The Dictionary Defines A Pestilence As A ...

The dictionary defines a pestilence as a widespread and often fatal infectious disease.

In 1995 the World Health Organization said, “the world is ripe for super plagues of apocalyptic proportions.” In 1996, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, the Director of the World Health Organization said, “We are standing on the brink of a global crisis in infections diseases.” He went on to say, “During the past 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged to threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people. For many of these diseases there is no treatment, cure of vaccine….Diseases that have been around for centuries are popping up in incurable strains.”

Of course during the last 30 years, AIDS has been the most devastating plague or virus to ever strike mankind. In 1993 AIDS became the leading cause of death of U.S. males between the ages of 20 and 45. In a 1997 report The World Health Organization reported that 11.7 million people had died of AIDS since it was discovered. Harvard University scientists recently estimated that there are over 25 million people worldwide who have full-blown AIDS, and an additional 100 million people who will be infected with the HIV virus in years to come. Last September Fox News reported that 600 people die from AIDS every day in South Africa.

AIDS of course is a sexually transmitted disease and cannot be spread through the air or casual contact. But other diseases like SARS, West Nile, The Ebola virus and Asian Bird Flu are also causing concern. What is frightening, about many of these diseases is that they can be transmitted by mosquitoes, casual contact, or even through the air.

An article published in National Geographic says, that there is evidence that influenza pandemics occur on a regular cycle, with one every 20 or 30 years. The notorious Spanish flu killed at least 20 million people worldwide in 1918. Outbreaks in the late 1950s and late 1960s resulted in tens of thousands of deaths in the United States alone. Now according to this article the world may be due for another outbreak.

Stephen Morse, the director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University in New York, said "Almost everyone in the field feels that an influenza pandemic is virtually inevitable, and that we need to be prepared for it."

The World Health Organization estimates the Asian Flu virus could infect up to 30 percent of the world’s population and result in millions of deaths.