The 15 Worst Killer Epidemics in History

An epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected. A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region or worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic.

1. Antonine Plague – 165 - 180

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The Antonine Plague occurred in 165-180 CE and killed an estimated total of 5 million people. This ancient pandemic\ is thought to be either of smallpox or measles. Notable people killed by the epidemic include Roman emperors Lucius Verus and his co-regent Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

2. Plague of Cyprian – 251- 270 CE

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The pandemic known as Plague of Cyprian is probably of smallpox. It afflicted the Roman Empire from 251 CE onwards. At the height of the outbreak, 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in Rome. It was still raging in 270, when it claimed the life of emperor Claudius II Gothicus (ruled 268-70). It is named after St. Cyprian, an early Christian writer who witnessed and described the plague.

3. Plague of Justinian – 541 – 542 CE

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The pandemic known as Plague of Justinian afflicted the Byzantine Empire including its capital Constantinople and killed as many as 100 million people across the world. Bubonic plague is thought to be the cause of the pandemic. It was named after Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.

4. Black Death – 1348-1350

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One of the deadliest pandemics the world had ever experienced is the Black Death. This bubonic plague outbreak have started in Central Asia and reached Crimea in 1346. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe’s population, reducing the world’s population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. The plague returned at various times, resulting in a larger number of deaths, until it left Europe in the nineteenth century.

5. Italian Plague of 1629–1631

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The Italian Plague of 1629–1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague in northern Italy. This epidemic, often referred to as Great Plague of Milan, claimed the lives of approximately 280,000 people. The cities of Lombardy and Venice experienced the highest death rates.

6. Great Plague of Seville - 1647–1652

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The Great Plague of Seville was the greatest plague that hit Spain in the 17th century. It was a massive outbreak of disease that killed 150,000 people in Seville and altogether Spain have lost 500,000 people, out of a population of slightly fewer than 10,000,000.

7. Great Plague of London - 1665-1666

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The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of bubonic plague in England. The disease killed an estimated 100,000 people or 20% of London’s population. The Great Plague of 1665 was the last major out-break of the plague in England.

8. Great Plague of Marseilles of 1720

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The Great Plague of Marseilles was one of the most significant European outbreaks of bubonic plague in the early 18th century. Arriving in Marseilles, France in 1720, the disease killed 100,000 people in the city and the surrounding provinces.

9. Smallpox Epidemic – 1775 and 1782

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The smallpox epidemic between 1775 and 1782 raged across much of North America and killing more than 130,000 people. Tens of thousands of people died throughout Mexico from smallpox beginning in 1779. Smallpox then swept through the Pueblos of New Mexico beginning in 1780.

10. Third Pandemic - 1855

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Third Pandemic began in the Yunnan province in China in 1855. It is another episode of bubonic plague that spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year.

11. Spanish flu – 1918 flu pandemic

The Spanish flu pandemic spread to nearly every part of the world and was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide. An estimated 500 million people, one third of 1.6 billion world’s population at that time became infected.

12. Asian Flu of 1956-1958

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The Asian Flu of 1956 to 1958 originated in China and spread to Singapore, Hong Kong and other places. It was estimated that there were 69,800 people who died in the US. Worldwide death toll is estimated at 1 to 4 million.

13. Hong Kong flu of 1968 and 1969

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The Hong Kong flu pandemic occurred in 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated one million people worldwide. The outbreak was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus, descended from H2N2 through antigenic shift. About 500,000 Hong Kong residents or 15% of the population were infected by the pandemic. More or less 34,000 died in the US.

14. HIV/AIDS from 1981 to present

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Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS epidemics spread through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is inhabited by just over 12% of the world’s population but it is estimated to have more than 60% of the AIDS-infected cases worldwide.

15. H1N1 - 2009 flu pandemic

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The most recent pandemic is H1N1 which was first identified in April, 2009 and is commonly called “Swine flu”. This global outbreak of a new strain of influenza virus is reported to have 94,512 confirmed cases in 122 countries with 429 deaths as of July of this year. Although it is not deadly, it scared millions of people worldwide.

See also

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