THE BIGGEST PANDEMICS IN HISTORY

We are now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, this is not the first time. There were other big pandemics in history before. If you want to know which ones, keep reading.

1. The Black Death (XIV century) – 100 million deaths

Also called the Pestilence or the Plague, it’s considered to be the deadliest plague in history. However, it’s difficult to know the exact number of deaths, as it happened several centuries ago, when there were no official records.

This plague spread all over Europe and Asia. In Europe alone, it killed one-third of the population. The way it spread was through rats… In fact, the Yersinia Pestis (the bacteria responsible for the Black Death) traveled on the rats’ fleas. And those rats traveled inside the boats‘ cellars. That way, the bacteria managed to spread quickly all over the continent.

The Black Death was the biggest of the pandemics that humanity ever faced.

• Smallpox (XVI century) – 50 million deaths

The smallpox was devastating in America. It arrived there with the Spanish travelers that conquered America.

It probably killed almost 90% of native Americans.

Nowadays, it is the only disease that has been truly eradicated in human beings. That is, there are no more cases of smallpox and of course, no smallpox pandemics are possible.

In fact, it only exists in high-security labs.

• Cholera (XIX century) – 1 million deaths

Cholera causes very severe diarrhea. It is so severe that it is followed by huge dehydration due to water loss.

The lack of good sewerage and drinking water made it spread all over Asia during the XIX century.

• The Spanish Flu (1918) – 50 million deaths

It was also known as the Great Influenza and was caused by the flu virus, H1N1 specifically. It had a really high mortality and was very contagious, too: it infected 1/3 of the world population.

Despite its name, it didn’t only happen in Spain. Its name is due to the fact that Spain was one of the few countries that did not take part in WWI. And while the rest of the countries hid the number of deaths not to show their weakness, Spain published them on the press. That’s why the rest of the world came to know their casualties better than the other countries’.

• The Russian Flu (XIX century) – 1 million deaths

A different subtype of the flu virus. In this case H2N2. It spread through birds, from where it transferred to humans.

• The Yellow Fever (XIX century) – 150.000 deaths

It started in Africa. There, it transferred from the monkeys to the human race.

Then, it traveled to America through boats, the same as the Black Death did. Only in this case, it wasn’t through the rats, but a mosquito: the Aedes aegypti.

• HIV/ AIDS (1981- today) – 30 million deaths

One of the greatest pandemics of all times.

VIH is the infection and the virus. AIDS is the name when there are symptoms. These can be infections, tumors…

It also started in Africa, probably from the monkeys to humans.

Nowadays is a widespread infection. Still, it is much more frequent in some regions of Africa. This is due to the scarcity of contraceptive methods in those regions.

With the right treatment, we can control the disease for a long time, even for a whole life. However, in some countries without access to the treatment, many people die every year due to HIV.

• SARS (2002) – 770 deaths

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It was caused by a Coronavirus, the SARS-CoV.

It happened in South China in 2002, where it infected 8000 people. 770 of them died.

Scientists believe it started in bats and then “jumped” to the human being.

• MERS (2012 – today) – 850 deaths

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It was caused by a Coronavirus too.

As its name shows, it started in the Middle East, specifically in Saudi Arabia.

Then, it traveled to other countries in the Middle East and outside of it, like South Corea.

• COVID-19 (2019 – ?) – 800.000 deaths (as of August 2020)

Update as of August 2021: 4.5 million official deaths.

Responsible for the current pandemic, it started in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

As for August 2020, there are around 800.000 declared deaths.

Also, it has caused the world to paralyze and many countries to declare a mandatory quarantine, as well as close their borders.

• Swine Flu (2009) – 200.000 deaths

The second of the pandemics caused by the H1N1 flu virus (the first was the Spanish Flu in 1918).

The first case happened in a pig in Mexico. Then, it transferred to the human being.

• Ebola (2014 – 2016) – 11.000 deaths

It causes a hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates. The 2014 outbreak was the biggest one.

It has a high mortality rate, up to 50%.