Top 10 Deadliest Diseases.One of the worst ways for the human population to be thinned is to die from disease. Millions of people each year have perished as a result of one of any number of seemingly unstoppable diseases. Throughout history mankind has suffered the crippling and mortal effects of a ravaging disease brought on by any number of target factors ranging from animals to one single human host. Here are but ten, in no particular order, that have decimated humankind since the earliest recordings.
Even with the amazing medical advancements we’ve made in recent times, these 10 diseases are still threatening the human race.
1. HIV/AIDS
25 Million since 1981
25 Million since 1981
The number of people living with HIV has risen steadily since the early 90s. In 1990, 8 million people had HIV. In 2009, the number of people living with HIV was 33 million.
HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system—the very part of your body that’s supposed to help get rid of a virus. Over time, HIV can destroy key cells in your immune system, at which time the HIV infection can lead to AIDS. Just because someone has HIV doesn’t mean they will develop AIDS. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection.
HIV infection often comes as the result of sexual contact . Individuals who are infected with STDs are at least 2 to 5 times likelier than uninfected people to acquire HIV infection if exposed to the virus through sexual contact.[Wikipedia]
2. Malaria
2.7 Million Deaths per year-2800 children per day
Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, it causes disease in approximately 515 million people and kills between one and three million, most of them young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development. Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public-health problem. The disease is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. The most serious forms of the disease are caused by Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, but other related species can also infect humans. Although some are under development, no vaccine is currently available for malaria; preventative drugs must be taken continuously to reduce the risk of infection.[Wikipedia]
3. Spanish Influenza
Between 1918-19: 50-100 Million dead
The deadly Spanish Flu had claimed 50,000,000–100,000,000 lives worldwide from 1918 to1919 only. This disease spread nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. The pandemic that occurred from 1918 to 1920 killed 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide and an estimated 500 million people or1/3 of the world’s population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), became infected.[Wikipedia]
4. Cholera
12,000 Deaths since 1991
Cholera (or Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera) is an extreme diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Transmission to humans is by ingesting contaminated water or food. The major reservoir for cholera was long assumed to be humans, but some evidence suggests that it is the aquatic environment. In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known—a healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms and may die within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. More commonly, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4-12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days without rehydration treatment.[Wikipedia]
5. Tuberculosis
1.7 Million in 2009
Tuberculosis is "a bacterialt infection that can spread through the lymph nodes and bloodstream to any organ in your body — and most often is found in the lungs. Most people who are exposed to TB never develop symptoms, since the bacteria can live in an inactive form in the body. But if the immune system weakens, such as in people with HIV or elderly adults, TB bacteria can become active. In their active state, TB bacteria cause death of tissue in the organs they infect. Active TB disease can be fatal if left untreated.”
What do you think could be done to help tame these deadly diseases?[Wikipedia]
6. The Black Death
75 million Deaths
The Black Death, or The Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It probably began in Central Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75 million people; there were an estimated 20 to 30 million deaths in Europe alone. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of Europe’s population.[Wikipedia]
7. Polio
10,000 Deaths since 1916
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. The term derives from the Greek polio (πολίός), meaning “grey”, myelon (µυελός), “spinal cord”, and -itis, which denotes inflammation. Although roughly 90% of polio infections are asymptomatic, affected individuals can exhibit a range of symptoms if the virus enters the blood stream. In less than 1% of polio cases the virus enters the central nervous system, preferentially infecting and destroying motor neurons, leading to muscle weakness and acute flaccid paralysis.[Wikipedia]
8. Influenza
36,000 Deaths per year
9. Bubonic Plague
250 Million Europeans Dead (1/3 population)
Approximately 150,000,000 people were killed worldwide by Bubonic Plague from 1300s to 1950s. This disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. This dreaded disease kills about half of infected patients in 3–7 days without treatment, and is believed by many to be the Black Death that swept through Europe in the 1340s and killing millions.[Wikipedia]
10. Smallpox
300–500 million deaths during the 20th century
Smallpox is the deadliest disease in the world. In the 20th century alone there were approximately 500,000,000 people who died of this disease. This infectious disease is caused by either Variola major or Variola minor. Smallpox is believed to have emerged in human populations 12,000 years ago. The disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century and was responsible for a third of all blindness. Of all those infected, 20–60%—and over 80% of infected children—died from the disease. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated.[Wikipedia]
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