The 10 Worst Pandemics in the History

If you think the COVID-19 epidemic was one of the worst pandemics and that your life has been turned upside down by quarantine or travel restrictions, you might not have paid much attention in history class.

Pandemics have been happening for thousands of years. However, nowadays, thanks to science and medicine, they don’t claim as many lives as they used to.

Let’s have a look at the top 10 worst pandemics in history.

1. Black Death

The Black Death, the history’s deadliest pandemic, devastated Europe in the 14th century, claiming 75-100 million lives. Originating in Asia, it reached Europe in the late 1340s. Spain’s Great Plague (1647-1652) and London’s Great Plague (1665-1666) were also gripped by the bubonic plague. Caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, it still kills 100-200 people annually, causing symptoms like boils, swollen glands, and pneumonia.

2. Cocoliztli

Cocoliztli, similar to Ebola or Dengue, is a highly contagious and often deadly viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). It wreaked havoc in Mexico from 1545 to 1548, claiming 5-15 million lives, making it the country’s worst pandemic. Known as “cocoliztli” or the Great Pestilence to Aztecs, it causes high fever, bleeding, yellowish skin, delirium, convulsions, and painful swellings behind the ears. Spaniards were accused of spreading it alongside smallpox and measles.

3. Cholera

The cholera outbreak, spanning Asia and Europe from 1817 to 1824, claimed around 1,500 lives between 1899 and 1923. Major outbreaks hit Japan (1817), Moscow (1826), and Berlin, Paris, and London (1831). Cholera, caused by Vibrio cholerae bacteria, starts as an intestinal infection transmitted through contaminated food or water. It leads to severe dehydration and potentially fatal diarrhea within hours if untreated. Despite efforts, cholera still affects millions annually, with the WHO reporting 1.3 to 4 million cases yearly.

4. Smallpox

Smallpox, a serious and contagious disease, causes fever and fluid-filled blisters on the face and body, often leading to scarring. Historically, it was the leading cause of death, killing 30% of those infected. It spread through contact or contaminated objects, with children being more susceptible. The last case was in October 1977. WHO declared the pandemic eradicated in 1980.

5 Typhus

Various typhus epidemics have occurred in history, notably the 1848 outbreak, which claimed over 20,000 lives. Many of them were Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine to Canada. Symptoms included high fever, red spots on the arms, back, and chest, delirium, and gangrenous sores with a putrid odor. During WWI, typhus ravaged Eastern Front armies, with an estimated 150,000 deaths in Yugoslavia alone. The Russian Civil War saw three million typhus deaths, peaking in 1922 with 25-30 million cases in Soviet territory.

6. Spanish Flu

The Spanish Flu, caused by a deadly strain of the H1N1 virus, raged from 1918 to 1920, becoming the worst pandemic in modern history. It claimed 50-100 million lives in just 18 months. About 500 million were infected, fueled by the ongoing war. Unlike typical flu strains, it primarily affected young adults and healthy individuals, causing symptoms such as chills, fatigue, nausea, and bluish skin due to fluid-filled lungs.

7. AIDS

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), causing a range of health issues. Since 1981, about 35 million have died from AIDS-related illnesses, with 940,000 deaths in 2017. Around 36.9 million people worldwide had HIV in 2014. HIV weakens the immune system by targeting specific white blood cells, gradually causing symptoms. It spreads through unprotected sex, shared needles, contaminated blood transfusions, and from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.

8. Ebola

The Ebola epidemic ravaged West Africa from 2013 to 2016, claiming over 11,300 lives. Beginning in Guinea in December 2013, it spread to 28,616 people across West Africa, including Guinea and Sierra Leone. Ending in June 2016, it was the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. Ebola, first observed in 1976, likely originated from forest bats and is transmitted through blood, vomit, diarrhea, and other bodily fluids. Symptoms typically appear 2-21 days post-infection, with recovery relying on the patient’s immune response. Survivors develop antibodies lasting at least a decade.

9. SARS-CoV-2

In 2002-2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused chaos in Asia and Canada. The highly infectious SARS-CoV coronavirus spread rapidly to 37 countries, causing symptoms like fever, chills, joint pain, and pneumonia. Originating in Hong Kong, the epidemic led to 922 deaths and 8,422 cases globally, with a 10.9% mortality rate. Although no cases of SARS have been reported since 2004, concerns linger about its potential resurgence from animal reservoirs.

10. Swine Flu

Swine flu claimed around 2 million lives in 1957-1958, with one million deaths annually in epidemics in Russia (1889-1890) and Hong Kong (1968-1969). Caused by the H1N1 influenza virus, swine flu first infected a known victim in March 2009, spreading rapidly worldwide by April, causing widespread fear and panic due to its unusual combination of avian, swine, and human flu virus fragments. Symptoms include fever, chills, joint pain, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and red, watery eyes, similar to other types of influenza.