Deadly Pandemics and Epidemics in History in the Last 100 Years
The worst epidemics and pandemics in history have ravaged humanity throughout its existence, but which were the deadliest? In late December 2019, the world was introduced to a novel coronavirus—SARS-CoV-2—a pathogen that causes COVID-19. Just two months later, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, meaning the virus had spread across several countries and sickened a large number of people. By May 2020, COVID-19 was responsible for over 520 million cases worldwide, according to the WHO. There have been a lot of deadly infectious diseases throughout history, and illnesses like malaria, tuberculosis, influenza, and smallpox have killed hundreds upon thousands over time, ever since humanity’s hunter-gatherer days.
But the shift to agriculture, towns, and cities, made it possible for these illnesses to spread far and wide and become epidemics. However, the very worst case for any disease is when it becomes a pandemic. Unfortunately, with trade and travel, there have been quite a few pandemics across human history.
An epidemic is when a disease rapidly spreads to a large number of people inside a country (or any other given area) in just a short period of time.
A pandemic is when it spreads beyond just a country’s borders. It usually affects people on multiple continents or even worldwide, and a much larger number of people are infected. Epidemics are an unexpected, often sudden, increase of a specific illness within a community or region. Pandemics are when an epidemic occurs worldwide, crossing international borders and affecting a large number of people.
However, any communicable diseases that recur yearly or seasonally (like winter colds or seasonal flu) aren’t counted as pandemics. Nonetheless, the history of pandemics in the world is one that is long and deadly.
Here are 31 of the worst pandemics in human history:
| S.N. | Name | Era | Cause/Vector | Death Toll | Location |
| 1. | Plague of Athens | 430 BC | Yersinia Pestis (Bacterium) | 75K – 1 lakh | Greece |
| 2. | Antonine Plague | 165 AD | Yersinia Pestis | 5 – 10 million | Roman Empire |
| 3. | Plague of Cyprian | 250 – 275 AD | Yersinia Pestis | Europe | |
| 4. | Plague of Justinian | 541 – 542 AD | Yersinia Pestis | 50 million | Europe and West Africa |
| 5. | Japanese small pox (Epidemic) | 735 – 737 | Variola Virus | 2 million | Japan |
| 6. | The Black death (Plague) | 1346 – 1353 | Yersinia Pestis | 75 – 200 million | Europe, Asia and North Africa |
| 7. | Smallpox (Epidemic) | 1520 | Variola Virus | 5 – 8 million | Mexico |
| 8. | Cocoliztil (Epidemic) | 1545 – 1548 | Salmonella enterica | 5 – 15 million | Mexico and Central America |
| 9. | Great plague of Marseille | 1720 – 1723 | Yersinia Pestis | 1 lakh | France |
| 10. | 1st Cholera (Pandemic) | 1816 – 1820 | Vibrio cholerae (Bacterium) | + 1 million | Asia, Europe |
| 11. | 2nd Cholera (Pandemic) | 1829 – 1851 | Vibrio cholerae | + 1 million | Asia, Europe and North America |
| 12. | Asiatic flu / Russian flu | 1889 – 1890 | Influenza A virus Subtype – H1N1 | 1 million | Worldwide |
| 13. | 3rd Cholera (Pandemic) | 1852 – 1860 | Vibrio cholerae | 1 million | Asia, Europe, Africa and North America |
| 14. | 3rd Plague (Pandemic) | 1855 – 1860 | Yersinia Pestis | >12 million | Worldwide (12 million in India & China) |
| 15. | Encephalitis Lethargica (Pandemic) | 1915 – 1926 | Due to autoimmune response with bacterial and viral infections (Uncertain causes) | 1.6 million | Worldwide |
| 16. | Spanish flu | 1918 – 1920 | Influenza A virus Subtype – H1N1 | 17 – 50 million | Worldwide |
| 17. | Asian flu | 1956 – 1958 | Influenza A virus Subtype – H2N2 | 2 million | Worldwide |
| 18. | The Hong Kong flu | 1968 – 1969 | Influenza A virus Subtype – H3N2 | 1 million | Worldwide |
| 19. | Typhus / Camp fever / Gaol fever / Ship fever / Jail fever | 1918 – 1922 | Rickettsia prowazekii (Bacterium) | 3 million | Burundi, Rwanda, Algeria and a few areas of South and Central America |
| 20. | Smallpox | 20th Century | Variola Virus | 300 – 500 million | Worldwide |
| 21. | Measles | 9th Century – Till now | Measles morbillivirus | 2 lakh/yr | Worldwide |
| 22. | Tuberculosis | 17000 years ago – Till now | Mycobacterium tuberculosis | 15 lakh/yr | Worldwide |
| 23. | Leprosy | Since 600 BC (Mainly in 11th century) | Mycobacterium leprae | 17-18 million | Mainly in Europe |
| 24. | Yellow fever (Epidemic) | 1793 | Flavivirus | 5000 (approx.) | Philadelphia, New York and Boston |
| 25. | AIDS | 1976 (Firstly) – Till now | Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) | 8 – 10 lakh | Worldwide |
| 26. | SARS – CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) (Epidemic) | 2003 | Coronavirus (β – CoV) | 774 out of 8000 cases | Southern China, Canada, Singapore and Vietnam |
| 27. | Swine flu | 2009 – 2010 | H1N1 Virus (Influenza A) Swine Influenza Virus (SIV) | 18000 | Worldwide (1st outbreak – Mexico) |
| 28. | MERS – CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) | 2012 | Coronavirus (β – CoV) | 858 | Saudi Arabia and areas of Middle East |
| 29. | Ebola (Epidemic) | 2014 – 2016 | Ebola Virus | 11310 | West Africa |
| 30. | Zika Virus Disease | 2015 – 2016 | Zika Virus | 50 – 100 | Brazil, South & North America |
| 31. | Coronavirus Disease – 2019 (Covid-19) | 2019 – Till now | Corona Virus | 25 Lakh (Till now) | Worldwide |
DR SK RAY CHAUDHARY,BAU
