# Is this the first time we have had the the technology to fight off a widespread pandemic? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 24, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660 "2021-04-24T02:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/1 "2021-04-24T02:03:12Z")
Got my 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine today! While I was waiting for my turn I started to wonder if this is the first time in history where there has been a pandemic that spread quickly across the globe and we had the tools to fight it. The 1918 Spanish flu went worldwide but they didn’t have the technology to fight it. The HIV/AIDS but the virus spread much more slowly than the Corona virus but we still don’t have a complete cure. Ebola, MERS, SARS were caught before they became widespread and killed a large number of people. So, is this the first time we have been able to fight off a pandemic that quickly went global? Hope you are all doing well and I thank you for your answers. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/2 "2021-04-24T02:09:07Z")
No. Antibiotics mean that this won’t happen again: > **[Black Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague)\[a\] was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the deaths of 75–200 million people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis spread by fleas, but during the Black Death it probably also took a se... ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/3 "2021-04-24T02:13:26Z")
Yes, antibiotics would prevent the black plague from breaking out again but what about a pandemic that is all ready in progress? Is this the first time we have the tools to fight off an ongoing pandemic? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/4 "2021-04-24T02:23:44Z")
So the restrictions to your question are - it must be something where we do not initially have the tools to stop it, so the disease spreads; then we do develop the tools to stop it. So really your question is about the technology to react quickly to develop treatments for novel viruses. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/5 "2021-04-24T02:34:33Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > Yes, antibiotics would prevent the black plague from breaking out again but > what about a pandemic that is all ready in progress? Is this the first time > we have the tools to fight off an ongoing pandemic? Many years ago there was something about determining the greatest invention of all time, and experts (et al?) chose the printing press. It’s great to discover a solution to a problem, but being able to disseminate that information is even bigger (I think the logic went). These days, it’s the internet. The problem is separating the wheat from the chaff, though. E.g. Trump said hydroxychloraquine (sp?) seemed promising. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/6 "2021-04-24T03:01:08Z")
_“So really your question is about the technology to react quickly to develop treatments for novel viruses.”_ Yes, I guess that is what I am aiming for. A new disease breaks out and _spreads worldwide_, we initially don’t have the cure but with our modern technology we can come up with a cure in a relatively short time. I can’t recall if we have been able to do this in the past. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/7 "2021-04-24T05:15:22Z")
Certainly not this fast: [BRIEFING Moderna’s groundbreaking coronavirus vaccine was designed in just 2 days](https://www.businessinsider.com.au/moderna-designed-coronavirus-vaccine-in-2-days-2020-11?r=US&IR=T) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/8 "2021-04-24T06:45:22Z")
Not just the speed of the vaccine development itself, but that was made possible in part by the entire gene sequence of the virus being quickly determined and disseminated. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-time-we-have-had-the-the-technology-to-fight-off-a-widespread-pandemic/940660/9 "2021-04-25T12:45:31Z")
Strictly speaking, no. We’ve had the technology to fight off polio and smallpox pandemics for quite some time now.