is caused by a bacterium transmitted to humans by rat fleas (Sampath et al., 2021). In modern history, the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 was particularly devastating. Although the Spanish Flu was a pandemic that affected many countries, Spain was not the country that initiated it. In fact, in Spain, it is called the French Flu because the Spanish believe it originated in France (History, 2026). At the time, WWI was underway, newspapers were under censorship, and the Spanish were the ones who reported the pandemic; the name "Spanish Flu" stuck. The Spanish Flu was caused by the H1N1 orthomyxovirus influenza virus, and it is estimated to have caused the death of 150 million people. It was seen as a high-mortality cause of young people (from 15 to 34 years old) (Vitiello et al., 2022). The Spanish Flu killed enough young people to drop the US average life expectancy by 12 years (Sampath et al., 2021).
The most recent and devastating of all the pandemics has been COVID-19. As of the writing of this book, data shows the death toll worldwide due to COVID-19 is 7.1 million people (World Health Organization, 2025). The virus of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2), is a highly contagious virus that started in China, and with the world of connectivity of today, it soon infected other parts of the world.
The framework for pandemic prevention involves the following consecutive actions (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2025 p163):
- Detecting: identifying the index case.
- Containing: isolate the initial case, identify their contacts, and quarantine them.
- Mitigating: once a disease is spreading widely in a community, mitigation aims to reduce new infections, primarily through physically isolating those who are sick.
- Immunizing: gained in one of three ways: through passive immunity, a vaccination, or an active infection.
- Monitoring: Monitoring for new and mutated cases must continue, coupled with an evaluation of the feasibility of eliminating or eradicating the disease.
Reference
History. (2026). Spanish Flu. History www.history.com
World Health Organization. (2025). WHO COVID-19 Dashboard. WHO www.data.who.int
Riegelman, R. & Kirkwood, B. (2025). Public health 101: Improving community health (4th ed). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Sampath, S., Khedr, A., Qamar, S., Tekin, A., Singh, R., Green, R., & Kashyap, R. (2021). Pandemics Throughout the History. Cureus. Sep 20;13(9):e18136. doi: 10.7759/cureus.18136
Vitiello, L., Ilari, S., Sansone, L., Belli, M., Cristina, M., Marcolongo, F., Tomino, C., Gatta, L., Mollace, V., Bonassi, S., Muscoli, C., & Russo, P. (2022). Preventive Measures against Pandemics from the Beginning of Civilization to Nowadays-How Everything Has Remained the Same over the Millennia. Journal of Clinical Medicine. Apr 1;11(7):1960. doi: 10.3390/jcm11071960