Question

What is the deadliest disease in history?

Answer 1

The Black Death:

1. The plague is transmitted mostly through the bite of a flea carrying the plague-causing bacteria Yersinia pestis.
2. Fleas prefer small animals like rats, gerbils, marmots, and squirrels, and plague outbreaks in these vulnerable hosts occur on a regular basis.
3. Fever, headache, chills, and weakness emerge within three to five days of a flea bite.
4. In the bubonic plague variant of plague, the lymph nodes nearest to the bite site swell and form a painful bubo.
5. The infection could spread throughout the bloodstream, affecting lung breathing.

The Speckled Monster: Smallpox

1. The variola virus is generally responsible for smallpox. Smallpox is easily transmitted only through direct touch with an affected person or contaminated bodily fluids, infected bedding, or clothing.
2. Airborne transmission is uncommon, but it is more prevalent in confined spaces like buildings in the city, vehicles, and railways.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome:

1. SARS is spread by inhaling infected droplets generated during coughing or sneezing.
2. SARS originated in Asia, and researchers believe that wild Chinese Horseshoe bats trapped and sold to the public were the most likely cause.
3. These bats carried a SARS-like virus that attacked civets before mutating, making people vulnerable to the infection.
4. The pathogen has spread to more than two dozen countries in less than a year before being halted by public health measures.

Avian Influenza:

1. Avian influenza is a disease that occurs naturally in wild aquatic birds and may quickly transfer to more susceptible farmed poultry.
2. Following the outbreaks in 2015 and 2016, millions of chickens, geese, and turkeys were slaughtered to prevent the disease from spreading further.
3. Between January 2003 to June 17th, 2021, 862 instances of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) were recorded globally from 17 countries.
4. The death rate was 53% (455) in these patients.
5. The last case was reported on October 31, 2020 by the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Ebola:

1. Bats are regarded to be the most likely reservoir (natural permanent host) of Ebola, which was originally found in 1976.
2. The virus is easily transmitted from person to human.
3. The most common way Ebola is spread is by direct communication (through blood or other body fluids) with an infected person or animal (alive or dead), or through things such as contaminated needles and syringes.
4. Months after their recovery, instances of sexual transmission from people who have experienced the infection have been documented.