Infectious diseases have plagued humans throughout history, and in fact have even shaped history on some occasions. The plagues of biblical times, the Black Death of the Middle Ages, and the “Spanish flu” pandemic of 1918 are but a few examples. The 1918 flu pandemic killed more than a half million people in the United States and up to 50 million people worldwide and is thought to have played a contributing role in ending World War I.
Courtesy: VOA
Epidemics and pandemics have always had major social and economic impacts on affected populations, but in our current interconnected world, the impacts are truly global. Consider the SARS outbreak of early 2003. This epidemic demonstrated that new infectious diseases are just a plane trip away, as the disease was spread rapidly to Canada, the United States, and Europe by air travelers. Even though the SARS outbreak was relatively short-lived and geographically contained, fear inspired by the epidemic led to travel restrictions and the closing of schools, stores, factories, and airports. The economic loss to Asian countries was estimated at $18 billion. A prolonged and more widespread outbreak would obviously have had a much greater economic impact.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, illustrates the economic and social impacts of a prolonged and widespread infection. The disproportionate loss of the most economically-productive individuals has reduced workforces and economic growth rates of affected countries, especially those with high infection rates. This impacts the health care, education, and political stability of these nations. In southern Africa where the infection rate is highest, life expectancy has plummeted in a mere decade from 62 years in 1990 -1995 to 48 years in 2000 – 2005. The existence of 12 million children under that age of 18 that were orphaned by HIV/AIDS in this region by 2003 highlights the impact of infectious diseases on families and societies.
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