Timeline
541-542
Plague of Justinian
The Plague of Justinian was the beginning of the first plague pandemic, Cause: the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
Named after the Roman Emperor Justinian after he contracted the disease and recovered in 542. It is now estimated that half of Europe’s population died as a result of this first plague pandemic before it disappeared in the 700s.
Killed 30-50 million.
1347-1351
The Black Death (aka the Second Plague)
Cause: the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
Killed 200 million.
1347-1351
1817-1975
The Seven Cholera Pandemics
Cause: caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.
Killed: 40 Million.
The first of seven cholera pandemics emerged out of the Ganges Delta with an outbreak in Jessore, India. The cholera pandemics have continued for >150 years. They arise from a lack of treatment of human faeces that contaminates drinking water. Outbreaks still continue.
1855-1960
Bubonic Plague
Cause: a new variant strain of the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
The third plague pandemic as it became known began in that began in Yunnan, China, in 1855 and spread to all inhabited continents. It led to more than 12 million deaths in India and China alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1960, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. Deaths have continued at a lower level every year since.
Killed >15 million with the majority in India and China
1855-1960
1889–1890
Flu pandemic (Aka the Asiatic or Russian flu)
Cause: Influenza or Human Coronavirus HCoV-OC43
Killed around a million people
1915
Encephalitis lethargica pandemic
Cause: The Encephalitis lethargica.
Encephalitis lethargica is an unusual form of encephalitis. Also known as “sleeping sickness”.
Killed 1.5 million
1915
1918
Spanish Flu
Cause: The H1N1 influenza A virus
This pandemic was also known as the Spanish Flu and coincided with the end of the First World War. The amount of those who died from the Spanish flu surpassed the numbers who died in the first world war.
Killed 500 million.
1957-1958
Asian Flu
Cause: subtype H2N2.
Originated in China and continued to be transmitted until 1968, when it transformed via antigenic shift into the influenza A virus which later caused the 1968 Hong Kong influenza pandemic.
Killed 1.1 million
1957-1958
1968
Hong Kong Flu
Cause: an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus related to the H2N2 virus.
Killed 1 million
1977-1978
Soviet Flu
Cause: The Influenza A virus subtype H1N1.
Because a similar strain was prevalent in 1947–57, most adults had substantial immunity so it only really affected children and young adults under the age of 23. Because of a striking similarity in the viral RNA of the two strains – one which is unlikely to appear in nature due to antigenic drift – it was speculated that the later outbreak was due to a laboratory incident in Russia or Northern China.
Killed 30,000
1977-1978
1981-present day
HIV/Aids
Cause: the human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Killed 35 million to date
2009-2010
Swine Flu Pandemic
Cause: The H1N1 influenza virus
The 2009 swine flu pandemic was the second of two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Spanish flu pandemic).
The virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 which resulted from a reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses that was further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus leading to the term “swine flu”.
Killed 284,000
2009-2010
2019
Covid-19 Pandemic
Cause: The Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The first case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has since spread worldwide, leading to the ongoing pandemic.
