Pneumonic Plague Outbreak (Federation-American War)

The Pneumonic Plague out break, more commonly known as the Lung Vaporizer, the Asian Cough, and the Delhi Cough amongst many other names was a mutated strain of Pneumonic Plague Lung Infection that first emerged in 2048. Its namesake comes from the first known case on Delhi, India, which in turn quickly spread throughout the world at a very rapid pace. The plague was estimated to have killed over 20 Million people, including an estimated nine million Americans

History
It is unknown how this strain of the Pneumonic Plague first came to be, however speculation suggested that it was Pakistani War Lords who were attempting to cause destabilization of India's Modernization program. It first came to be inside of Delhi, India in mid 2048, when two people were admitted into a hospital. Initially the disease was regarded as simply a more virulent strain of Pneumonic Plague, when it was first treated, the vaccine procedure didn't work. This is where it initially started to hit panic level stages, as more patients were admitted to the hospital by the day.

The initial stages of the outbreak were very simple. It first moved into India, but then it started moving outside o the borders of India and into neighboring states. By 2049, almost the entirety of Asia had cases of this strange plague, before it finally moved from Asia and on into Europe and Africa. Travel was soon heavily restricted, and in some cases martial law was even implemented, but this wasn't nearly enough to stop and airborne virus that didn't discriminate against its victims.

The Americas
On July 4th, 2049, the first case of the plague was detected in the United States in Seattle, Washington. When the news spread, wide spread panic hit the United States as stores became crowded with gathering supplies and resources for this strain. The virus then appeared to move in all directions, moving into Canada, South into Oregon, and East to Idaho. The outbreak was officially labeled a pandemic by the International Health Organization, and by the time of its declaration, no country was soon safe.

By the time of the end of 2049, the United States had become heavily infected by the virus. Travel restrictions to other countries were soon implemented, and areas where hotspots of the plague were identified, such as in St. Paul, Minnesota and Akron, Ohio. Eventually, the virus soon made its way into the Federation of the Americas, with its first case of the virus detected in Santiago, Chile detected by the beginning of 2050, although more cases could have been discovered.

By the time of 2050, the severity of this plague was extremely evident as over 200,000 deaths were reported world wide. In the United States, a governmental emergency broadcast gave constant updates on the pandemic, and soon entire cities became ghost towns as the epidemic hit not just the major cities, but the rural communities. Although the U.S. government and the International Health Organization tried to modify the original vaccine for Pneumonic Plague, the virus kept changing, manipulating, and evolving as soon animals become infected with the virus. Across the world, it was issued that the safest precaution for citizens was to stay indoors and avoid public meeting areas. In areas around the world, hospitals were overloaded with flu cases, thus unable to accept more patients. Curfews were soon placed American cities Albany, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, New York, and White Plains.

By 2051, the Pandemic had hit virtually every nation in the world. The European Federation, Russian Federation, Peoples Republic of China, the United Korean Republic, and the United States of America fell into complete disarray as thousands of workers, businesses, schools, etc became completely shut down as the virus continued to up its kill count. As the situation continued to evolve, the situation became so dire, that it started to effect world trade. The effects in world trade would be the influence of the European-Iranian War, which would have disastrous effects.

But 2052, stock prices fell in the United States to a point worse than that of the 2008 Financial Crisis, and thanks to the European-Iranian War coming along, the European Federation fell into a recession as financial markets completely collapsed. As a result, the Western Coalition (The upgrade to NATO) was completely dismantled, followed by the dismantling of the United Nations as members left, and the dismantling of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. However, out of all of these issues, by a happenstance, a breakthrough would occur.

A miracle in the making
In September of 2052, after months of research, the Federation of the Americas, only having just been established in 2039, claimed to have developed a vaccine that was trustworthy enough. Through a partnership with SPIRE Corporation, the vaccine was soon tested on patients for the first time. With the dire situation of the other world governments at the time, nobody tried to oppose the testing, and it fully went ahead. It was first used on SPIRE Corporation Mercenaries before it was finally given out to citizens of the Federation.

In 2053, the Federation of the Americas approved its vaccine for full commercial use. Using its industrial base it had been developing for years, vaccines started rolling out of Federation factories around the clock, and the formula was sold to other nations around the world. Without even a need to say no, the Federation of the Americas later distributed the vaccination to SPIRE Corporation manufacturing and industrial centers to reach the population of the world.

With the Federations formula released to the public, and the formula sold to the nations of the world, full scale production of the vaccine began, with SPIRE Mercenaries and transport trucks, Federation ships, and other means of transportation being shipped worldwide. Thanks to these coordinated efforts with the United Nations, vaccinations spread rapidly throughout many countries. The traditional great powers of the United States, the European Federation, and Russian Federation placed in huge orders for there populations, but not until there vaccines were developed.

The end
By 2055, the Pneumonic Plague epidemic was virtually eradicated, and cases had dropped by over 80 percent. Although in some countries such as in Africa and in the Middle East the plague was still an issue, it wasn't enough to hardly squander the events of global politics. However, as the epidemic came to an end, the reality of the situation at hand became evident, as the death count was counted.

North America, Europe, and Eastern Asia were particularly hard-hit (as its crumbling infrastructure and the high price of petroleum made the distribution of aid materials difficult and in some cases impossible). By the time the Pandemic ended, it was soon counted that in total, 43 Million people were dead, particularly of them was nine million Americans. In warehouses around the world, the bodies of the dead were packed into body bags, and the death tags were counted and named.

This type of death rate due to a disease was known to be the deadliest in world history, and it was estimated that at least two percent of the worlds population had gotten infected by the plague. This Pandemic was one of the factors sealing the fates of the traditional world powers. At this point, though peak in Pneumonic Plague activity had likely passed for most of the world, the strain still circulated in some regions into 2057. Furthermore, the Pandemic coupled with the European-Iranian War lead to economic and political crisis's in many nations, as oil resources continued to dry up.

A new world power is born
Among the nations effected by the Pneumonic Plague pandemic, one nation in particular was least hit. The Federation of the Americas, more commonly known as "The Federation" had acted relatively quickly, and thanks to some "Influence" from the pandemic that had happened only a few years before, the Federation acted relatively quickly. Thanks to many years of investment into the region from foreign nations, the Federation of the Americas was able to relatively quickly secure itself from the pandemic. The Federation only lost 30,000 people to the plague thanks to it listening to experts.

When the Federation rolled out its first vaccine, and started offering resources to other nations in conjunction with SPIRE Corporation, the Federations economy began to grow at a steady pace. These new economic profits were dedicated to the distribution and resources to other nations effected by the Delhi Cough. The nation that the Federation most prescribed to was the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, India, and the United Korean Republic. This distribution of resources lead to the Federations economy to grow most rapidly.