Epidemic- A disease is said to be epidemic if it occurs in a population in a place clearly more than the

number of cases occurred in previous years.

Ex- In a city X there were 400 cases of cholera in 2012. In 2014 if the total number of cases is 450 then it
is said that cholera is epidemic in the place.

Endemic - If a disease stays in the population of one town without getting completely eradicated or
without added by the migrators then the disease is said to be Endemic.

Ex- common cold. It will be there throughout the year in a group of population.

Pandemic - If a disease is present in the large geographic area it is said to be pandemic.

Ex-HIV.  It is present in many countries making it a pandemic.

10 of these deadly pandemics that changed the world.

10. Plague of Athens

We're going old school with the first of our pandemics. In 430 BC, an infectious disease made its way
through Athens, which unluckily was also under siege by Sparta (think the movie 300) during the
Peloponnesian War. The epidemic lasted three years and infected most of the population of the city-
state, an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people. A quarter of the city's population did not survive, and it
was considered such a horrific disease that Athenians commissioned the famous historian Thucydides to
carefully document the disease's symptoms and progression to warn future generations about it. Even
though this was done, what the actual disease was is a subject of intense debate as forensic
anthropological data remains inconclusive.

9. Camp Fever

This illness is known by many names, including jail fever and war fever, but scientifically, it's called
typhus. It is an infectious disease that occurs due to unclean, overcrowded living conditions, and it is
transferred from person to person by body lice (yeeech). It has reared its ugly head throughout history,
most notably during the Napoleonic Wars, the Irish Potato Famine, World War I in Russia, Poland and
Romania, and in the concentration camps during World War II. It has been responsible for several
million deaths, but now, it is much less common as hygiene standards have improved.
No

8. Smallpox

Smallpox had been regarded with a healthy amount of fear by Europeans for thousands of years, but it
wasn't until it was brought to the New World that this infectious disease became one of the most
virulent pandemics. In 1633 and then again in the 1790s, smallpox brought by settlers from Europe ran
rampant through Native American tribes in the Northeast, in some cases wiping out up to 70% of a
tribe's population at a time. The Native Americans did not have any immune response for the disease,
which is why they were so susceptible. Thankfully, this disease has been all but eradicated; the most
recent contracted case in the U.S. was in 1949.

7. Asian Flu

Asian flu was a particularly nasty strain of influenza A (also known as H2N2) that took the lives of around
70,000 people between 1957 and 1958. The frightening thing about this particular infectious disease is
that it started very quietly, with only a few cases in the late spring early summer of 1957. Once the
school year started, children going back to school quickly spread the disease to classmates, who then
brought it home to their families. The disease first focused primarily on children, young adults, and
pregnant women and was quickly identified due to advances in medical diagnostic testing, and in a few
months, it seemed like the Asian flu was gone for good. Unfortunately, a second wave of the disease
(which can sometimes happen during a pandemic) broke out, targeting the elderly. This second wave
produced the most fatalities, but by the end of the year, the worst was finally over.

6. Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis has been and remains a worldwide pandemic that claims a life every 25 seconds. The World
Health Organization estimates that 1.3 million people die every year from this disease. It is an infectious
disease that attacks the respiratory system and other organs and destroys body tissue. It is usually
transferred through the air by coughing or sneezing. It usually occurs in third world countries and is
particularly destructive in areas of the world where HIV/AIDS is present, as it often causes fatalities in
populations suffering from this autoimmune disease.

5. The Plague of Justinian

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the biggest power in the ancient world in 527 AD was the Byzantine
Empire. The emperor at the time was Justinian, an ambitious man who carried out a number of major
building and military initiatives throughout his empire. Unfortunately, there was an outbreak of an
unknown infectious disease that swept through the farming and building workforce, quickly racking up a
significant body count. It is thought that the disease was a strain of bubonic plague so powerful that
once infected, patients barely lasted five days. So many people died from the disease that there were
not enough workers and farmers to make enough food for the rest of the empire, and a famine came
about as a secondary problem from this incredibly dangerous disease.

4. The Antonine Plague

Speaking of the fall of the Roman Empire, part of the reason for its steady decline was due to the
Antonine Plague that flared up in 165 AD under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The plague took a massive
toll on the economy, wiping out government officials, military conscripts, and many others. It also
changed the spiritual leanings of the Roman people, allowing monotheistic religions like Christianity and
Mithraism to spread. The plague so weakened the Roman Empire that it has been thought that it
contributed to the empire's downfall in the 5th century AD. It was thought that the disease responsible
was a strain of smallpox, but that has never been confirmed.

3. HIV/AIDS

Beginning in June 1981, a rash of strange infections in homosexual males left at least 121 of them dead
by the end of the year. Researchers were unsure of what kind of illness they were dealing with, but the
patients all showed incredible susceptibility to certain forms of respiratory problems and a particular
form of cancer. By 1982, "AIDS" was first used to describe the autoimmune syndrome when it was
discovered that an infant received bloodborne pathogens from an AIDS-infected individual and
contracted the same disease; a week later, 22 cases of infant AIDS had been reported. By 1983, there
was a large outbreak of AIDS among men and women in central Africa, alerting researchers to the fact
that they were also dealing with a sexually transmitted disease. By 2004, the HIV/AIDS pandemic had
claimed the lives of 529,113 people, with more than 940,000 cases reported. As of right now, there is no
cure but it is the most deadly pandemic in the world, ranking first among the causes of death
throughout Africa and certain third world countries, followed closely by tuberculosis.

2. The Spanish Flu

Also known as "la grippe," the Spanish flu killed more people from 1918 to 1919 than all of World War I.
It is considered one of the most devastating pandemics ever recorded. It was an unusual strain of
influenza that targeted and infected people ages 20 to 40. Normal influenza effects the elderly. At the
end of its reign of terror, it had affected the lives of 28% of the entire American population and had
killed 675,000 people.
 1. The Black Death (1346-1353)

Death Toll: 75 – 200 million

Cause: Bubonic Plague

From 1346 to 1353 an outbreak of the Plague ravaged Europe, Africa, and Asia, with an estimated death
toll between 75 and 200 million people. Thought to have originated in Asia, the Plague most likely
jumped continents via the fleas living on the rats that so frequently lived aboard merchant ships. Ports
being major urban centers at the time, were the perfect breeding ground for the rats and fleas, and thus
the insidious bacterium flourished, devastating three continents in its wake.

Top 10 Epidemic Diseases That Were Common in the Ancient World

10. Chickenpox

An infection caused by the varicella zoster virus, these days chickenpox is usually considered a mild
illness, common among children, though any case of chickenpox in teenagers or adults is still a matter of
concern. But before a vaccine was developed to curb chickenpox, it was a serious and widespread
infection. The first cases of chickenpox and its subsequent epidemic outbreaks don’t date as far back as
one would think. Many people in the early 1500s actually thought chickenpox was a type of scarlet fever
(since both infections cause red rashes) until the Italian, Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia, distinguished
between the two diseases. Even though a vaccination is now available, only a natural recovery from
chickenpox provides lifelong immunity.

9. Typhus

There was a time when catching typhus almost guaranteed death unless the victim had a surprisingly
strong immunity and received proper nursing care. There are virtually no recorded cases of any typhus
epidemics before 1450 AD, but once it surfaced around that time, it was devastating to the inhabitants
of Europe between the 17th and 19th centuries. The most terrifying aspect of typhus is, even if you are
cured of it, based on your immunity levels, it can always strike again.

So whenever wars broke out, a typhus outbreak would also emerge to sweep through the already near-
decimated troops. The first written descriptions of typhus among troops were during the Siege of
Granada in 1489 AD, putting the death toll among Spanish troops at 17,000. It then hit the French army
during the Siege of Naples in 1527 and forced them into retreat. Even more notable typhus outbreaks
were seen during the Napoleonic Wars and the Irish Potato Famine of 1846–49, both of them claiming
hundreds of thousands of lives.
8. Influenza

Influenza may sound like a recent epidemic disease, but it has been affecting people for thousands of
years. The influenza virus was isolated as recently as in 1933 AD, but the first cases of influenza among
humans are said to be 6,000 years old. Regardless of this long history, the first documented records of a
human influenza outbreak are from 1580 AD when an infection strikingly similar to it was reported in
Asia Minor and northern Africa.

Having ravaged countless settlements and populations throughout history, the world was dealt another
severe blow in the form of the influenza epidemic that engulfed it in 1918 and killed an estimated 50
million people. In fact, the death toll caused by the epidemic was so high that significantly more lives
were claimed by the epidemic than by World War I. In a single year when the epidemic hit the United
States, the life expectancy of the average American dropped by 12 years.

7. Typhoid

An infectious disease caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi, typhoid is highly contagious and is spread
easily through contaminated food and water supplies and by close contact with infected people. So
naturally, typhoid was a frequent epidemic in ancient times when sanitation was at its lowest. Probably
the most devastating occurrence of a typhoid epidemic was around 430 to 424 BC, when it wiped out
one-third of the population of Athens in ancient Greece.

The grip of typhoid fever on the Athenians was so strong that it may have helped the Spartan takeover
of the city. This effectively brought an end to the Golden Age of Pericles that once symbolized Athenian
dominance over the ancient world (along with death of Pericles himself who also succumbed to the
epidemic). Had the famous Athenian historian Thucydides not survived after contracting typhoid back
then, we might not have any records of this devastating outbreak. Typhoid fever epidemics wreaked
destruction among human settlements time and again. The mortality rate was only able to be curbed
with the first medical use of penicillin antibiotics in 1942.

6. Malaria

Malaria has been infecting various species for around 130 million years. The disease is even said to be
the cause of death of the great Genghis Khan. The first documented descriptions of malaria date back to
2700 BC, when the symptoms of an infection that later went on to be called malaria were first described
in the ancient medical text, Nei Ching.

By the fourth century BC, it was already a common epidemic in ancient Greece, having claimed huge
chunks of the population. By the time the reign of Pericles had begun, ancient Greek literature and
records had already extensively documented several malaria outbreaks and other related references.
The effect of malarial infection has been seen in subsequent civilizations too. The Romans came up with
a rather bizarre cure for malaria, which required the infected person to wear an amulet around the
neck. The amulet was inscribed with an incantation we now know as “abracadabra”. Even though
modern medical advances have helped curb malaria epidemics to a large extent, the disease still infects
about 300 million people every year, of which around one million don’t survive.

5. Measles

The first description of measles dates back to the ninth century AD when an Arab physician first
identified it as an infection that was different to smallpox. Even though the exact origin of measles is
unknown, measles epidemics struck ancient world settlements time and again. It was only in 1757 that a
Scottish physician named Francis Home was able to show that the infection was caused by an agent in
the blood. In one of the more recent outbreaks in Boston in 1964, John F. Enders and Dr Thomas C.
Peebles became the first to isolate the measles virus in the patient’s blood and create a vaccine.

Before the vaccination became available for medicinal use, in the United States alone, more than three
million people were being infected each year, and the post-vaccination period saw a whopping 99
percent decrease in the number of annual cases of measles.

4. Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is one of the most lethal communicable disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, an organism whose existence predates even the first human settlements. One would think
that modern-day sanitation and medical advances would be more than enough to curb diseases like
tuberculosis, but even now, there are more than two million deaths every year from tuberculosis,
mainly in developing countries.

The Middle Ages were full of evidence of cervical lymph node-related tuberculosis. Sources even say
that tuberculosis was known as the “King’s evil” and there was a popular legend in Europe that a mere
touch from the kings of England and France could cure tuberculosis. Tuberculosis remained a killer
disease well beyond the Middle Ages, claiming an estimated quarter of the adult population of Europe in
the 19th century. In fact, one in six deaths in France were attributed to tuberculosis in 1918.

3. Yellow Fever

This disease is similar to malaria in the sense that it is also carried by mosquitoes. The infected person
gets a characteristic yellow tinge in the eyes and skin (hence the name), and a rather painful “black
vomit” caused by excessive bleeding in the stomach. The yellow fever virus is said to have originated in
Africa in the early 1500s and was brought to the New World with the slave trade. After the first outbreak
in the 1690s in the United States, Philadelphia was hit by a major yellow fever epidemic in 1793, killing a
huge chunk of the population and causing many more to flee the city.

Yellow fever epidemics were far reaching. The British expedition to annex Peru and Mexico in 1741 was
reduced from a 27,000-strong force to a mere 7,000 by the painful black vomit. Yellow fever was a
dreaded infection which regularly hit the vulnerable coastal towns of North and South America
throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

2. Smallpox

A highly contagious disease caused by the variola virus, smallpox is known to kill at least 30 percent of all
the people it infects. Its origin has been associated with both Egypt and India for 3,000 years. The
earliest known evidence of smallpox came from the mummified remains of the Egyptian pharaoh
Ramses V who died in 1157 BC and whose corpse bears the signature smallpox pockmarks on the skin.
Smallpox epidemics were frequent occurrences during the Middle Ages, claiming a huge number of lives
and possibly impeding much of the West’s development.

Smallpox was so rife that it played a major role in the decline of the Roman Empire, which started to
decline around 108 AD, a time that saw a large-scale smallpox epidemic in the form of the Antonine
Plague. This monstrous epidemic killed almost seven million people and effectively hastened the
downfall of the once great Roman Empire. As a new world emerged, smallpox outbreaks also scaled up,
claiming an estimated 60 million lives in the 18th century and 300 million lives globally in the 20th
century.

1. Bubonic Plague

A deadly infection caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, bubonic plague is also referred to as the Black
Death. For centuries, plague has been synonymous with disaster for the people of Asia, Europe, and
Africa, claiming a significant proportion of the populations of the biggest empires like the Roman
Empire. The first detailed record of plague is from the Byzantine Empire under the rule of Justinian I
during the sixth century AD.

After the first outbreak in 541 AD, plague surfaced a number of times over the next two centuries killing
over 25 million people and effectively crippling the settlements of the Mediterranean basin. Then came
the Black Death in the spring of 1348, a plague so lethal that over the next three years, it wiped out
about 25 to 50 percent of Europe’s entire population. No one was prepared for that degree of
annihilation, and no one had an adequate understanding of the disease. As the situation worsened,
things became so terrible that historians report that on occasions there were not enough survivors to
bury the dead.