Worst pandemics and epidemics

An epidemic is a disease that affects large numbers of people within a community, population, or region. A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread over multiple countries or continents.

An outbreak is a greater-than-anticipated increase in the number of endemic cases.

Pandemic/Epidemic (date) Disease : Casualties – Location
in order of number of fatalities

Black Death (1331 – 1353) plague : 100 – 200 million – Europe, Asia and North Africa
Yersinia pestis bacteria on infected rats cause bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic plague

Spanish flu (1918 – 1920) Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 : infected 100 million, between 17 and 50 million fatalities – Worldwide
Called “Spanish flue” but likely originated in China

HIV/AIDS pandemic (1960 – present) HIV/AIDS : more than 40 million deaths – Worldwide
(HIV/AIDS) Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Plague of Justinian (541 – 542) Bubonic plague : 25 million – killed quarter of Europe population

Third plague pandemic (1855 – 1860) Bubonic plague : more than 12 million – India and China, then spreading worldwide

Antonine plage (165 – 180) Smallpox or Measles : 5 – 10 million – Roman Empire

Cocoliztli epidemic (1545 – 1548) Possibly Salmonella enterica : 5 – 15 million – more than 30% of New Spain (Mexico) population

1520 Smallpox Epidemic (1520) Smallpox : 5 – 8 million – approximately 30% of New Spain (Mexico) population

Coronavirus pandemic (2019 – present) COVID-19/novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 : more than 500 million infected, more than 6 million deaths – Worldwide, first detected in Wuhan, China. See Coronavirus maps and statistics.

Cocoliztli epidemic of 1576 (1576 – 1580) Possibly Salmonella enterica : 2+ million – 50% of New Spain (Mexico ) population)

Persian Plague (1772) Plague : > 2 million Persia

Japanese smallpox epidemic (735 – 737) Smallpox : 2 million – Approximately one third of Japanese population

Asian flu (1957 – 1958) Influenza A virus subtype H2N2 : 1 to 2 million – Worldwide, originated in Singapore

Encephalitis lethargica pandemic (1915 – 1926) Encephalitis lethargica (Sleeping Sickness) : 1.5 million – Worldwide, first detected in Vienna, Austria

Plague of Cyprian (250 – 266) Possibly smallpox : 1 million – Europe

Third cholera pandemic (1852 – 1860) Cholera : 1 million – Russia

1889 Flu pandemic (1889 – 1890) Influenza : 1 million – Originally called Russian Flu because it was first detected in Russia but it quickly spread worldwide

Hong Kong flu (1968 – 1969) Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 : 1 million – Worldwide

Sixth cholera pandemic (1899 – 1923) Cholera : more than 800,000 – Europe, Asia, Africa

Smallpox epidemic (1877 – 1977) Smallpox : 500,000,000 – Worldwide

Swine flue (2009 – 2010) Pandemic H1N1/09 virus : infected an estimated 1.4 billion people, 152,000 to 575,400 fatalities – Worldwide, originated in Asia

First cholera pandemic (1816 – 1826) Cholera : more than 100,000 – Asia, Europe

Second cholera pandemic (1829 – 1851) Cholera : more than 100,000 – Asia, Europe, North America

Plague of Athens (429 – 426 BC) Possibly typhus or viral hemorrhagic fever : 75,000–100,000 – Greece

Sweating sickness (1485 – 1551) Possibly unknown species of hantavirus : 10,000 + – Britain and later continental Europe

Italian plague (1629 – 1631) Plague : 280,000 – Italy

Great Plague of London (1665 – 1666) Plague : 100,000 – England

Great Plague of Marseille (1720 – 1722) Plague : more than 100,000 – France

Great Plague of Vienna (1679) Plague : 76,000 – Austria

Caragea’s plague (1813) Plague : 60,000 – Romania

Great Plague of 1738 (1738) Plague : more than 50,000 – Balkans

Russian plague (1770 – 1772) Plague : 50,000 to 100,000 – Russia

Plague in France (1668) Plague : 40,000 – France

Fiji Measles outbreak (1875) Measles : 40,000 – Fiji

1910 China plague (1910 – 1912) Bubonic plague : 40,000 – China

Plague in Netherlands (1663 – 1664) Plague : 24,000 – Netherlands

London plague 1563 (1563 – 1564) Plague : more than 20,000 – London

London plague (1592 – 1593) Plague : 20,000 – London and outer parishes

Wyandot smallpox (1634) Smallpox: 15,000 – 25,000 – Half to two-thirds of the Wyandot people (Huron Nation around Lake Ontario)

Typhus epidemic of 1847 (1847 – 1848) Epidemic typhus : more than 20,000 – Canada

Great Smallpox Epidemic (1707 – 1709) Smallpox : more than 18,000 – 36% of Iceland population

Smallpox epidemic of India (1974) Smallpox : 15,000 – India

Ebola virus epidemic (2013 – 2016) Ebola virus disease : more than 11,300 – Worldwide, primarily in West Africa

Malta plague (1675 – 1676) Plague : 11,300 – Malta

Haiti cholera outbreak (2010 – present) Cholera (strain serogroup O1, serotype Ogawa) : 10,075 Hispaniola

Wampanoag people plage (1616 – 1620) Unknown plague : more than 10,000, 30 – 90% of Wampanoag population in New England, USA

Measles outbreak Democratic Republic of the Congo (2014 and 2019 – present) Measles : more than 10,000 – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fifth cholera pandemic (1881 – 1896) Cholera : more than 9,000 – India, Germany

1916 Poliomyelitis outbreak (1916) Poliomyelitis (polio) : more than 7,000 – USA

Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic (1793) Yellow fever : 5,000 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Cholera epidemic of Copenhagen (1853) Cholera : 4,737 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Malta plague epidemic (1813 – 1814) Plague : 4,500 – Malta

Zimbabwean cholera outbreak (2008 – 2009 ) Cholera : 4,293 – Zimbabwe

Yemen cholera outbreak (2016 – 2020) Cholera : more than 4,000 – Yemen

1952 Poliomyelitis outbreak (1952) Polio : 3,145 – USA

Montreal smallpox epidemic (1885) Smallpox : 3,164 – Montreal

British Columbia smallpox epidemic (1862 – 1863) : more than 3,000 – Central Coast, British Columbia

1592 Malta plague epidemic (1592 – 1593) Plague : 3,000 – Malta

1949 Poliomyelitis outbreak (1949) Polio : 2,720 – USA

Kivu Ebola epidemic (2018 – present) Ebola virus : 2,268+ – Democratic Republic of the Congo & Uganda

2015 Indian swine flu outbreak (2015) Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 : 2,035 – India

Dengue fever epidemic (2019 – present) Dengue fever : more than 2,000 – Asia-Pacific, Latin America

1946 Poliomyelitis outbreak (1946) Polio : 1,845 – USA

London flu (1972 – 1973) Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 : 1,027 – USA
A distinct strain of A-England 72 flu was identified in 1972 in England

West African meningitis outbreak (2009 – 2010) Meningitis : 931 – West Africa

MERS outbreak (2012 – present) Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) : 862 (as of 13 January 2020) – Worldwide

SARS outbreak (2002 – 2004) Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) : 774 – Worldwide, originated in China

Broad Street cholera outbreak (1854) Cholera : 616 – England

Disease deaths per day worldwide

Tuberculosis (TB)

More than 1 million people die every year by TB. About one-quarter of the world’s population has latent TB, which – according to the World Health Organization – means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit the disease.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria, which generally affects the lungs in humans and animals.

Traces of TB have been found in the remains of bison in Wyoming dated to around 17,000 years ago, in skeletal remains of some prehistoric humans and Egyptian mummies.

It was called consumption, phthisis or White Plague until it was identified as a single disease and given its name only 1839 by German naturalist Johann Lukas Schönlein. (Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro was the first person to propose, in his essay De contagione of 1546, that TB was transmitted by a virus.) Mycobacterium tuberculosis was first described on 24 March 1882 by German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch.

TB occurs all over the world. It is treated with vaccination, antibiotics and/or corticosteroid therapy.

Hepatitis B

Every year, almost 40,000 people die from Hepatitis B (HB), an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the liver. Humans have been infected by the hepatitis B virus since at least 3300 BC.

HBV is 50 to 100 more infectious HIV/AIDS but is spread in the same way: unprotected sex with someone who is infected, sharing of needles with an infected person, getting blood transfusion from an infected person, getting contaminated with infected blood, and infected mothers breastfeeding babies.

Malaria

Malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms parasite of the Plasmodium group that usually is spread by an infected female Anopheles gambiae mosquito. The disease affects humans and animals.

Annually, malaria infects more than 200 million people worldwide but more than 90% of the cases and deaths occur in Africa. The disease causes more than 500,000 deaths per year and is a leading cause of premature mortality.

Malaria is treated with antimalarial medications, usually derived from quinine and artesunate.

Shigellosis

Shigellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by Shigella bacteria, named after Japanese physician and bacteriologist Kiyoshi Shiga, who first discovered it in 1897.

Shigella is naturally found in humans and gorillas and is one of the leading bacterial causes of diarrhea worldwide. It infects approximately 80 million people a year, causing 700,000 deaths.

Rotavirus

Rotavirus is a very contagious virus that causes diarrhea. It infects more than 100 million people a year, causing more than 400,000 deaths. It is the most common cause of diarrhea in infants and children worldwide, annually resulting in over 215,000 deaths of children under aged 5.

Rotavirus cannot be treated with antibiotics or other drugs. It can, however, be treated by two vaccines, RotaTeq or Rotarix. Treatment usually involves the management of dehydration.

Stay safe! Stay healthy!