Could It Get Any Worse? Online Trivia | Specialized History

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1. Human movement have often caused epidemics to break out and devastate populations. When European explorers arrived in the New World, they brought with them a myriad of diseases. Which of the following was the worst of the diseases carried by the Europeans and caused the most deaths in the native populations?

Answer: Smallpox

Smallpox was sometimes referred to as the 'red plague', and some scholars believe that it was the cause of death of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses V. A global immunization campaign eradicated naturally occurring smallpox, and the only samples of the disease that are left are kept in labs.

The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was in 1975, but two people contracted the disease in a lab in the UK in 1978. It was officially declared as eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization. Before being eradicated, it killed 300 million people just in the 20th century.

2. In 1918, a deadly strain of the influenza virus broke out and was made worse by troop movements during WWI. While there are several different hypotheses as to the origins of the virus, it earned its nickname after it killed around eight million people in a certain European country. What was the nickname given to the flu pandemic of 1918?

Answer: Spanish flu

In just two short years the disease killed more than 50 million people worldwide. Even though Spain was one of the first countries to be hit hard by the pandemic, part of the reason it became known as the Spanish flu was because Spain didn't have as much censorship during the war as other countries, so the newspapers were free to report on the disease's effects. One unusual aspect of this flu strain is that it had a higher mortality rate in people ages 20-40 instead of young children and the elderly.

3. Many of the epidemic diseases that have plagued the world have been around for thousands of years. Which disease, recorded by the Chinese over 4,000 years ago, killed over 10,000 men during the U.S. Civil War and almost 60,000 U.S. soldiers during WWII?

Answer: Malaria

At one time malaria was known as 'Roman fever' because of its prevalence in Rome, and some historians feel that it may have been a contributing factor in the fall of the Roman Empire. Even into the 21st century, the disease continues to be a problem, especially in Africa.

Though the symptoms of the disease have been documented for thousands of years, it wasn't until the late 1800s when the cause of the disease was discovered by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. Challenging the popular theories of the day, such as the miasma theory, Laveran began a series of observations that led to his discovery of a parasitic protozoan as the cause of malaria.

4. Cholera is a disease that has caused at least seven different pandemics and killed at least 40 million people throughout its history, including former U.S. president James K. Polk. Where did it originate?

Answer: India

The disease originated along the Ganges, and, in 1817, it spread throughout India after a festival in Calcutta. By this time, steam-powered modes of transportation were in use and this spread the disease more quickly causing the first worldwide cholera pandemic from 1817-1823.

This pandemic ultimately led to the creation of more sanitary sewage systems as doctors called for cleaner living conditions due to the belief that the disease was caused by 'bad air' or miasma.

5. When Napoleon sent troops to support his armies in the New World and fight back against slave uprisings in Haiti, he lost the majority of his men to a little known disease that is sometimes called 'Bronze John'. This ultimately contributed to his decision of selling land to the U.S. in what would become known as the Louisiana Purchase. What is the more common name given to this disease?

Answer: Yellow fever

Several factors contributed to the severity of the yellow fever epidemic among the French troops. Weather conditions created abundant breeding sites which caused the yellow fever mosquito population to prosper. The French troops had not been exposed to the disease and had not built up any resistance to it. Also, the close living quarters of the troops provided living conditions that were optimal for the spread of the disease.

Other names for the disease include 'Yellow Jack' and 'the saffron scourge'. Though it is commonly believed that the disease originated in Africa, the first recorded outbreaks occurred in the New World.

6. Napoleon really didn't have good luck when it came to battling diseases. In 1812, more of his soldiers were killed by a certain disease during their retreat from Russia than were killed by Russian soldiers. A century later, the disease killed around three million people between 1918 and 1922 and was the reason delousing stations were set up during WWI. Which disease was it?

Answer: Typhus

There is no definitive documented evidence for typhus before the 15th century. Starting with the Spanish siege of Granada in 1489 during the Reconquest, the disease played a role in several European wars, including the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars.

Its prevalence in war camps earned it nicknames like 'camp fever' and 'war fever'. The disease's impact has been greatly reduced thanks to improved sanitation, a vaccine developed during WWII, and the use of DDT on lice populations.

7. Tuberculosis was the cause of the Great White Plague of Europe that began in the 1600s.

Answer: True

Tuberculosis (TB) has been around for thousands of years, and other names for it are consumption, phthisis, and white plague. The Great White Plague that began in the 1600s lasted for about 200 years and had a mortality rate of about one in seven. Despite the development of a cure and treatments, the 1990s saw a resurgence of TB victims.

8. In 165 AD, the Antonine Plague broke out in Rome after soldiers carrying the disease returned home from the siege of Seleucia in Mesopotamia. The plague was named after one of two Roman emperors who are believed to have succumbed to the disease. Which emperor gave his family name to the plague?

Answer: Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and his co-regent, Lucius Verus, both are believed to have died from this particular plague. As with many plagues and pandemics throughout ancient history, there is some uncertainty as to which disease actually caused the Antonine Plague, but smallpox and measles are two of the likely suspects.

The original pandemic lasted from 165 to 180, but it continued to be problematic periodically for about a century, with an estimated five million victims.

9. The Plague of Athens occurred during the second Peloponnesian War. It ravaged the city of Athens and killed tens of thousands of people, including Pericles. The only first-hand account we have of the plague can be found in "The History of the Peloponnesian War" which was written by which Athenian general?

Answer: Thucydides

Thucydides was a general during the war, but he was exiled for twenty years after he failed to prevent Amphipolis from being captured by the Spartans. He left a detailed description of the disease, but scholars have not been able to agree on which disease caused the epidemic.

After its initial outbreak in 430 BC, it popped up again during the war in 429 BC and 427-426 BC, which may have been a contributing factor in Athens' loss.

10. The Plague of Justinian ravaged the Byzantine Empire killing as many as 5,000 people daily in Constantinople during its initial outbreak. While it would return periodically to claim more lives in the empire, in what year did the first pandemic begin?

Answer: 541AD

Generally attributed to bubonic plague, the Plague of Justinian hit the Byzantine Empire in 541 after ships from Egypt brought infested rats with them. From 541-542, this first outbreak of plague in the Byzantine Empire wiped out around forty percent of Constantinople's population and spread through much of the known world.

It was especially devastating in the Eastern Mediterranean where it is estimated that it wiped out up to a quarter of the population.

Source: Author tiffanyram

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Could It Get Any Worse? Trivia Quiz

While the Black Death is perhaps the best known plague in history, there have been many other plagues and epidemics that have devastated humankind. This is a quiz all about those plagues and epidemics that made people ask, "Could it get any worse?"

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