Want to know about the top 10 deadliest viruses in human history? Here they are:
10. **Measles**, also known as rubeola. This virus has been one of the big killers for over 150 years. It doesn’t sound like anything major, right? But, this bad boy is responsible for the deaths of about 200 million people who contracted it. It comes with nasty complications like pneumonia and measles myocarditis.
9. Next up, **Dengue**. This one’s spread through mosquitoes and can cause high fevers that can be deadly if not treated. Common symptoms include vomiting and high fever, even going so far as to cause nosebleeds and a dramatic drop in blood pressure.
8. Don’t forget about **Rabies**! This nasty virus is transmitted through the saliva of animals like dogs, cats, bats, and monkeys. Back in 2009 in Angola, 93 children died from it. In fact, about 55,000 people die from rabies every year.
7. **Rotavirus**. They say it hits infants and small children the hardest. This very contagious virus can cause severe diarrhoea, and it killed almost half a million children under five in just 2008. Luckily, there are now vaccines to help manage it.
6. And then, there’s the notorious **Influenza**, the old-time killer. It has caused worldwide pandemics multiple times, wiping out millions of people. Spanish Flu in 1918 alone killed between 20 and 100 million people!
5. Moving up the list, we get to **Smallpox**. This was a monster, having killed 300-500 million people in the 20th century alone. Luckily, it was eradicated in 2010.
4. **Hantavirus**, also known as HPS, is transmitted to humans from rodents like rats. It first made headlines in America in 1993, attacking about 600 people and causing 36% of them to die.
3. **Marburg** is another heavy hitter. It was first found in lab workers infected by monkeys imported from Uganda back in 1967. Similar to Ebola, Marburg causes severe fever and, without treatment, can lead to seizures, organ failure, and death. Mortality rates have gone up to 80%.
2. Speaking of, **Ebola** has been around since 1976. This rapidly spreading virus is transferred through contact with the blood or bodily fluids of infected animals and people. Like with flu, those infected experience high fever, muscle pain, and headache, escalating to more severe symptoms such as vomiting, blood in the stool, and liver and kidney disorders.
1. Finally, the deadliest of them all, **HIV**. This virus, mostly spreading through unprotected sex and sharing needles, has resulted in approximately 36 million deaths since its discovery in the early 1980s. While there are drugs to manage HIV, it’s still incurable, as it attacks the human immune system and can lead to other fatal diseases.
Don’t forget, folks, to stay safe and maintain a healthy lifestyle – eat right, exercise, and get plenty of rest! Prevention is better than cure, right?
_Tags_: Deadly Viruses, Top 10
