This article is a list of major pandemics and epidemics caused by infectious diseases in human history. Events in boldface are ongoing.
More information Rank, Epidemics/pandemics ...
Epidemics with at least 1 million deaths
Rank |
Epidemics/pandemics |
Date |
First outbreak |
Location |
Death toll |
1 |
Black Death |
1346–1353 |
Xi'an, China |
Europe, Asia and North Africa |
75–200 million |
2 |
Spanish flu |
1918–1920 |
Manhattan, Kansas, USA |
Worldwide |
17–100 million |
3 |
Plague of Justinian |
541–542 |
Pelusium, Egypt |
Europe and West Asia |
15–100 million |
4 |
HIV/AIDS pandemic |
1981–present |
East Africa |
Worldwide |
43 million+ (2024) |
5 |
Third plague pandemic |
1855–1960 |
Yunnan, China |
Worldwide |
12–15 million |
6 |
Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548 |
1545–1548 |
Mexico |
North America |
5–15 million |
7 |
Antonine Plague |
165–180 |
Seleucia, Iraq |
Roman Empire |
5–10 million |
8 |
1520 Mexico smallpox epidemic |
1519–1520 |
Mexico |
North America |
5–8 million |
9 |
COVID-19 pandemic |
2019–2024 |
Wuhan, China |
Worldwide |
7-35 million (as of 2024) |
10 |
Asian flu |
1957–1958 |
Guizhou, China |
Worldwide |
1–4 million |
Hong Kong flu |
1968–1969 |
Hong Kong |
Worldwide |
11 |
1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic |
1918–1922 |
Russia |
Siberia |
2–3 million |
14 |
735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic |
735–737 |
Dazaifu, Fukuoka |
Japan |
2 million |
1772–1773 Persian Plague |
1772–1773 |
Baghdad, Iraq |
Persia |
2 million |
16 |
Naples Plague |
1656–1658 |
Naples, Italy |
Europe |
1.25 million |
17 |
Third cholera pandemic |
1846–1860 |
Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
Worldwide |
1 million+ |
18 |
1629–1631 Italian plague |
1629–1631 |
Milan, Italy |
Europe |
1 million |
1889–1890 flu pandemic |
1889–1890 |
Bukhara, Russia |
Worldwide |
1 million |
Close
Asia
- 165: Antonine Plague - Seleucia, Iraq
- 541: Plague of Justinian - Pelusium, Egypt
- 735: 735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic - Dazaifu, Fukuoka, Japan
- 1772: 1772–1773 Persian Plague - Baghdad, Iraq
- 1826: 1826–1837 cholera pandemic - Ganges, India
- 1846: Third cholera pandemic - Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- 1855: Third plague pandemic - Yunnan, China
- 1889: 1889-1890 pandemic - Bukhara, Russia
- 1890: Russian flu - Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
- 1918: 1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic - Siberia, Russia
- 1957: 1957-1958 influenza pandemic - Guizhou, China
- 1968: Hong Kong flu - Hong Kong, China
- 1997: Avian flu - Hong Kong, China
- 2002: SARS - Foshan, Guangdong, China
- 2003: Avian influenza epidemic - Fujian, China
- 2012: 2012 MERS epidemic - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 2015: 2015 South Korea MERS epidemic - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 2019: 2019 Philippines measles outbreak - Manila, Philippines
- 2019-2024: COVID-19 - Wuhan, Hubei, China
- 2019: 2019–20 Brucellosis outbreak - Lanzhou, Gansu, China
- 2020: 2020 Hantavirus outbreak - Luxi, Yunnan, China
- 2020: 2020 G4 EA H1N1 outbreak - Hebei, China
- 2020: 2020 Inner Mongolia bubonic outbreak - Bayannur, Inner Mongolia
- 2020: SFTS bunyavirus outbreak - Jiangsu, China
- 2020: 2020 Idiophatic outbreak - Eluru, India
- 2021: India fungus epidemic - New Delhi, India
- 2021: Hong Kong Streptococcus outbreak - Hong Kong
- 2021: Flurona - Petah Tikva, Israel
- 2022: 2022 Henan H3N8 outbreak - Zhumadian, Henan, China
- 2022: 2022 Langya virus outbreak in China - Shandong, China
- 2022: 2022 HFMD outbreak in the Philippines - San Pascual, Batangas
- 2023: 2023 North Korea respiratory disease outbreak - Pyongyang, North Korea
Central and South America
North America
- 1657: measles - Boston, Massachusetts[16]
- 1687: measles - Boston, Massachusetts[17]
- 1690: yellow fever - New York, New York[17]
- 1713: measles - Boston, Massachusetts[18]
- 1721-1722: smallpox - Boston, Massachusetts
- 1729: measles - Boston, Massachusetts[17]
- 1738: smallpox - South Carolina[17]
- 1739-1740: measles - Boston, Massachusetts[17]
- 1747: measles - Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina[17]
- 1759: measles - North America[17]
- 1761: influenza - North America and West Indies[17]
- 1772: measles - North America[17]
- 1775: unknown cause - North America, particularly in the northeast
- 1783: Bilious fever - Dover, Delaware
- 1788: measles - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York[17]
- 1793: influenza and "putrid fever" - Vermont
- 1793: influenza - Virginia
- 1793: yellow fever - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1793: unknown - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- 1793: unknown - Middletown, Pennsylvania
- 1794: yellow fever - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1796-1797: yellow fever - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1798: yellow fever - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1803: yellow fever - New York
- 1820-1823: fever - United States spreading from the Schuylkill River
- 1831-1832: Asiatic cholera - United States (brought by English immigrants)
- 1832: cholera - New York City and other major cities
- 1833: cholera - Columbus, Ohio
- 1834: cholera - New York City
- 1837: typhus - Philadelphia
- 1841: yellow fever - United States (especially severe in the South)
- 1847: yellow fever New Orleans
- 1848-1849: cholera - North America
- 1849: cholera New York[19]
- 1850: yellow fever - United States
- 1850-1851: influenza - North America
- 1851: cholera Coles County, Illinois, The Great Plains, and Missouri
- 1852: yellow fever - United States (New Orleans-8,000 die in summer)
- 1855: yellow fever - United States[20]
- 1860-1861: smallpox - Pennsylvania
- 1865-1873: smallpox - Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, New Orleans
- 1865-1873: cholera - Baltimore, Maryland, Memphis, Washington, DC
- 1865-1873: recurring epidemics of typhus, typhoid, scarlet fever, and yellow fever
- 1873-1875: influenza - North America and Europe
- 1876: smallpox - Deadwood, South Dakota
- 1878: yellow fever - Memphis, New Orleans[21]
- 1885: typhoid - Plymouth, Pennsylvania[22]
- 1886: yellow fever - Jacksonville, Florida[17]
- 1918-1920: Spanish flu - Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.
- 2022: 2022 United States listeriosis outbreak - Maryland, U.S.
- 2022: 2022 North America tridemic - Ontario, Canada
- Kuhnke, Laverne. Lives at Risk: Public Health in Nineteenth-Century Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990.
- Gallagher, Nancy. Egypt's Other Wars: Epidemics and the Politics of Public Health. Syracuse University Press, c1990. Published by the American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-295-5
- Kinch, Michael. Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity. New York: Pegasus Books, 2018. ISBN 9781681777511
- Rosen, William, Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe, New York: Penguin Random House, 2008 ISBN 9780143113812
CDC (2019-06-11). "2009 H1N1 Pandemic". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
"Home". Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved 2021-02-06.