Top 10 Worst Epidemics in History! Loss of lives is probably the hardest thing to deal with. And when this happens on a large scale, it becomes one of the darkest moments in history. But while many of these incidents happen because of wars, epidemics are also responsible for taking away many people from this world.

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The Black Death
Perhaps one of the worst pandemics to have ever threatened humanity, the Black Death cast its shadow over the entire Eurasia from 1346 to 1353. An estimated 75 to 200 million people in the region lost their lives to the plague which was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

The Plague of Justinian
The times of 542 AD in the Byzantine Empire was one of the worst imaginable. People were scared to wake up every day because there was no way of knowing if they would live to see the dawn of another day. The reason was the Yersinia Pestis, the bacteria responsible for the bubonic plague.

Typhus
As if war itself is not enough to cause massive loss of human lives, the epidemic typhus has also resulted in adding to the casualties after a war. It is spread through human lice and is caused by the organism Rickettsia prowazekii. The symptoms of the infection include severe headache, fever, rash, cough, muscle pain and even death.

The Russian Plague Epidemic
The bubonic plague is probably one of the worst things you can hear and the epidemic reared its ugly head in central Russia between 1970 and 1972. The first signs of the plague were discovered in January 1770 in Moldova when it was contracted by the prisoners of wars. When the prison doctors found out about the outbreak, they ordered an immediate quarantine.

1918 Flu Pandemic
The word flu doesn’t really induce fear right? But imagine over 500 million people suffering from it all over the world! In 1918, an unusually deadly influenza virus gripped the world and it was the first of the 2 H1N1 influenza virus outbreaks in the world. It killed almost 50 to 100 million people in the world and it decreased life expectancy by about 12 years in the US.

1916 Polio Epidemic
Thanks to the vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in the 1950s, polio is not so much of a threat today. But in 1916, it devastated a lot of families in the US. The epidemic was centred in New York with the first case being diagnosed in Brooklyn. It caused mass panic with over 9000 cases in New York alone. Altogether, almost 7200 people lost their lives in the US due to Polio.

Memphis Yellow Fever
During the 1800s, Memphis was almost a sewer city with extremely poor hygiene conditions. It was the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and subsequently, yellow fever. In the epidemic of 1828, over 650 were affected and considering that the population was under a 1000 at that time, you can understand its impact. But the worst yellow fever epidemic in Memphis came in 1878 when over 17000 cases were reported when the population was 47,000!

The First Cholera Pandemic
Imagine a pandemic starting in India and spreading to almost the entire of Asia. The first cholera pandemic of 1817-1824 was a huge disaster which affected almost every country in Asia. It is believed that this pandemic began in the Ganges River near Calcutta and spread wildly because of the kumbh mela where thousands gather together.

HIV
This is a pandemic that we are still dealing with. There is no cure till date and although it has become somewhat manageable, it is one of the worst news that a visit to the doctor can bring.

The Antonine Plague
During the rule of Marcus Antonine of Rome, an illness spread which was highly fatal, killing almost 25% of those infected. Almost 5 million people died in total due to an illness which was probably brought to Rome by the troops who were returning from campaigns in the Near East.

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