L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano Death. Modern research a l s o s h o w s t h a t i t w a s , indeed the same bacterium, Yersinia Pestis, to cause both epidemics. The Black Death, yes. Most of us, when thinking a b o u t e p i d e m i c s , t h i n k about that one, the most deadly and terrifying exam- ple of what a fast and easily spreading infection can do to a continent. In those years there was no cure, no vaccine, no treatment and k n o w l e d g e a b o u t h o w infectious diseases could s p r e a d w a s l i t t l e , w h i c h resulted in the literal deci- mation of Europe's popula- tion: 25 million dead in 7 years, one third of the con- t i n e n t ' s i n h a b i t a n t s . However the Black Death, which had reached Sicily a n d G e n o a i n 1 3 4 7 , f o l - l o w i n g — o n c e a g a i n — t r a d e r o u t e s a c r o s s t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n , w a s t o teach the world something incredibly important: isola- tion and containment could stop the spreading of infec- tions effectively. The timely r u l e s a n d r e s t r i c t i o n s imposed, for instance, by the Visconti family in M i l a n , w h i c h l i m i t e d immensely the circulation o f g o o d s a n d p e o p l e i n their territories, saved the Signoria from widespread c o n t a g i o n a n d l o s s e s . Plague returned to the sho- res of Europe with a certain regularity for centuries, i n c l u d i n g t h e e p i d e m i c mentioned by Manzoni in The Betrothed, which took place in 1630-31 causing 1.5 million victims in Italy alone. The first pandemic to hit the world, and Italy, in the 20th century was, of c o u r s e , t h e i n f a m o u s Spanish Flu, the mother of all modern pandemics. Considered the most lethal and frightening of them a l l , S p a n i s h f l u l i k e l y spread through soldiers during the First World War and modern research underlines the possibility its incredibly high morta- lity — it killed between 50 and 100 million people in t w o y e a r s a r o u n d t h e w o r l d , a n d 6 0 0 . 0 0 0 i n Italy, over a population of 36 million — was not only due to the specific virulen- ce of the H1N1 flu strain, but also to other detrimen- tal factors, largely tied to the consequences of four years of war, including malnutrition and unprepa- red hospitals. Whichever t h e r e a s o n b e h i n d t h e l e t h a l i t y o f t h e S p a n i s h Flu, the disease reduced life expectancy of a whop- ping 12 years among the p e o p l e o f I t a l y a n d t h e world. A f t e r t h e e n d o f t h e S e c o n d W o r l d W a r , Italy was hit by both global pandemics and localized epidemics in specific parts of the country. In 1957, the A H2N2 virus caused yet a n o t h e r f l u p a n d e m i c , named Asian Flu, which ended only in 1960, after a vaccine was found. In Italy, l'Asiatica infected about 57% of the population at t h a t t i m e a n d c a u s e d 30.000 deaths. Asian Flu r e t u r n e d , m o d i f i e d , i n December 1969 and, while it was almost fully defeated by Christmas, it still mana- ged to infect around 13 mil- lion Italians and killing about 5.000. Then, in 1973, Italy was hit by a sudden cholera epidemic, which involved the regions of Campania, Apulia and Sardinia and l a s t e d f r o m t h e 2 0 t h o f A u g u s t t o t h e 1 2 t h o f October of that year. The disease, which probably w a s t r a n s m i t t e d t o m a n through the consumption of infected raw seafood, caused 278 cases and 24 victims. Fears and anxiety s p r e a d m o r e t h a n t h e disease itself among popu- lation, with the Cotugno hospital in Naples (still today one of the best infec- tious diseases' hospitals in t h e c o u n t r y ) a d m i t t i n g almost 1000 people in 10 days for tests. However, the e p i d e m i c w a s , i n f a c t , handled quite well: shortly a f t e r t h e d i s e a s e b e g a n spreading, over 1 million Neapolitans were vaccina- ted against it in a week. A g r e a t e f f o r t o f t h e l o c a l healthcare system, suppor- t e d b y t h e h e l p o f Americans in Italy: the s p e c i a l s y r i n g e s u s e d , which made inoculation much quicker, were provi- ded by the United States Sixth Fleet which, yester- day just like today, has its headquarters in Naples. A print of San Babila Square in Milan, during the 1630 plague, described also by Manzoni (Photo: Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Continued from page 22 Historic Personal Protective Equipment during the plague

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