The Two Thousand Five Hundred year Old Story of Influenza in Ethiopia Influenza, which may have been responsible for several of the unidentified epidemics of early times, as mentioned in the first of this series of articles, can be documented in Ethiopia for over a quarter of a millennium. Though generally less serious than smallpox, cholera and typhus, the epidemic diseases considered in previous articles, influenza occasionally struck the country with great intensity, and resulted in high mortality. Iob Ludolf’s…

Typhus: The Army’s Disease Typhus, though less widespread and devastating than either smallpox or cholera, the two epidemics discussed in previous articles, doubtless accounted for some of Ethiopia’s major early epidemics. It is not, however, until the second half of the nineteenth century that its identification becomes possible. “Camp Fever” The disease, aptly described as “camp fever,” was common among Ethiopian and foreign armies. This accorded with the pattern observed by Hans Zinsser, the isolator of the virus. He declares…

Cholera: The Decline of the Killer Disease We saw last week that cholera was one of the most serious epidemic diseases in Ethiopia’s historic past. Now read on: A major epidemic of cholera, which appears to have originated in the East, reached the port of Massawa in October 1865. This outbreak was severely felt at the port, as described by the British envoy Henry Dr. Blanc: “All those who had been suffering from insufficient or inferior food supplies became easy…

Cholera: A Killer Disease, from the 17th Century to the Time of Tewodros To understand Ethiopia’s medical past, and to understand the country’s present in its historical context, Dr Pankhurst is presenting a series of articles on the history of the Ethiopian epidemics of former times. Cholera, the second of the major epidemics from which Ethiopia suffered in the historic past, differed from the first, smallpox, in that it was not endemic, but tended to enter the country from abroad,…

Smallpox History Smallpox, the most serious epidemic from which Ethiopia suffered in former times, probably existed in the region for at least a millennium and a half. Arab tradition holds that the disease was brought to Arabia from Ethiopia by Aksumite soldiers around AD. 370. Some historians believe that another epidemic broke out among the Aksumite troops in Arabia two centuries later, in 570 or 571. Unidentified Epidemics Be that as it may be, further outbreaks probably occurred in the…

Epidemics from the Reign of Emperor Zar’a Ya‘qob, to the Rise of Gondar The reign of Zar’a Ya‘qob nevertheless witnessed a serious epidemic which, to judge from his chronicle, probably occurred between 1454 and 1468. It is recorded that the monarch was then at his newly established capital, Dabra Berhan, when there was “a great pestilence which killed so large a number of people that no one remained to bury the dead.” Zar’a Ya‘qob therefore ordered the construction of a…

Unidentified Epidemics in Medieval Times Ethiopia has suffered over the centuries from innumerable epidemics, primarily of smallpox, cholera, typhus, dysentery, and influenza. The precise character of the earliest outbreaks cannot, however, be established, for the records of the time, many of which relate miracles alleged to have occurred in such times of distress, do not mention diseases by name, nor do they provide sufficient detail to allow identification. Many of the unidentified “pestilences” of the past, to judge from the…