TABLE 1.
Some notable pandemic and epidemic diseasesa
| Yr(s) | Disease (agent) | No. of deaths | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 430 BCE | Plague of Athens | ∼100,000 | First identified transregional pandemic |
| 541 | Plague of Justinian (Yersinia pestis) | 30–50 million | Pandemic; killed half of the world’s population |
| 1340s | Black Death (Yersinia pestis) | ∼50 million | Pandemic; killed at least a quarter of the world’s population |
| 1494 | Syphilis (Treponema pallidum) | >50,000 | Pandemic brought to Europe from the Americas |
| ca. 1500 | Tuberculosis | High millions | Ancient disease; became pandemic in Middle Ages |
| 1520 | Hueyzahuatl (Variola major) | 3.5 million | Pandemic brought to the New World by Europeans |
| 1793–1798 | American plague | ∼25,000 | Yellow fever, which terrorized colonial America |
| 1832 | 2nd cholera pandemic in Paris | 18,402 | Spread from India to Europe/Western Hemisphere |
| 1918 | Spanish influenza | ∼50 million | Led to additional pandemics in 1957, 1968, 2009 |
| 1976–2020 | Ebola | 15,258 | First recognized in 1976; 29 regional epidemics to date |
| 1981 | Acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis | Few | First recognized in 1969; pandemic in 1981 |
| 1981 | HIV/AIDS | ∼32 million | First recognized in 1981; ongoing pandemic |
| 2002 | SARS | 813 | Near pandemic |
| 2009 | H1N1 swine flu | 284,000 | 5th influenza pandemic of the century |
| 2014 | Chikungunya | Few | Pandemic, mosquito borne |
| 2015 | Zika | ∼1,000?b | Pandemic, mosquito borne |
a
Refer to the pandemic and epidemic definitions in the text and cited references, particularly references 7 and 8. The table is not comprehensive but lists notable emergences of historical importance. Many of these diseases have emerged/reemerged on multiple occasions. For most historical pandemics, estimated numbers of deaths have varied widely, and figures cannot be considered accurate.
b
Zika deaths occur mostly in utero or in newborns; death in older children and adults is rare.