April 30, 2009

What are the most deadly pandemics?

There cannot be many people who have not heard of swine flu, it is a descendent of the Spanish flu that killed millions of people throughout the world, just after the First World War. yet this is not a pandemic yet despite the fact that the illness has crossed several borders.

For it to be classified, as a pandemic the illness has to travel to different countries and be spread from human to human, swine flu is close to becoming a pandemic but the authorities are struggling to prevent it from becoming a fully fledged pandemic.

The worst pandemics ever recorded if led by the Spanish flu, as this wiped out between 2.5% and 5% of the worlds of population, below is the list of deadliest pandemics:

Smallpox
Cholera
Influenza
Black Death
Malaria

Source [Highest Five]