On the early morning of October 12, 1492, strange-looking floating houses with masts appeared off an island in the Caribbean. The Black Death, believed to have originated in China in an outbreak in 1331, reached the Crimea in 1345. The practice of smallpox inoculation known as “buying the smallpox” or “variolation” is believed to have begun in India before 1000 BCE. When SARS arose in 2003, it spread from southern China to South Africa and to Australia and Brazil in just six months. Compared to the 2.5% morbidity rate of the Spanish flu, SARS was four times more virulent, killing 10% of its victims.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 15, 2020 20:26 UTC