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Period: 1570 BCE to 1085
Smallpox
Smallpox is a febrile, severe and infectious disease, seen in all ages showing up as large fluid-filled pustules on the face and all over the body that scabbed over and often left behind ugly scars. It was the most common cause of deaths in history, killing 30% of those infected. There were two types of smallpox: variola major and variola minor. The disease, which was spread between people or via contaminated objects, was more commonly seen in children. -
1334
Infamous "Black Death
The plague has killed by far the most people – claiming tens of millions of lives around the world. Throughout history, plague epidemics have erupted in several eras, becoming known under different names such as Athens, Antoninus, Cyprus and Justinianus. Black Death, which caused great destruction across Europe between 1347 and 1351, is estimated to have killed 75 million to 100 million people. The epidemic started in southwest Asia and reached Europe in the late 1340s. -
1545
VHFS
Similar to the disease caused by the Ebola or dengue viruses, viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are contagious, continuous and for the most part, lethal. VHF outbreaks swept through Mexico between 1545 and 1548 and killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million of the native population, making it the worst disease epidemic in the country's history. Characterized by high fevers and bleeding, the mysterious illness came to be known as "cocoliztli," by the native Aztecs, or the Great Pestilence. -
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Spanish flu
Spanish flu or influenza was caused by a deadly subtype of the H1N1 virus in 1918-1920. The Spanish influenza is considered the worst in modern history, killing an estimated 50 million to 100 million people in just 18 months. Some 500 million were estimated to be infected by the virus, and its spread was exacerbated by the ongoing war. The disease was also prevalent during the last months of World War I and is thought to have played a role in ending the four-year conflict. -
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Cholera epidemics
The cholera epidemic that broke out in Asia and Europe in 1817-1824 killed approximately 1,500 people between the years 1899 and 1923. The biggest cholera outbreaks were in Japan in 1817, in Moscow in 1826 and Berlin, Paris and London in 1831. The cholera epidemic in the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan War of 1912-1913 also caused many deaths. -
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HIV-AIDS epidemic
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes a spectrum of conditions in those infected, leading to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). About 35 million people have died from AIDS – or HIV-related illnesses since 1981, including 940,000 in 2017. Around 36.9 million people worldwide were reported to be HIV positive in 2014. -
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SARS-CoV
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused Asia and Canada to fall into chaos between 2002-2003. Caused by the highly infectious coronavirus SARS-CoV, the disease quickly spread to 37 countries globally within a matter of weeks. SARS symptoms included fever, chills and body aches and usually progressed to pneumonia. The SARS epidemic that began in Hong Kong between November 2002 and July 2003 almost became a pandemic after claiming 922 lives, with 8,422 confirmed cases worldwide. -
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Swine flu
Swine flu killed approximately 2 million people between 1957 and 1958, while 1 million people each died in the flu outbreaks in Russia and Hong Kong in the years 1889-1890 and 1968-1969, respectively. The swine flu pandemic of 2009 killed an estimated 284,500 people. Caused by the H1N1 influenza virus, swine flu infected its first known victim in central Mexico in March 2009. -
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Ebola
The Ebola outbreak that erupted in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 caused more than 11,300 deaths. The West African Ebola outbreak started in Guinea in December 2013, and the virus spread to 28,616 people in West African countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leona. The epidemic, which ended in June 2016, was recorded as the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history in terms of the number of people infected and amount of deaths. -
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Hepatitis
Since September 2017, San Diego, California has been suffering from the biggest hepatitis A outbreak the state has ever seen. The growing number of infected individuals prompted health officials to declare a state of emergency on October 13, 2017, despite ongoing efforts to quell the outbreak.