Deadliest Diseases in History

1. SMALLPOX (430 BC? – 1979)

Killed: 300 to 500 million

Transmission: person-to- person contact and saliva droplets

Status: Eradicated

2. BUBONIC PLAGUE/ BLACK PLAGUE (1340 – 1771)

Killed: 240 million

Transmission: animals and fleas, with infected fleas then passing the disease on to people through bites.

Status: 2,118 cases in 2003 worldwide

3. INFLUENZA/ SPANISH FLU (1918-1919)

Killed: 100 MILLION

Transmission:Inhaled through air by Coughing, Sneezing or Talking

Status: Since 1918, there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly.

4. CHOLERA (1817 – today)

Killed: 40 MILLION

Transmission: ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

Status: Researchers have estimated that each year there are 1.3 million to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide due to cholera 

5. AIDS (1981 – today)

Killed: 35 MILLION

Transmission: Through semen, blood, vaginal and anal fluids, and breast milk.

Status: As of 2016 about 36.7 million people were living with HIV and it resulted in 1 million deaths.

6. TYPHUS (430 BC? – today)

Killed: 3 million people between 1918 and 1922 alone

Transmission: by fleas associated with flying squirrels and their nesting material, by inhaling dried louse feces, or by rubbing Rickettsia -containing louse feces inadvertently into eyes, mucous membranes, or in insect bite–associated wounds

Status: current death rate from typhus is about one out of every 5,000,000 people per year

7. MALARIA (1600 – today)

Killed: 50 billion

Transmission: bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes

Status: The World Health Organization estimates that in 2016 malaria caused 216 million clinical episodes, and 445,000 deaths

Sources: CDC, WHO, UNAIDS, BUSINESSTECH, ODDEE