Philippine History of Pandemics

History tells us that the pandemic is not new. We have had others like it before.
History also tells us that the present pandemic will end, though the big question is
when?

Spanish Flu
The flu, or trancazo in Spanish and Tagalog, is something we have learned to
live with. If not for the COVID-19 outbreak, many of us would not have heard of the
1918 influenza pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide from
February 1918 to April 1920. It is odd that classroom history is silent on the influenza
pandemic when it killed more people than the First World War, whose beginning and
end are recorded in our textbooks.

In 1918, the Spanish influenza pandemic did not spare the Philippines. From
1918 until 1919, it ravaged around the world affecting half of the world's population and
claiming at least 50 million individuals (Gealogo, 2009). The influenza was caused by an
H1N1 virus that came from avian-like influenza virus strains (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2019).
Infecting 40% of the Filipino population and around 30,000 Filipino children age 2-9
died.
Despite being uncertain where it originated, it was called the Spanish Flu
because of xenophobia.
In the case of the Spanish flu, politics hindered in the way of curbing the disease.
The Bureau of Health Service became a casualty of the infighting among colonial
officials (Gealogo, 2009).
From Manila, the flu traveled to port cities and areas of commerce
connected by train and roadway, because there were no quarantine lockdowns.
The highest number of deaths recorded were in November 1918 with 48,523, and
December 1918 with 35,204. (Ocampo, 2021)
The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic claimed more than 80,000 lives in the
Philippines. As in other parts of the world, the contagion came in three waves, with the
second surge being the most virulent.

Manila and the nearby provinces of Bataan, Bulacan, Batangas, Rizal, Laguna,
Tayabas, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija accounted for most of the influenza cases in the
first wave of infections from May to June, according to Gealogo.
 Regions “that were mostly open to global commerce” outside of Manila were hit
hard during the second wave later in the year. These include Cebu, Iloilo, Pangasinan,
Negros, and Camarines.

Gealogo, however, offers a caveat to the data on influenza deaths. His paper
said the low numbers in Mindanao and Cordillera are likely “under enumeration and
underreporting” than actual low contamination.

7th Cholera Pandemic (1961-1975)

A pandemic of El-Tor-type cholera began in south-east Asia in 1961. No cholera
epidemics had occurred in the Philippine Islands for some 25 years prior to September
1961, when the first patient with the El Tor type of Ogawa cholera was admitted to San
Lazaro Hospital, Manila. The Philippines thus became involved in an epidemic that had
previously afflicted Sulawesi (Celebes), South Borneo, Sarawak, Macao, possibly South
China, and Hong Kong.
Infecting more than 1500 people. With less than 1% of death rate.
Which originated in Indonesia.

SARS Pandemic
More fatal and deadly but less infectious. It was first identified at the end of
February 2003 during an outbreak that emerged in China.
The global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) dominated
public discourse in the Philippines from March to May 2003. But, given the scale of its
impact and the range of responses it elicited, it largely escaped documentation, likely
owing to its abbreviated timeframe and the overall lack of scholarly attention to
contemporary medical crises. This article reconstructs the "outbreak narrative" of SARS
and the perceptions and practices that surrounded it. It discusses points of comparison
between SARS and the Covid-19 pandemic, underscoring that many practices seen in
both events are familiar, not exceptional, responses to health crises in the country.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Cumulative Number of
Reported Probable Cases of SARS, the Philippines had 14 cases of SARS from
November 1, 2002 to July 11, 2003. With only 2 deaths.

H1N1 (Swine Flu) Pandemic

The origin of the 2009 swine flu outbreak. Health workers traced the virus to a pig
farm in this southeastern Mexican state. A young boy who lived nearby was among the
first people to contract the swine flu. They lived, but others in the area came down with
the flu and died
 The 2009 flu pandemic in the Philippines began on May 21, 2009, when a
young Filipina girl first contracted the A(H1N1) virus while in the United States. In the
following days, several local cases were reported to be caused by contact with two
infected Taiwanese women who attended a wedding ceremony in Zambales.
The 10-year-old Filipina girl arrived the country on May 18 and was hospitalized
the day after at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa.[1] On May
21, Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque confirmed the case being
the first Philippine swine flu case.[1]
On June 22, 2009, first fatality was reported, a 49-year-old female from Metro Manila,
being also the first death in Asia associated with the disease. [2] At the same time,
the Department of Health assured that the patient did not die because of the novel virus,
instead, due to heart attack.[3] Later on, Philippine Congress learned that the woman
was a regular employee of the House, and prompted the government to shut down the
legislature for five days.[4]