Name | Time period | Type/Pre-human host | Death toll |
Antonine Plague | 165-180 | Believed to be either smallpox or measles | 5 M |
Japanese smallpox epidemic | 735-737 | Variola major virus | 1 M |
Plague of Justinian | 541-542 | Yersinia pestis bacteria/Rats, fleas | 30 - 50 M |
Black Death | 1347-1351 | Yersinia pestis bacteria/Rats, fleas | 200 M |
New World Smallpox Outbreak | 1520-onwards | Variola major virus | 56 M |
Great Plague of London | 1665 | Yersinia pestis bacteria/Rats, fleas | 100,000 |
Italian plague | 1629-1631 | Yersinia pestis bacteria/Rats, fleas | 1 M |
Cholera Pandemics 1 - 6 | 1817-1923 | V. cholerae bacteria | 1 M+ |
Third Plague | 1885 | Yersinia pestis bacteria/Rats, fleas | 12 M (China and India) |
Yellow Fever | Late 1800s | Virus/Mosquitoes | 100,000 - 150,000 (U.S.) |
Russian Flu | 1889-1890 | Believed to be H2N2 (avian origin) | 1 M |
Spanish Flu | 1918-1919 | H1N1 virus/Pigs | 40 - 50 M |
Asian Flu | 1957-1958 | H2N2 virus | 1.1 M |
Hong Kong Flu | 1968-1970 | H3N2 virus | 1 M |
HIV/AIDS | 1981-present | Virus/Chimpanzees | 25 - 35 M |
Swine Flu | 2009-2010 | H1N1 virus/Pigs | 200,000 |
SARS | 2002-2003 | Coronavirus/Bats, Civets | 770 |
Ebola | 2014-2016 | Ebolavirus/Wild animals | 11,000 |
MERS | 2015-Present | Coronavirus/Bats, camels | 850 |
COVID-19 | 2019-Present | Coronavirus—Unknown (possibly pangolins) | 323,000c |