List of epidemics

Wikimedia list article

This article is a list of major pandemics and epidemics caused by infectious diseases in human history. Events in boldface are ongoing.

Epidemics with at least 1 million deaths
Rank Epidemics/pandemics Date First outbreak Location Death toll
1
Black Death
1346–1353 Xi'an, China Europe, Asia and North Africa 75–200 million
2
Spanish flu
1918–1920 Manhattan, Kansas, USA Worldwide 17–100 million
3
Plague of Justinian
541–542 Pelusium, Egypt Europe and West Asia 15–100 million
4 HIV/AIDS pandemic 1981–present East Africa Worldwide 43 million+ (2024)
5
Third plague pandemic
1855–1960 Yunnan, China Worldwide 12–15 million
6
Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548
1545–1548 Mexico North America 5–15 million
7
Antonine Plague
165–180 Seleucia, Iraq Roman Empire 5–10 million
8
1520 Mexico smallpox epidemic
1519–1520 Mexico North America 5–8 million
9
COVID-19 pandemic
2019–2024 Wuhan, China Worldwide 7-35 million (as of 2024)
10
Asian flu
1957–1958 Guizhou, China Worldwide 1–4 million
Hong Kong flu 1968–1969 Hong Kong Worldwide
11 1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic 1918–1922 Russia Siberia 2–3 million
14 735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic 735–737 Dazaifu, Fukuoka Japan 2 million
1772–1773 Persian Plague 1772–1773 Baghdad, Iraq Persia 2 million
16
Naples Plague
1656–1658 Naples, Italy Europe 1.25 million
17
Third cholera pandemic
1846–1860 Mecca, Saudi Arabia Worldwide 1 million+
18
1629–1631 Italian plague
1629–1631 Milan, Italy Europe 1 million

1889–1890 flu pandemic
1889–1890 Bukhara, Russia Worldwide 1 million

Worldwide Pandemics

change

Regional

change

Central and South America

change

Europe

change

Egypt & North Africa

change

North America

change
change

References

change
  • Kuhnke, Laverne. Lives at Risk: Public Health in Nineteenth-Century Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990.
  • Gallagher, Nancy. Egypt's Other Wars: Epidemics and the Politics of Public Health. Syracuse University Press, c1990. Published by the American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-295-5
  • Kinch, Michael. Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity. New York: Pegasus Books, 2018. ISBN 9781681777511
  • Rosen, William, Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe, New York: Penguin Random House, 2008 ISBN 9780143113812
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Morens, David M.; Taubenberger, Jeffery K. (September 2011). "Pandemic influenza: certain uncertainties". Reviews in Medical Virology. 21 (5): 262–284. doi:10.1002/rmv.689. ISSN 1052-9276. PMC 3246071. PMID 21706672.
  2. "Justinian's Flea -". www.justiniansflea.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  3. "Three Books on the Black Death | The Heritage Portal". www.theheritageportal.co.za. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  4. Raoult, Didier; Woodward, Theodore; Dumler, J. Stephen (2004-03-01). "The history of epidemic typhus". Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. Historical Aspects of Infectious Diseases, Part I. 18 (1): 127–140. doi:10.1016/S0891-5520(03)00093-X. ISSN 0891-5520. PMID 15081509.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Peter M. Sandman (2007-02-22). "A severe pandemic is not overdue - it's not when but if". CIDRAP. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 "Cholera - Cholera through history". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  7. Rolleston, J. D. (December 1933). "The Smallpox Pandemic of 1870–1874: President's Address". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 27 (2): 177–192. doi:10.1177/003591573302700245. ISSN 0035-9157. S2CID 200081389.
  8. "The Great Influenza". Wikipedia. 2020-06-27.
  9. "What Are HIV and AIDS?". HIV.gov. 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  10. "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)". www.who.int. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  11. CDC (2019-06-11). "2009 H1N1 Pandemic". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  12. "Home". Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  13. "Coronavirus Update (Live): 106,308,198 Cases and 2,318,294 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  14. "what's the story?". Diphtheria. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  15. "Between Hope and Fear". pegasusbooks.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  16. "Timeline | History of Vaccines". www.historyofvaccines.org. Archived from the original on 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  17. 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 "Disease & Death in Early America: Tully Area Historical Society". www.tullyhistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  18. Morens, David M. (July 2015). "The Past Is Never Dead—Measles Epidemic, Boston, Massachusetts, 1713". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 21 (7): 1257–1260. doi:10.3201/eid2107.150397. ISSN 1080-6040. PMC 4480406. PMID 26277799.
  19. "NYCdata: Cholera Outbreak (1849)". www.baruch.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  20. Watson, Denise. "The Yellow Fever outbreak wiped out 3,000 in Hampton Roads. On Wednesday, they'll be remembered". pilotonline.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  21. "First victim of Memphis yellow fever epidemic dies". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  22. "The Typhoid Epidemic at Butler, Pa". Journal of the American Medical Association. XLI (25): 1542. 1903-12-19. doi:10.1001/jama.1903.02490440032004. ISSN 0002-9955.