The Peculiar Ways History's 5 Worst Pandemics Finally Ended

As bad as this last year has been, just imagine how bad humanity had it during history’s previous disease disasters. When the five worst pandemics did come to an end, as COVID-19 slowly is, the reasons they fizzled out were surprisingly varied. Sometimes, new and unusual tricks to ward off disease actually worked, even as the public and the government were initially unreceptive. These genius moves may have very well saved the world.

The Five

Since the beginning of recorded history, there’ve been five major pandemics. The first three of them were caused by one bacteria, called Yersinia pestis. To say that this microscopic organism was a pest would been an understatement.

First Outbreak

Y. pestis first became widely known as the Plague of Justinian. It first broke out in Constantinople in 541 C.E., having come over from Egypt on boats that carried bacteria-infested fleas, who snuck onto the backs of rats who were eating the grain on the ships.

Correlation and Causation

At the time, nobody knew it was the fleas that were making them sick. As Europe, North Africa, and Asia fell ill, they only knew that Justinian, emperor of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, had recently conquered Egypt, so his ships must have had something to do with it.

Blaming Justinian

So, they named the pandemic, which killed an estimated 30-50 million people — possibly half the world's population at the time — after him in spite, did their best to avoid anyone who was obviously afflicted, and slowly, the disease petered out.