Table 1.

Leading infectious killers and examples of microorganisms with high pathogenic potential

Infection or disease	Microorganism
Acute respiratory infections
	Streptococcus pneumoniae
	Haemophilus influenzae
	Influenza virus
Pertussis	Bordetella pertussis
SARS	SARS coronavirus
	Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome	Hantavirus
Tuberculosis	Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Diarrhoeal diseases
	Shigella dysenteriae
	Salmonella typhi
	Vibrio cholerae
Malaria	Plasmodium falciparum
Measles	Paramyxovirus genus Morbillivirus
Sexually transmitted diseases
Syphilis	Treponema pallidum
Gonorrhea	Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Hepatitis B	Hepatitis B virus (HBV)
AIDS	HIV
Tropical diseases
Trypanosomiasis/Chagas disease	Trypanosomas cruzi
Sleeping sickness	Trypanosoma brucei gambiense
Schistosomiasis/ bilharziosis	Schistosoma mansoni, S. japonicum
Leishmaniasis	Leishmania tropica/brasiliensis
Lymphatic filariasis/elephantiasis	Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi
Hemorraghic fever
	Ebola virus
	Marburg virus
Lassa fever	Lassavirus
Other
Pest, bubonic plaque	Yersinia pestis
	Clostridium botulinum
Leprosy	Mycobacterium leprae
Poliomyelitis	Poliovirus
Hepatitis C	Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
	West Nile virus
Guinea-worm disease	Dracunculus medinensis
Onchocerciasis	Onchocerca volvulus