Episode 185 - Pandemics - A Repeating History with Dr Robert M Kaplan
A pandemic is defined as a new disease or new strain of an existing disease spreading worldwide. An ‘outbreak’ refers to a localised epidemic – something that affects hundreds, sometimes thousands; an ‘epidemic’ refers to an illness or infection that is in excess of normal, and ‘pandemic’ is an epidemic that occurs over a very wide area, crosses international boundaries, and touches thousands or millions.
The enormous health and financial impacts of epidemics and pandemics are made worse through human foibles like fear, denial, panic, complacency, hubris, and self-interest. Experts advise we can end epidemics by facing up to them and by applying concrete actions ensuring, building resilient health systems, fortifying 3 lines of defence against disease including prevention detection and response, and ensuring timely and accurate communication, investing in smart innovation and spending wisely to prevent disease before an epidemic strikes.
Pandemics have far reaching effects as we have recently witnessed with Covid -19, and I was curious to reflect on the way we responded to this threat as a community from the psychological perspective. Humans have had to respond to many pandemics over the course of recoded history, notably the so-called black plagues or black death spread by rats carrying yersinia pestis infected fleas hidden within their pelt.
A series of black death pandemics dramatically and profoundly affected European and Middle Eastern populations both in the 6–8th century plague of Justinian and 14th–19th century, killing up to half the local population (over 100 million people), but paradoxically bringing about cultural and economic renewal.
Before this was a deadly smallpox pandemic called the Antonine Plague during the time of Marcus Aurelius around 160–180 AD, killing an estimated 25–30 % of the Roman population and no doubt far more through Eurasia (between and 5 and 20 million). In the 16 th century between 1545 and 1548, the so called Cocoliztli epidemic in Mexico and Central America, caused by an unidentified pathogen, reportedly killed 5–15 million.
Fast forward to 1918 – Spanish Flu caused by influenza H1N1 with between 17–100 million dead, the HIV epidemic responsible for approximately 44 million deaths with fortunately treatments now available, and not forgetting bird flu and swine flu, our most recent pandemic experience with Covid 19 claiming 7–36 million lives.
When I came across Dr Robert Kaplans excellent article in the May edition of the GUT REPUBLIC discussing pandemics and the often-flawed human response where fear, emotion and disinformation easily crowd perspective, I was keen to invite him to talk on this subject on Everyday Medicine.
Rob is a forensic psychiatrist and clinical associate professor at Western Sydney University, as well as a keen historian and author with a sharp wit and eye for the arcane. His latest book is The King who Strangled his Psychiatrist and Other Dark Tales, but he also has a deep catalogue of publishing including the books Medical Murder: Disturbing tales Of Doctors Who Kill and The Exceptional Brain and How It Changed the World amongst others.
He is a sort after speaker and key thinker in forensic psychiatry and serves on the Professional Advisory Panel Victim’s Services. Please welcome Rob to the Podcast.
References
Dr Robert Kaplan: www. rkaplan.com.au
The End Of Epidemics. Dr Jonathan D Quick. Scribe Publications 2018 The Little Book of History. www.dk.com Wikipedia