List of epidemics and pandemics

This article is a list of major pandemics and epidemics caused by infectious diseases in human history. Events in boldface are ongoing. 
+Epidemics with at least 1 million deathsRankEpidemics/pandemicsDateFirst outbreakLocationDeath toll1170pxBlack Death1346–1353Xi'an, ChinaEurope, Asia and North Africa75–200 million2170px Spanish flu1918–1920Manhattan, Kansas, USAWorldwide17–100 million3170pxPlague of Justinian541–542Pelusium, EgyptEurope and West Asia15–100 million4HIV/AIDS pandemic1981–presentEast AfricaWorldwide44 million+ (2025)5170pxThird plague pandemic1855–1960Yunnan, ChinaWorldwide12–15 million6170pxCocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–15481545–1548MexicoNorth America5–15 million7170pxAntonine Plague165–180 Seleucia, IraqRoman Empire5–10 million8170px1520 Mexico smallpox epidemic1519–1520MexicoNorth America5–8 million9170pxCOVID-19 pandemic2019–presentWuhan, ChinaWorldwide7.1-42 million (as of 2025)10170pxAsian flu1957–1958Guizhou, ChinaWorldwide1–4 millionHong Kong flu1968–1969Hong KongWorldwide111918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic1918–1922RussiaSiberia2–3 million 14735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic735–737Dazaifu, FukuokaJapan2 million1772–1773 Persian Plague1772–1773Baghdad, IraqPersia2 million16170pxNaples Plague1656–1658Naples, ItalyEurope1.25 million17170pxThird cholera pandemic1846–1860Mecca, Saudi ArabiaWorldwide1 million+18170px1629–1631 Italian plague1629–1631Milan, ItalyEurope1 million170px1889–1890 flu pandemic1889–1890Bukhara, RussiaWorldwide1 million

 Worldwide Pandemics 
 1194-1184 BCE: influenza: Trojan War epidemic
 713 BCE: influenza: Assyrian epidemic
 430-425 BCE:  influenza (?): Plague of Athens
 165-180: Antonine Plague, perhaps smallpox
 541: the Plague of Justinian
 591-592:  influenza: Extreme Cough
 1300-50s: The Black Death in Europe and Asia during the Late Middle Age (Killed 60% of the population) 
 1501-1587: typhus
 1729: influenza
 1732-1733: influenza
 1775-1776: influenza
 1781: influenza
 1816-1826: cholera
 1829-1851: cholera
 1830: influenza
 1847-1848: influenza
 1852-1860: cholera
 1855-1950s: bubonic plague: Third Pandemic in China and India
 1857-1859: influenza
 1870-1874: smallpox
 1863-1875: cholera
 1881-1893: cholera
 1889-1892: influenza
 1899-1923: cholera
 1918-1920: avian flu: Spanish flu: more people were hospitalized in World War I from this epidemic than wounds. Estimates of the dead range from 20 to 40 million worldwide (WHO)
 1957-1958: influenza: avian flu: Asian flu
 1961-present: cholera called El Tor
 1981-present: HIV/AIDS (As of 2018, more than 32 million have died from AIDS) 
 1968-1969: influenza: avian flu: Hong Kong flu
 2002-2003: SARS
 2009-2010: 2009 flu pandemic (swine flu) 
 2019 to present: COVID-19 pandemic (Ongoing pandemic)

 Regional 
 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
 2024-25: 2024–2025 China HMPV outbreak - Beijing, China
 2024-25: 2024–25 Japan Influenza cases

 Central and South America 
 1493: influenza - Hispaniola
 1518: smallpox - Hispaniola
 1520: smallpox - Mexico
 1527-1530: smallpox - Peru
 1530-1531: measles - Mexico, Peru
 1546: typhus - Mexico, Peru
 1558-1559: influenza - Mexico, Peru
 early 1600s: malaria
 1648: yellow fever
 2009: 2009 swine flu pandemic - Veracruz, Mexico

 Europe 
 415 BCE: Athenian army in Sicily
 393 BCE: Carthaginian siege of Syracuse
 1347-1351: Black Death - Xi'an, China
 1582-1583: plague - San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain)
 1629: 1629–1631 Italian plague - Milan, Italy
 1613: diphtheria - "El año de los Garotillos"
 1656: Naples Plague - Naples, Italy
 1665-1666: Great Plague of London - London, UK
 1720: Great Plague of Marseille - Marseille, France
 1782: Influenza: Russian Katarrh
 2021-22: United Kingdom norovirus epidemic

 Egypt & North Africa 
 212 BCE: Second Punic War epidemic
 1801: plague
 1831: cholera
 1834-1836: plague
 1848, 1865, 1881: cholera
 1902: cholera
 1942-1944: falciparum malaria
 1946: relapsing fever
 1947: cholera
 2022: 2022–2023 mpox outbreak - Lagos, Nigeria
 2022: 2022 Marburg virus disease outbreak in Ghana - Ashanti, Ghana
 2022: 2022 Uganda Ebola outbreak - Mubende, Uganda
 2023: 2023–2024 mpox epidemic - Lagos, Nigeria

 North America 
 1657: measles - Boston, Massachusetts
 1687: measles - Boston, Massachusetts
 1690: yellow fever - New York, New York
 1713: measles - Boston, Massachusetts
 1721-1722: smallpox - Boston, Massachusetts
 1729: measles - Boston, Massachusetts
 1738: smallpox - South Carolina
 1739-1740: measles - Boston, Massachusetts
 1747: measles - Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina
 1759: measles - North America
 1761: influenza - North America and West Indies
 1772: measles - North America
 1775: unknown cause - North America, particularly in the northeast
 1783: Bilious fever - Dover, Delaware
 1788: measles - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York
 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
 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
 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
 1885: typhoid - Plymouth, Pennsylvania
 1886: yellow fever - Jacksonville, Florida
 1918-1920: Spanish flu - Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.
 2022: 2022 United States listeriosis outbreak - Maryland, U.S.
 2022: 2022 North America tridemic - Ontario, Canada
 2024-25: 2024–25 United States Norovirus outbreak

 Related pages 
 List of historical plagues

 References 
 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. 
 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

Category:History-related lists
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