Abstract
There has been much popular interest in, as well as technical concern over, newly emerging diseases, and there is a fear that heretofore unknown virulent pathogens will create new, global epidemics. At the time of this writing, two such pathogens are active, warranting such concern: a) cases of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, caused by a coronavirus) appeared in China in November, 2002, and has spread to Western and Central Europe and North America; b) a strain of Avian Influenza Virus (N5H1), first identified in Hong Kong in 1997, reemerged in 2002 in Southeast Asia. Other avian flu strains found simultaneously in poultry in North America have underscored the concern of local and international health authorities. Both SARS and avian flu demonstrate high mortality rates, but, to date, the number of cases has been only in the hundreds. So, are these pestilences? What constitutes a pestilence? Is the term synonymous with newly emerging diseases? Two definitions of pestilence have near unanimity, but are not very specific:
“Any fatal epidemic disease, affecting man or beast, and destroying many victims.” The Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1955, Oxford Press, 2515 pp.
“A contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.” Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, 1965. G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass., 1221 pp.
Accordingly, a pestilence should be an infectious disease, devastating (killing) a large number of people (or animals).
Keywords: West Nile Virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Yellow Fever, Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, Hemorrhagic Fever With Renal Syndrome
References
- Barry, J.M. (2004). The great influenza (Vol. 547). Viking Press.
- Benenson, A.S. (Ed.). (1995). Control of communicable diseases manual (16thed., p. 577). American Public Health Association.
- Berger, S.A., Calisher, C.H., & Keystone, J.S. (2003). Exotic viral diseases (p. 252). B.C. Decker.
- Cartwright, F.C. (1972). Disease and history (p. 248). T.Y. Crowell.
- Curtin, P.D. (1989). Death by migration (p. 251). Cambridge University Press.
- Gregg, C.T. (1985). Plague: An ancient disease in the twentieth century (rev. ed., p. 373) University New Mexico Press.
- Lederberg, J., Shope, R.E., & Oaks, S.C. (Eds.). (1992). Emerging infections (p. 294). U.S. Institute of Medicine National Academy of Sciences.
- McNeill W.H. Plagues and people. Doubleday: Anchor Books; 1977. p. 340. [Google Scholar]
- Murray. C.J., & Lopez, A.D. (Eds.). (1995). The global burden of disease (p. 46). WHO/Harvard/World Bank. Harvard University Press.
- Nuland S. B. The doctor’s plague. N.Y.: W. W. Norton; 2003. p. 191. [Google Scholar]
- Oldstone, M.B. (1998). Viruses, plagues, and history (p. 227). Oxford University Press.
- Rosenberg, C.E. (1962). The cholera years (p. 256). University of Chicago Press.
- Wills, C. (1996). Yellow fever/black goddess. Addison—Wesley.
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Emerging infectious diseases (vol. 1–10). www.cdc.gov/eid or hard copy from CDC, Atlanta GA, U.S.A.