Times of the Islands Spring 2021

This vintage illustration features Christopher Columbus in 1492 standing among his crew aboard the Santa Maria with the distant view of an
island on the horizon. Interestingly, the Columbian Exchange went both ways and sometimes it was the colonizers who got sick. Historically,
little attention has been paid to dead Colonial Spaniards, yet die they did and at alarming rates.
Influenza virus, a pathogen with known pandemic
potential, was possibly introduced in the early years of
Spanish contact. However, the first reliable report of
influenza involved transmission from Africa to Europe
in 1510, and flu does not spread very well in equatorial
regions. We now know that influenza is particularly
good at “escaping” our immune system through frequent
viral evolution of the part of the virus that interacts with
our immune system. Despite recent claims to the contrary,
flu is a deadly disease that is today held in check
by vaccines, therapies and other medical interventions.
In addition, mask wearing and social distancing during
the current COVID-19 crisis contributed to a significant
decline in influenza and other respiratory infections and
deaths this year.
The most stunning example of a deadly flu is the
“Great Influenza” of 1918. It occurred before a viral agent
had been identified and spurred remarkable scientific
efforts to develop a vaccine. Our modern Public Health
Service was created to counter its spread. John Barry
described how the initial outbreak in an army camp in
Kansas blossomed into a global pandemic that killed as
many as 100 million people worldwide. Although com-
monly known as the “Spanish flu,” it did not originate
there. Rather, Spain had the only press in which the
epidemic was accurately reported. In the United States,
where the virus originated, press coverage was tightly
restricted at the height of World War I. The first victim in
the politics of disease was any “real news” coverage of
this pandemic.
Wear a mask, wash your hands,
socially distance, get vaccinated
We have saved the most deadly virgin soil pathogen
for last: smallpox. Smallpox is estimated to have killed
around 500 million people worldwide in the last century
alone. Although “completely eradicated” in 1980, it has
recently reappeared in some rare cases. With distinctive
symptoms (red pustules or “pox”), it is rather unlikely to
be misidentified even by non-medical personnel. The first
smallpox pandemic in the Americas began in 1517, so it
could not have been responsible for initial high mortality
among the Taínos. Nevertheless, it was the final nail in
their coffin. A recorded Taíno population of 28,000 in
1514 was reduced to only 250 by 1540.
In the British colonies of North America, smallpox
34 www.timespub.tc