Monkeypox, chickenpox, HIV, and Ebola are frightening but they are not the biggest killers (plague) in human epidemic history. Below is a list of recorded human epidemics:
- 430BC – Smallpox, 30,000 persons killed in Athens, Greece.
- 541A.D – Plague of Justinian that stayed for 200 years killed 50 million people in the Middle East.
- 1334 – Great Plague started from China to London and Italy killing 25 million persons in Europe.
- 1519 – Smallpox killed 8 million persons out of the 25 million people living in Mexico.
- 1633 – Smallpox started from Massachusetts and spread throughout America killing 20 million people, mostly Native Americans.
- 1793 – Yellow fever killed 45,000 persons in Philadelphia.
- 1860 – Plague killed 12 million persons in China, India and Hong Kong.
- 1901 – Smallpox killed 270 persons in Boston.
- 1910 – Plague killed 90,000 persons in Manchuria.
- 1918 – Flu killed 50 million people worldwide.
- 1984 to date – HIV started in the United States and killed 25 million people and still counting.
- 2003 – SARS started in China and killed 8000 people.
- 2009 – H1N1 Swine Flu killed 575,000 people worldwide.
- 2012 to 2014 – Measles killed 122,000, Typhoid killed 216,000, Tuberculosis 1.3million, Ebola 4000 worldwide.
By Aliyu Nuhu