Human beings have been fighting with viruses since before the species had even grown to its present form. For most of the viral diseases, antiviral drugs and vaccines have allowed us in keeping infections from spreading extensively, and have aided the sick people to recover. But we are a long sense of winning the battle against viruses. In the current decades, some viruses have transferred from animals to human beings and triggered great epidemic, claiming thousands of deaths.
But there are some other viruses that are out there that have been equally fatal, and some are even deadlier. Most of the viruses, including this novel corona virus presently driving outbreaks from around the world, still have lower death rates, but still causes that serious threat to the health of the public since there is still no means to fight this NOVEL CORONA VIRUS.
Below are the 12 worst killers, from the chances that an individual might die when they are being infected with either one of these viruses, the absolute numbers of people that have been killed, and whether this is representing a growing threat.
Influenza, 1918
During the typical flu period, up to 500,000 individuals globally will die from this illness, according to the estimation of WHO. But seldom, when the new flu strain appears, the pandemic results with the speedy spread of illness and, frequently, higher death rates.
The most fatal flu pandemic had been called the Spanish flu, and this virus ailed up to 40% population of the world and killed a projected 50 million people. It is believed that it is likely that something like this flu outbreak might occur again. If a new kind of influenza strain found their way in the population of human, and will be transmitted easily in between humans that will cause severe illness, then we will be faced with a very big problem.”
Rabies
Although the rabies vaccines were introduced during 1920s, it had helped make this disease, exceedingly odd in this developing world, this situation still remains a serious trouble part of Africa and India.
“It is destroying the brain and there are antibodies that work against rabies, but, if you will not get the treatment yourself, then, there is the 100% possibility that you will die.
Dengue, 1950
It initially appeared in Thailand and the Philippines, and from there it spread throughout the subtropical and the tropical regions of the world. Up to 40% of the population of the world now live in places where dengue is common, and the illness with these mosquitoes that are carrying it is possible to spread even further as our world warms. According to WHO, Dengue ailed 50-100 million people in a year. Even though the death rate for this dengue fever is considered lower than some of the other viruses. Then, at 2.5%, this virus will cause an Ebola-similar disease known as the dengue hemorrhagic fever. This situation has the death rate of 20% when it will be left untreated.
The Dengue vaccine was approved by the Food & Drug Administration in the US in 2019 to use for kids aging 9-16 years old who are living in the areas where dengue has been common and with already a confirmed history of the virus infection, based on the CDC. In most countries, the agreed vaccine is available now for 9-45 of age; however, the recipients must have already contracted an established instance of dengue from the past. Those that haven’t caught the virus even before might be placed in danger of developing grave dengue if provided the vaccine.
Hantavirus, 1950
HPS or Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome initially gained the wide notice in the USA in 1993, when the young, the healthy Navajo guy and his fiancée dwelling in the Four Corners place of the US died within days when they develop shortness of breath. After some couple of months, the health authority remote the Hantavirus from the deer mouse staying in the house of those infected people. There are about 600 individuals in the USA have now restricted HPS, and about 36% have passed away from HPS.
The virus isn’t transmitted from a person to another; instead, people catch the illness from contact with the compost of infected mice. Earlier, the different Hantavirus had caused the outbreak during the early 1950s, through the Korean War, based on the 2010 manuscript in the reviews of the journal of Clinical Microbiology Reviews. There are about 3,000 troops that became infected with about 12% of death. Although the virus has been just new to the Western medicine during the time that it has been discovered in the USA, the researchers realized later on that the Navajo medical customs describe the same illness, and connected this disease in mice.
Marburg virus, 1967
The scientists recognized this virus in 1967. It happened when small outbreaks took place among the lab staffs in Germany who had been exposed to dirty monkeys that have been imported from Uganda. This Marburg virus is the same with Ebola in that mutually may cause hemorrhagic fever, which means that the infected individual develop bleeding and high fevers throughout their body that may lead to shock and organ failure and resulted to death.
The death rate in the primary outbreak had been 25%; however, it had been more than 80% from 1998-2000 Epidemic in Congo, and also in the Angola outbreak in 2005, base on the records of WHO.
Ebola virus, 1976
The primary identified Ebola outbreaks in the human beings struck all together in Sudan and in Congo in 1976. This Ebola virus is spread through a blood contact or with any other body fluids and tissue from those infected animals and people. The known strains differ dramatically in their monotony, Elke Muhlberger, the Ebola virus specialist and the associate professor at Boston University of microbiology, told Live Science.
The moment you are strain, Ebola Reston, does not even make the people sick. However, for the Bundibugyo strain, the death rate is 50% up until 71% for these Sudan strain, based on the WHO records. The underway outbreak in the West Africa started in early 2014. This is the biggest and most complex epidemic of the illness to date, based on WHO.
HIV, 1980
In this modern world, the most fatal virus of all can be HIV. This is still measured as one of the biggest killers as stated by Dr. Amesh Adalja, the infectious disease doctor and spokesman for Infectious Disease Society in America. Around 32 million individuals have died from this HIV ever since this disease was first identified during the early 1980s. This infectious illness that takes the massive toll on a human being at the moment is HIV.
The dominant antiviral drugs had made it likely for the people staying alive for years even with HIV. However, the illness goes on to devastate lots of middle and low-income countries, wherein about 95% of the latest HIV infections occur. About 1 in each 25 adults in the African region, in WHO is HIV-positive, counting for more than 2/3 of the individuals living with global HIV.
Smallpox
In the year 1980, the WHO Assembly declared that the world is free from smallpox. But beforehand, the people were battling smallpox for so many years, and this disease killed around 1 out of 3 from those infected ones. It left the survivors with permanent, deep scars and usually blindness.
The death rates were higher in the populations outside Europe, where the people had a bit of contact with this virus before the visitors had brought it into their regions. One example is the historian approximated 90% of the local population of the Americans died from smallpox initiated by the European explorers. During the 20th century, smallpox had killed 300 million individuals. This is something that had the massive burden on the earth, and not just deceased, but also blindness, this is what spurred the crusade to eliminate from the Earth.
SARS-CoV, 2002
This virus that caused SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome initially appeared in the year 2002 at the Guangdong state in southern China, based on the WHO records. This virus likely appeared initially in bats, then, hopped into night time mammals known as just before finally infecting the humans. Right after triggering the outbreak in China, this spread of SARS to 26 countries from around the globe, contaminating more than 8000 individuals and murdering more than 770 in just 2 years.
The illness will cause fever, body aches, and chills and usually progress to pneumonia, the severe situation where in the lungs became inflamed and filled with pus. The SARS has the estimated death rate of 9.6%, which until now, it has no accepted vaccine or treatment. But, there are no current cases of SARS that had been recorded since the early of year 2000.
Rotavirus, 2008
There are 2 vaccines that are available now to protect the kids from rotavirus. Its’ leading cause had been grave diarrhea illness among the young children and babies. The virus will rapidly spread, through what the researchers named as fecal-oral route (which means that the tiny particles of feces have ended up to being consumed).
Though the children in those developed world seldom die of this rotavirus infection, the illness is the killer in those developing world, where in the rehydration treatments aren’t widely available. WHO estimated that worldwide, more than 400,000 kids that are younger than 5 years kids died from rotavirus during 2008, but, those countries that had initiated the vaccine had reported a sharp decreased in rotavirus confinement and deaths.
MERS-CoV, 2012
This virus that caused the MERS or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome sparked the outbreak in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and the other one in 2015 in South Korea. This MERS virus belonged to the similar family of viruses like the SARS-CoV and also the SARS-CoV-2 that likely started off in bats. This disease infected camels and it will pass-on to humans and will triggers fever, shortness of breath and coughing to infected people.
This MERS usually progresses to acute pneumonia and had the estimated death rate between 30%-40%, that makes it as the most fatal of the famous corona viruses that are jumping from animal to people. And with the SARS-CoV and also the SARS-CoV-2, this MERS has still no approved vaccines or treatments.
COVID-19, 2019
The transmission electron microscope images showed SARS-CoV-2 which is now known as the nCoV-2019, the virus that produces COVID-19 – remote from the patient in the USA. This SARS-CoV-2 also belonged to the similar large clan of viruses as the SARS-CoV, now called as corona viruses, and it was first recognized in 2019 of December in Wuhan, China. The virus possibly came from bats, such as SARS-CoV, then, it passed through the intermediary animal before infecting the people.
Ever since its development, this virus had infected thousands of individuals in China alone, and thousands from the rest worldwide. The current outbreak prompted the extensive quarantine from Wuhan and to nearby cities, limitations on travel from and to the affected countries and the worldwide effort to enhanced diagnostics, treatments and also vaccines. Those older people or those that have underlying health situations seemed to be in more danger of having severe illness or complications. The common symptoms are fever, shortness of breath, and dry cough and the illness may progress to pneumonia for those severe cases. This illness made by SARS-CoV-2, known as COVID-19, had the estimated death rate of about 1.3 million individuals and it is still increasing up to this time that this article is written.