Epidemic

Health educators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo distribute posters about health safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An epidemic disease is one that has begun spreading through a large population in a self-sustaining manner, without requiring external inputs. Epidemic outbreaks—events during which a disease begins spreading epidemically—may occur at the level of a town or city, a region, or a country. An epidemic on the global scale is called a pandemic; that is, a pandemic disease is one that has begun spreading across the world in a self-sustaining manner. In the modern era, epidemics are generally controlled using vaccines when they are available, as well as through cleanliness, hygiene and public health measures such as wearing masks and social distancing.

Pandemics in Bahá'í history

Some examples of pandemics that are notable in Bahá'í history include the Asian flu of 1956-1958, which led to the death of Shoghi Effendi, and the COVID-19 pandemic which began in 2019.

Epidemics in Bahá'í history

The following is a list of examples of epidemics that are somehow notable in Bahá'í history.

• Due to its unsanitary conditions, the city of 'Akka was commonly subject to epidemics before the arrival of Bahá'u'lláh. In his memoir "Memories of Nine Years in Akka", Dr. Youness Afroukhteh writes that the "once-rampant" diseases vanished from 'Akka not long after Bahá'u'lláh's arrival: "I frequently heard from 'Abdu'l-Bahá—and was once a witness to it myself—that in the forty-year period of the Most Great Prison plague and cholera epidemics several times engulfed many cities in the Holy Land but did not enter the gates of 'Akka, nor did they descend on the city from the air..."
  • In the very early days of Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment in the barracks of 'Akká, an epidemic of typhoid led nearly all of the imprisoned Bahá'ís to fall ill.

• The palace of Údí Khammár outside of 'Akká was abandoned owing to the outbreak of an epidemic. It was rented and later purchased for Bahá’u’lláh, becoming known as the Mansion of Bahji.

• In the 1880s, Jamál Effendi and Siyyid Muṣṭafá Rúmí helped to combat an outbreak of smallpox while travelling in Indonesia. When the king called on them to help, Jamál Effendi used scabs from infected children and combined it with breast milk from a nursing woman to create a vaccine. Their intervention reduced the death rate to one percent. Siyyid Muṣṭafá Rúmí described the incident:

“ To our surprise, suddenly there came news that a smallpox epidemic had broken out in the principal towns of Padali Fammana and in the houses close to the palace. The loss of many children alarmed the king and he implored us for assistance. I had no knowledge about smallpox but Jamál Effendi instructed me to get some ordinary needles and tie them tightly together and pick some live scabs from the affected children, put them in a small phial, and add to it a little milk. With these needles I then scratched the arms of the children. In this way we daily vaccinated up to five hundred children. One percent could not be cured but the lives of the remaining ones were saved. ” — Siyyid Muṣṭafá Rúmí: Hand of the Cause of God, Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh by Iran Furútan Muhájir

• An epidemic of influenza affected Tehran around the time of World War I that saw many people, including many doctors, flee the city. Countering this trend, Sehat Hospital—known as a Baha'i hospital since it had been established by Bahá'í pioneer Dr. Susan Moody—remained open to treat patients. This episode helped to improve the hospital's image and reputation considerably.

• Keith Ransom-Kehler died of smallpox during an epidemic in Iran in 1933.

Notable victims

The following is a list of some notable victims of epidemics who have connections to the Bahá'í Faith.

• Phoebe Hearst, died of Spanish Flu, 1919
• Shoghi Effendi, died of Asian Flu, 1957