Mass hysteria is a psychological phenomenon which has been documented since the Middle Ages. Political turmoil, environmental stress, fear of the unknown, and the need for social acceptance from our peers can often cause us to behave in an irrational manner, and throughout history, close-knit groups, such as schools and small communities, have experienced inexplicable episodes of mass hysteria.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Bizarre Cases of Mass Hysteria

Many times, a single unusual incident with a logical explanation has escalated into an epidemic in which those close by imagine they are experiencing similar symptoms. From bizarre behavior to imaginary illnesses, there have been a number of epidemics of mass hysteria throughout history.

10 Dancing Plague Of 1518

We’ve all been tempted to “dance till you drop” when out partying or clubbing. But during the Middle Ages, residents of a French town actually died from dancing.^[1]

In 1518, a case of dancing plague broke out in Strasbourg, in the French Alsace region. Starting with one lone dancer, the footloose outbreak led to over 400 people eventually taking to the streets, dancing nonstop for days on end. Many collapsed from exhaustion, some apparently dying from heart attack or stroke. The Dancing Plague lasted for over a month. Those affected were predominantly female. Few historic notes exist to document the exact cause of the plague.

Town leaders were highly unamused with the ongoing displays of frenetic dancing. Learned physicians at the time suggested that the cause was “overheated blood” in the brain during the hot July days. It has been more recently suggested that a fungus, ergot, in the wheat fields (and thus in people’s bread) may have been the cause. The ergot would have produced reactions similar to LSD.

9 Tanganyika Laughing Epidemic

In 1962, three students at a boarding school in Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) began laughing uncontrollably. Their laughter was contagious and soon spread to 95 students at the school.

Bouts of uncontrolled hysteria lasted from a few hours to more than two weeks. Victims also experienced bouts of crying, pain, and fainting. Teachers were unable to conduct lessons with the bouts of hysterical laughing, and the school was forced to shut down for two months while the epidemic was brought under control.

However, the hysteria reportedly spread to surrounding villages and to a number of surrounding schools. Altogether, over 1,000 people were affected.^[2]

Possible toxins from contaminated food or chemicals were ruled out as a cause of the epidemic. No definite medical cause could be found for the laughing disease, which was blamed on the stress of the strict boarding school regime.

8 Mad Gasser

During World War II, residents of the town of Mattoon, Illinois, became convinced they were under attack from a phantom anesthetist who was attempting to gas them as they slept. Victims complained of a strange odor in their homes before being struck with symptoms ranging from paralysis to coughing, nausea, and vomiting.^[3]

The first report came at the end of August 1944, when a resident awoke to a strange smell and suffered a fit of nausea and vomiting. His wife was paralyzed and unable to leave her bed. Police received over 20 similar reports of “gassings” over the following two weeks. Panic ensued as the nightly “gassings” became more prevalent, but no firm sighting of a culprit ever occurred.

All victims made complete and speedy recoveries. Investigators explained the incidents as combinations of odors from a nearby industrial plant and mass hysteria in reaction to reports of a nocturnal prowler.

7 Meowing Nuns

Nuns in religious orders across France and Germany went barking mad during the 15th century. During medieval times, many women entered convents against their will, being forced into a life of celibacy and poverty by their parents. They were condemned to a life of austerity and manual labor. So it is probably no surprise that convent life caused some bizarre behavior from the inmates.

In 1491, a nun in a large French convent began meowing like a cat. Her sisters soon followed her in this strange behavior until the convent was overcome with a “cat imitation” plague. The surrounding villagers were disturbed by this daily caterwauling, to the point that a platoon of soldiers were stationed outside the convent. The nuns were told they would be beaten with rods if they continued to meow.

Various nunneries across the region reported similar epidemics of nuns imitating cats, dogs, and birds, as well as biting viciously. At the time, “demonic possession” was the explanation for the epidemics. However, the repressive conditions in which the nuns lived causing a form of mass hysteria is a more likely explanation.^[4]

6 Strawberries With Sugar Virus

In 2006, over 300 Portuguese schoolchildren were hit with an unexplained illness. Patients complained of dizziness, breathing difficulties, and rashes. The strange illness only affected schoolchildren and was reported in numerous schools around the country.

A teen soap opera called Strawberries with Sugar was identified as the problem. An episode had aired a few days before the outbreak, in which a strange virus was striking children at the show’s school. Apparently, watching the episode had led to children believing that their everyday ailments or allergies were in fact an outbreak of the deadly virus they had seen on television.^[5]

5 Meissen Trembling Disease

Several German schools were hit with an epidemic of trembling in 1905.^[6] A student in Meissen began trembling and twitching as she wrote in October of that year. By May the following year, over 200 students at surrounding schools had been afflicted with the unexplained twitching epidemic. The tremors only occurred when the students were given writing tasks and were not present when performing other lessons.

All the students were high performers, indicating that the stress of having to achieve good grades combined with reports of other instances of the trembling disease contributed to the hysteria. Students were “treated” with electric shocks to “cure” the tremors, which soon subsided after a rest from writing.

4 Hollinwell Incident

A swooning epidemic hit a group of schoolchildren in England’s East Midlands in July 1986.

Over 500 schoolchildren had traveled from all around to compete in a marching band competition. All were assembled and ready to perform, when suddenly, they began collapsing. Around 300 children and adults ultimately dropped at the Hollinwell showground. Mass panic erupted, with emergency crews called in to deal with the growing crisis.^[7]

Victims later complained of having experienced a sore throat and a burning sensation in the eyes. Initial investigations considered a gas leak or contamination from crop dusting as being possible causes of the mass fainting episode. The incident was officially explained as a form of mass hysteria, caused by a combination of tiredness from a long journey to the contest, the heat of the day, and preperformance jitters.

3 Blackburn Faintings

Schoolchildren in the UK town of Blackburn were hit with a fainting epidemic which lasted several days in 1965.

The fainting frenzy began while people were waiting outside the Blackburn Cathedral for Princess Margaret to arrive to officially open the restorations. An early start to the day, with several hours standing in the sun, were initially blamed when 140 children fainted on the grounds.

However, the following day, another 98 patients were hit with the mysterious fainting epidemic at a nearby school. By the end of the week, over 300 children had been affected.

The schools were closed and carefully inspected for a possible cause, with fumes from a nearby factory initially blamed for the fainting episodes. Mass hysteria, leading to overbreathing, brought on by the excitement of the royal visit was finally declared the cause of the fainting fits.^[8]

2 Wurzburg Screaming Epidemic

A nunnery in Wurzburg, Germany, was hit by a screaming epidemic in 1749. As with the meowing nuns a few centuries earlier, it was probably brought on by a combination of boredom and frustration at being forced into a religious life.

The sub-prioress, Sister Maria Renata, initially denied entry into the convent for a young woman who was prone to convulsions. Her decision was overturned, and other sisters within the community began imitating the young woman’s behavior, showing signs of “demonic possession” during services. Victims experienced episodes of screaming, writhing, foaming at the mouth, and entering a trancelike state.

The sub-prioress was coerced into confessing to witchcraft and was beheaded for her crimes against the Church, ending the screaming sessions from the other nuns.

1 Face-Scratcher

In poorly educated communities, villagers will often turn to folklore and mythology to explain the unknown. A belief that aliens were scratching the faces of victims at night sparked mass panic in a town in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2002, residents were reporting a “brightly lit object” that “flies sideways” attacking victims, leaving scratch marks on their faces. Reports ranged from football-sized objects to a UFO the size of a large tortoise that flew at victims, leaving scratches and burn marks.

From an initial isolated incident, rumors of the alien attacker soon spread, sparking widespread panic. Nighttime vigilante groups were set up to scare away the face-scratcher, and residents demanded police capture the extraterrestrial assailants. The only confirmed deaths, however, were from police firing into large crowds to disperse protesters who had gathered to demand action.^[10]

Explanations for the phenomenon ranged from an insect plague to “lightning balls” striking victims as they slept outside. The face-scratcher disappeared suddenly once the monsoon season arrived.

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor who contributes articles to online publications and her travel blog.

When Outbreak was released in 1995, it gripped audiences as a thrilling tale of a deadly virus that seemed, at the time, far removed from our everyday reality. Yet, as the years passed, the film’s fictional narrative began to feel eerily prophetic. What once seemed like a dramatized Hollywood scenario has, in many ways, become a stark reflection of the global health crises we’ve faced in the 21st century.

The SARS outbreak in 2002 was one of the first instances where life began to imitate art, followed by a string of viral epidemics that have shaken our world, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic. These events didn’t just challenge our healthcare systems; they exposed the vulnerabilities of our interconnected world, making the storylines in Outbreak feel less like fiction and more like a forewarning.

This list explores ten modern epidemics that mirror the chilling scenarios depicted in Outbreak. Each of these outbreaks brought its own set of fears and challenges, reminding us that the boundary between fiction and reality is often more fragile than we’d like to believe. These real-life events underscore the importance of vigilance and preparedness, proving that the lessons from Outbreak are more relevant than ever.

Related: Top 10 Surprising Ways Diseases Have Been Cured

10 SARS: The First Real-World “Outbreak”

In 2002, just a few years after Outbreak gripped audiences with its portrayal of a fictional virus, the world was introduced to a very real threat: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS. This was the first time many of us truly felt like we were living in a Hollywood thriller. Originating in Asia, SARS spread rapidly across 29 countries, infecting over 8,000 people. It started with flu-like symptoms—fever, chills, and headaches—but quickly escalated into a severe respiratory illness, claiming nearly 1,000 lives.

What made SARS particularly alarming was how easily it spread through respiratory droplets, much like the fictional virus in Outbreak. Public health officials scrambled to contain the disease, implementing strict quarantine measures and travel restrictions. By 2004, these efforts had paid off, and SARS was effectively eradicated, but not before leaving a lasting mark on global health policies.

SARS was a wake-up call, a real-world echo of the cinematic nightmare portrayed in Outbreak. It showed us how quickly a virus could spread in our interconnected world, setting the stage for the even more devastating epidemics that would follow.^[1]

9 H1N1: The Global Influenza Shockwave

In 2009, a new and unexpected threat emerged—a strain of influenza known as H1N1 or swine flu. For many, it felt like the plot of Outbreak was coming to life as this virus spread rapidly across the globe, sparking widespread fear and uncertainty. Unlike the usual flu, H1N1 was a strange mix, blending genetic material from viruses found in pigs, birds, and humans. The result? A pandemic that infected millions and took over 284,000 lives worldwide.

What made H1N1 particularly alarming was how it didn’t play by the usual rules. Instead of targeting just the elderly or those with weakened immune systems, it struck down young, healthy people with severe symptoms ranging from fever and body aches to serious respiratory issues. The H1N1 pandemic was a harsh reminder of how quickly a virus could spread in our interconnected world, much like the fictional virus in the film.

Even after the pandemic was officially declared over in 2010, H1N1 didn’t just fade away. It became a regular part of the seasonal flu strains, a lingering echo of the chaos it once caused. Today, the H1N1 strain is a permanent fixture in flu vaccines, a testament to the lasting impact of a virus that once brought the world to a standstill.^[2]

8 Ebola: The Real-Life Horror That Outpaced Fiction

In 2014, the world was confronted with a nightmare that felt ripped straight from the movie. The Ebola virus, a name that still sends chills down spines, erupted in West Africa, causing an epidemic that would become the largest in history. With over 28,600 infections and more than 11,000 deaths, Ebola didn’t just shock the world—it exposed the terrifying reality of how quickly a deadly virus can spread in our globalized world.

Unlike the fictional virus in Outbreak, Ebola was no scriptwriter’s invention. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, making it a relentless predator in communities where close contact is a way of life. Healthcare workers, dressed in protective gear that looked eerily similar to the hazmat suits in the movie, battled tirelessly against an unseen enemy that showed no mercy.

The Ebola epidemic was a grim reminder that the scenarios depicted in movies aren’t as far-fetched as we’d like to believe. It underscored the need for global preparedness and the reality that, when it comes to deadly viruses, the line between fiction and reality is frighteningly thin.^[3]

7 Zika: A Real-Life Brazilian Echo of Outbreak

In 2015, as news of a mysterious virus spreading through Brazil began to surface, it felt eerily reminiscent of the fictional scenarios in the movie. This time, the culprit was Zika, a virus carried by Aedes mosquitoes that quickly became a household name. What started as a relatively mild illness turned into a global crisis when it was discovered that Zika could cause devastating birth defects, particularly microcephaly in newborns, where babies are born with unusually small heads and brain damage.

The world watched in shock as the virus spread across 48 countries and territories in the Americas. Zika wasn’t just causing flu-like symptoms; it was also linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare condition that can lead to paralysis. By February 2016, the World Health Organization declared Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This move mirrored the global response to the fictional virus in Outbreak.

The Zika outbreak was a chilling reminder that the scenarios depicted in movies like “Outbreak” aren’t just the stuff of fiction. It underscored the reality that even a seemingly minor virus could unleash widespread fear and have far-reaching consequences, particularly for vulnerable populations.^[4]

6 COVID-19: The Global Outbreak That Turned Fiction into Reality

In late 2019, as reports emerged of a mysterious virus in Wuhan, China, it felt unsettlingly similar to the plot of Outbreak. By March 2020, that unease turned into full-blown global panic as COVID-19 spread rapidly, prompting the World Health Organization to declare it a pandemic. Suddenly, the world found itself living in a real-life version of the crisis portrayed in the movie—only this time, there was no Hollywood ending in sight.

COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, upended life as we knew it. Lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing became the norm as governments scrambled to contain the virus. Despite the swift development of vaccines, the virus claimed millions of lives and disrupted economies and daily life in ways that were unimaginable just months before. It was a stark reminder that the scenarios depicted in Outbreak were not as far-fetched as they once seemed.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us how quickly a virus could spread in our interconnected world, turning fiction into reality. It forced us to confront our vulnerabilities and underscored the importance of being prepared for the unexpected—a lesson we should carry forward as we face future global health challenges.^[5]

5 MERS: The Middle Eastern Viral Epidemic

In 2012, when Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) first emerged in Saudi Arabia, it felt like a real-life version of the viral outbreaks portrayed in movies like Outbreak. This deadly coronavirus, known as MERS-CoV, didn’t just stay confined to its origin. By 2015, it had spread to over 20 countries, including a chilling outbreak in South Korea. With a mortality rate of around one-third, MERS proved that even a virus originating from camels could pose a global threat.

MERS starts off innocuously, with symptoms that resemble the flu—fever, cough, and shortness of breath. But for some, it quickly spirals into severe pneumonia and respiratory failure. With no vaccine or specific treatment available, the world could only watch as the virus quietly moved across borders, reminding us that the scenarios depicted in films are far from fiction.

MERS was a sobering lesson in how easily a virus can jump from animals to humans and then spread worldwide. It reinforced the importance of global vigilance and preparedness, echoing the very themes that made Outbreak so terrifyingly real.^[6]

4 Mpox: The New Global Health Emergency

In August 2024, the World Health Organization declared a new Public Health Emergency of International Concern, this time for mpox—formerly known as monkeypox. The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had already claimed hundreds of lives and was rapidly spreading to neighboring countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. The emergence of a new, highly contagious strain of the virus, clade 1b, was particularly alarming, as it echoed the kind of viral outbreaks that once seemed confined to the realm of fiction.

Mpox, though long considered endemic in parts of Africa, took a dangerous turn with this new strain. As the virus moved beyond the DRC, it became clear that we were witnessing the kind of viral spread that “Outbreak” had warned us about—only this time, it wasn’t a movie. The situation demanded a swift, coordinated global response to prevent a potential catastrophe.

This outbreak is a sobering reminder that the threats we see in films like “Outbreak” are not far-fetched. They are real and require us to be vigilant and prepared to respond decisively when a new virus threatens to spread across borders.^[7]

3 Chikungunya: The Caribbean’s Real-Life Viral Terror

In late 2013, the Caribbean was struck by a virus that seemed ripped straight from a horror movie—Chikungunya. This mosquito-borne illness, known for causing excruciating joint pain, made its first local transmission in the Western Hemisphere on the islands of Saint Martin and Sint Maarten. The virus, typically confined to Africa and Asia, spread rapidly through the Caribbean, with over 480 cases confirmed in just a few months.

Chikungunya, which means “that which bends up” in the Makonde language, refers to the severe, debilitating pain it inflicts on its victims. The outbreak forced health officials to scramble, implementing emergency mosquito control measures and ramping up public awareness campaigns. The virus, which can cause long-term joint pain, served as a harsh wake-up call for the region, revealing just how vulnerable even paradise can be to emerging infectious diseases.

Much like the fictional outbreak in the 1995 movie, the Chikungunya crisis showed how a virus could upend lives and strain public health systems, reminding us that the threats depicted in fiction are sometimes all too real. ^[8]

2 Nipah Virus Outbreak in Kerala: A Lesson in Preparedness

In May 2018, Kerala, India, faced a real-life nightmare reminiscent of the scenarios depicted in Outbreak. The Nipah virus, a deadly pathogen with no known cure, suddenly emerged in the Kozhikode district, causing widespread fear and panic. This outbreak, the first of its kind in South India, claimed 17 lives out of 18 confirmed cases, shaking the region to its core. Kerala’s health system, known for its efficiency, was put to the ultimate test.

Despite the challenges, the state’s response was commendable. Health authorities, both local and national, quickly mobilized resources. With the technical support of WHO, they managed to contain the outbreak. However, the response was not without its flaws. Improvisation marked the early stages, and the lack of preparedness in surveillance and data sharing underscored the need for better training and infrastructure.

The Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala is a stark reminder that even the most prepared systems can be caught off guard. To prevent future crises, it’s crucial to enhance surveillance, raise awareness, and strengthen health reporting systems. These steps are essential in mitigating the risks posed by such deadly viruses.^[9]

1 West Nile Virus: The Unseen Plague

In 2012, the West Nile virus quietly became the deadliest mosquito-borne illness in the United States, claiming 286 lives and infecting over 5,600 people. While it doesn’t grab headlines like other diseases, its impact was devastating, particularly in Texas, where the virus hit hardest. Since its arrival in the U.S. in 1999, West Nile has been a persistent threat, with its severity varying from year to year. The virus, often spread by mosquitoes, can cause mild flu-like symptoms, but in severe cases, it attacks the brain and nervous system, leading to paralysis or death.

West Nile’s unpredictability is a key concern for public health officials. The virus thrives in hot, wet conditions, making its outbreaks difficult to predict and control. Unlike many other diseases, West Nile’s presence in both mosquitoes and birds means it has a complex life cycle, which complicates eradication efforts. Each summer brings the risk of another outbreak as the virus resurfaces with the rise in mosquito populations.

The 2012 outbreak was a stark reminder of how quickly and quietly a virus like West Nile can turn deadly. Without a vaccine or specific treatment available for humans, the focus remains on prevention and mosquito control. The virus may not have the same visibility as others, but its threat is real and enduring.^[10]

Preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases is one of the arguments for strong government institutions. But this argument is undermined if governments address emerging epidemic diseases in a ham-handed way. Concerns over responsibility and reputation all too often take precedence over the real task of saving human lives.

10MERS In South Korea

After the MERS epidemic began in South Korea in 2015, the Park Geun-hye government was accused of mishandling the crisis and possibly making it worse. Experts heavily criticized the official lack of transparency and the practice of shuttling suspected infectees between hospitals before putting them in quarantine, putting medical staff and the wider public at greater risk. Some criticized the government’s failure to create a centralized facility to concentrate care for infected patients, which would be more efficient and less likely to cause further spread of the disease.

Many were angered by the government’s refusal to name the hospitals treating those affected by the disease, greatly increasing public fears and Internet rumors. This was allegedly done to help hospitals avoid losses in revenue if the public was aware they were treating MERS patients. Instead, people on the Internet made up their own lists, and police arrested several people for falsely identifying specific hospitals as MERS treatment centers.

Firebrand journalist Se-Woong Koo believes the mishandling of MERS is representative of a political system perceived by the public as “a crony capitalist state run by corrupt elites who have monopolized power and the national economy, fostering government incompetence and popular distrust of the state.”

9SARS In China

Mao Zedong once bade “Farewell to the God of Plagues,” but the SARS epidemic in China highlighted serious problems with the way the government handles epidemics. Fears that the outbreak would create a bad image for China led to the government restricting information, which led quickly to public anxiety and rumors. Information controls within the official hierarchy itself caused critical delays.

A key report by a team of experts sent to Guangdong by the Ministry of Health early in the crisis was marked top secret, so it took three days to find a provincial health official with the authorization to read it. After it was finally read, the provincial government released a bulletin of information about the disease to hospitals, but this was read by few because many medical personnel were on vacation for Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, Chinese law prevented any public release of information about the disease, classified as state secrets unless “announced by the Ministry of Health or organs authorized by the Ministry.”

As the epidemic was spreading, Public Health Minister Zhang Wenkang still claimed, “China is a safe place to work and live, including to travel.” The WHO complained of government interference in efforts to control the disease, including preventing Taiwan and the WHO from having direct contact as China claims sovereignty over the country.

As the government played down reports of the disease and doctored statistics, wild rumors spread on the Internet. Some believed the outbreak was bird flu or anthrax. A circular appeared in local media outlining preventative measures, such as improving ventilation, using vinegar fumes to disinfect the air, and frequently washing hands.

The epidemic and botched response had a silver lining of sorts. It underscores the limitations of the Chinese system of “fragmented authoritarianism,” particularly when comparing the Chinese response to the more successful responses in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

8Cholera In Zimbabwe

As political tensions between the ruling ZANU-PF and opposition MDC were leading to violence in the streets, an outbreak of cholera erupted in Zimbabwe in 2008. The government initially tried to downplay the spread of the disease, which Robert Mugabe claimed was a part of a Western plot to invade the country and topple his government in a rambling speech where he called US President Bush and UK Prime Minister Brown “crooks . . . guilty of deliberate lies to commit acts of aggression.”

Hours after South Africa declared the border zone with Zimbabwe a disaster area, Mugabe announced the disease was under control, a claim denied by world health officials who complained the president had prevented a team of French specialists from landing in the country. But the country was soon asking for aid, as its beleaguered and declined healthcare industry simply could not cope. Even health minister David Parirenyatwa eventually admitted, “Our central hospitals are literally not functioning.”

In 2013, it was revealed that attempts to cover up the spread of the disease extended to the United Nations, as country chief Agostinho Zacarias had fired Georges Tadonki, the head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Zimbabwe. Zacarias was closely tied to Mugabe, and Tadonki’s efforts to control the spread of the disease were deemed politically unacceptable to the government.

In a scathing report, a UN tribunal judge later ruled that “the political agenda that RC/HC Zacarias was engaged in with the Government of Zimbabwe far outweighed any humanitarian concerns that (Tadonki’s office) may have had.” In the end, the disease killed more than 4,000 people.

7Nipah Virus In Malaysia

An outbreak of the newly emergent paramyxovirus Nipah in the state of Perak, Malaysia, in September 1998 was initially assumed by the government to be an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis, which is endemic in Malaysia, spread by mosquito, and primarily affects children. The Nipah virus, by contrast, caused severe febrile encephalitis among pig farmers. It had been spread from flying foxes to pigs to humans through bat excretions landing in pig swill, possibly due to the migration of fruit bats to cultivated orchards due to fruiting failure in forests caused by El Nino and human burning efforts.

The Malaysian government’s initial attempts to control what it thought was Japanese encephalitis through fogging and mass vaccination had no effect on the spread of the disease. When cases were reported in abattoirs in Singapore in March 1999, the country banned the import of Malaysian pigs and controlled their small outbreak.

The outbreak of the disease in Malaysia was finally controlled with the culling of over one million pigs, while people were advised to conduct preventative measures such as using protection like masks, hand-washing after handling infected animals and pigsties, and washing down cages and vehicles for transporting animals with soap and water.

The disease wreaked havoc on the billion-dollar Malaysian pig industry, and a group of pig farmers tried to sue the government for their mishandling of the case. The farmers were angry to have engaged in fruitless efforts to control the misidentified virus, which led to more deaths and the destruction of many livelihoods.

6Plague In India

When an outbreak of the plague erupted in the city of Surat in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the response of the government was confused at best. There were mixed signals, with one government press release confirming the plague, while the chief minister of Gujarat denied it and said it must be pneumonia. The mixed signals led to panic among the population.

People wore masks and covered their faces with handkerchiefs in affected areas (which was ineffective at preventing infection), and in larger cities like Mumbai and New Delhi, many schools and public entertainment places were closed as residents chose to stay indoors. People in the neighboring state of Rajasthan killed rats to prevent the spread of the disease (which may have caused affected fleas to jump to new human hosts, spreading the plague further).

The correct diagnosis of the disease was limited by the medical equipment available, and the government tried to initially cover up the outbreak. It would take heavy pressure from nearby trade partners such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to compel them to allow the World Health Organization to render assistance.

Even then, some in the WHO complained of Indian government delays and pointless squabbling over sharing of samples. The WHO intervention was controversial in the national press, and one member of the WHO team complained that the government was encouraging “science by the press.” Some refused to admit the plague originated in India, and rumors spread of genetically engineered bioweapons from hostile South Asian neighbors.

5AIDS In The United States

Some lay the blame for the 1980s AIDS epidemic in the United States squarely with President Ronald Reagan. When the first cases emerged in 1981, it became clear to health authorities that a real crisis situation was developing. But a slow response from the federal government led to delays in vital HIV/AIDS research due to lack of funding and little to no efforts made to develop an outreach program to control or prevent infection.

This is very likely because the initial victims were gay men, who suffered a great deal of hostile attention as the disease spread. Reverend Jerry Falwell said, “AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals,” while Reagan’s communications director Pat Buchanan called the epidemic “nature’s revenge on gay men.”

It took until 1987 before Reagan publicly spoke about the AIDS epidemic, after 59,572 AIDS cases had been reported and 27,909 people had died. In the meantime, discrimination against homosexuals prevented serious work being done. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina amended a federal appropriations bill to prohibit AIDS education programs that “encourage or promote homosexual activity,” to prevent gay men from being taught how to have safe sex.

Some have argued Reagan’s political decisions were rarely influenced by religion and that his silence and inaction were calculated to avoid offending his base, largely made up of conservative Christians who saw the disease as a just punishment for sexual deviants and drug abusers. The cynicism and ignorance ultimately cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.

4BSE In Britain

The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, began with the death of a single cow in West Sussex. While it first appeared in the 1970s, it had largely gone unnoticed but would eventually jump to humans. Controlling the outbreak involved the culling of millions of livestock, and the disease killed 176 British and 50 others around the world. The outbreak caused severe doubts in the reliability and honesty of UK governments in handling such outbreaks.

At first, the government denied any link between BSE and the human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Agriculture Minister John Gummer criticized schools that had taken beef products from their menus over the rising fears. At a political event in 1990, he tried to prove properly cooked British beef safe by feeding a hamburger to his daughter. She refused, so he took a bite himself and called it “absolutely delicious.”

It took until 1996, after several human cases had already been reported, before the government was willing to admit the danger posed by BSE. A 2000 report lauded government efforts to control the outbreak but admitted denialism and delays hampering the process. Poor communication and foot-dragging by civil servants, bureaucratic hurdles, and poor enforcement also made things worse. One key failure was the 1987 decision not to ban mechanically recovered meat from carcasses, considered risky, which then entered burgers and meat pies.

3Spanish Flu In Samoa

In 1918, Samoa was under the administration of New Zealand, and many blame administrator Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Logan for an outbreak of Spanish flu that killed 22 percent of the population.

The disease was brought aboard New Zealand passenger and cargo ship Talune arriving at Apia from Auckland on November 7, 1918. The ship had been quarantined when making a stopover in Fiji, but no precautions were made in Samoa. Sick passengers disembarked, and the disease was soon spreading throughout the main island of Upolu and to the neighboring island of Savai’i, overwhelming Samoa’s rudimentary medical facilities.

The governor of American Samoa offered assistance, as he had a staff of medical officers and assistants at the ready having recently controlled their own outbreak. Logan ignored the message, later claiming he assumed it was referring to his wife. He also broke off radio communication with the American Samoan capital of Pago Pago, apparently in revenge for a policy of quarantining Western Samoan mail. Samoa therefore received no medical assistance until an Australian ship arrived carrying four doctors and 20 medical orderlies.

Logan was inexperienced with administration and believed he needed to wait for instructions from Wellington before doing anything, so little was done to curb the epidemic. Plantation interests opposed a quarantine, and so much of the population was soon sick that there were food shortages. Many became more sick as they were weak from a lack of food.

A 1947 United Nations report would call it “one of the most disastrous epidemics recorded anywhere in the world during the present century, so far as the proportion of deaths to the population is concerned.” Logan left Samoa in early 1919, writing of the crisis in a report: “[It is] temporary and, like children, [the Samoans] will get over it provided they are handled with care . . . They will later on remember all that has been done for them in the previous four years.”

2Meningitis In Zambia

After an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis at Kabompo Secondary School in North-Western Province, Zambia, in June 2015, three students died and another three were admitted into the hospital. The slow reaction by the government to spread accurate information led to hysteria, as some students claimed the disease was caused by witchcraft. In a riot involving students and members of the local community on July 4, school property was damaged, and parents withdrew their children, who were claiming the school needed to be “cleansed.”

Conflicting statements from the Ministries of Health and Education soon suggested miscommunication was a factor in the chaos. On July 8, Health Minister Joseph Kasonde told reporters the school had been closed for two weeks, but Ministry of Education spokesperson Hillary Chipango said the school hadn’t been closed, merely that students were refusing to attend.

Critics of the government have blamed the lack of communication and coordination between the Ministries for the lack of accurate information about the disease, which can be treated with antibiotics and easily prevented. The information could have helped to prevent the spread of witchcraft rumors.

1AIDS In South Africa

South Africa had spent 15 years steadily fighting the spread of HIV, until the election of Thabo Mbeki. The new president had fallen under the sway of a group of scientific rebels led by Berkeley’s Peter Duesberg who deny that AIDS is caused by the AIDS virus and instead blame pathogenic factors such as drug use, promiscuous homosexual activity, blood transfusions, parasitic infections, and malnutrition.

Though their claims went against the vast weight of scientific evidence, Mbeki was convinced. Part of it may have been the cost of drug treatments, and AIDS denialism put pressure on international drug makers to lower their prices to be more affordable to ordinary Africans. Part of it was due to him believing the claims HIV was sexually transmitted was only a representation of traditional racist ideas about Africans being promiscuous.

The disease wasn’t caused by a virus, he believed, but general ill health and malnutrition. The solution wasn’t simply buying medicine from the West but improving the African standard of living.

Mbeki appointed a group of scientists who declared there were alternative treatments to combat AIDS. Until late 2003, the Ministry of Health refused to provide treatment to HIV-infected individuals. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang declared in 2006 that AIDS could be cured by eating healthy foods like olive oil, beetroot, lemon, and garlic. She even presented a South African government display of fruits and vegetables at a Toronto AIDS conference. The following year, deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was dismissed, ostensibly for corruption but in reality likely due to her outspoken views on the relationship between HIV and AIDS.

South Africa ended its official culture of denialism with the election of Jacob Zuma in 2009. A Harvard study found that Mbeki’s belief in quack science likely led to the deaths of over 300,000 people.

David Tormsen is your own personal patient zero. Email him at [email protected].

In the last 200 years or so, humanity has made great strides in the development of medicine and medical technology. Though a great many diseases and infections are still incurable, we know far more about the science of sickness—the true nature of illness—than at any other time in our history.

Despite this, there are still many plagues and pandemics, both from centuries ago and from the modern era, that confuse or frustrate our understanding of medicine. Some can only be explained as outbreaks of hysteria or mass hallucinations brought on by intense social pressures. Others are even more mysterious, lacking any sort of logic or reason. Here is a list of 10 such plagues, which have baffled and bewildered the doctors of the past and present alike.

10 The Carancas Meteorite Sickness

Close to midnight on a September night in 2007, a meteorite crashed to Earth near the Peruvian border with Bolivia. Named after the town of Carancas, the closest settlement to the impact site, the meteorite terrified those who were close enough to see it.

One man was thrown from his bicycle by the impact, while those farther away witnessed a plume of fire 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) high that followed the meteorite down. But once the dust had settled and the boiling water seeping from the crater had dried up, everyone nearby seemed to be unscathed. Nobody had been truly injured in the impact. Little did they realize that the real hardship was yet to come.

In the aftermath of the crash, hundreds of locals traipsed out to witness the smoldering remains of the meteorite. Within days, as many as 200 of those locals were sick. The symptoms of headaches, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea spread so fast that local doctors were forced to build makeshift tents around the town’s medical center to cope with the influx of suffering patients.

Working out of buildings whose windows had been shattered by the force of the falling meteorite, the doctors toiled for days, trying to establish a cause or an origin for the mysterious plague. No clear answer has ever presented itself. Some scientists, such as Luisa Macedo, have argued that the water unearthed by the impact was contaminated with arsenic and that the “steam” rolling from the crater was actually poisonous gas.

But others, such as the Peruvian Geophysics Institute’s Jose Ishitsuka, have pointed out that it would be highly unlikely that a meteorite would be hot enough to create such a large amount of boiling steam. As it is, we may never know the truth of the Carancas meteorite sickness.

9 The June Bug Epidemic

Here’s an odd one. The June bug epidemic refers to an incident in summer 1962 when a worker in a textile mill in the USA claimed to have been bitten by some sort of dangerous insect. Convinced that the latest batch of fabric that the mill had received from England was infested with creepy critters, the woman refused to go back to work. She complained of headaches, dizziness, and a painful rash. Before long, more than 50 of her colleagues were also insisting that they had been bitten by the elusive “June bug.”

Understandably, the mill was closed down for inspection, and officials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta were dispatched to deal with the outbreak. But to their surprise, they could find zero evidence that such a creature even existed. The health inspectors found only two biting insects in the entire plant, neither of which could have caused the symptoms described by the workers.

Despite this dumbfounding discovery, they decided to have the mill sprayed for insects anyway. After all, there was nothing else they could do. But the most incredible part of the story is this: After the mill had been sprayed and reopened, not a single person complained of June bug bites again. Was there really something hiding in the fabric?

8 The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic

As it turned out, 1962 was a bad year for mystifying outbreaks. Months earlier, in the tiny village of Kashasha in Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika), an epidemic of laughing attacks struck an all-girls’ boarding school.

It started with just three people and seemed like an ordinary fit of giggling among teenagers. But by the end of the day, a staggering 95 of the school’s pupils were affected, more than half the entire student body. It was January 30, the day the laughing started. By March 30, the school had been shut down completely out of medical concern for its students.

The scariest part of the outbreak was that all of this was only the beginning. After the boarding school was closed, the girls affected were sent away to be housed in different villages. Perhaps the staff thought that by separating those suffering from the laughing attacks, they could stymie the spread of the epidemic. Instead, it multiplied.

By May, 200 people in the nearby settlement of Nshamba were suffering from fits of hysterical laughter, and in June, another 50 in a middle school near Bukoba were stricken. By the time the laughter died down—having infected some people for as long as 16 days—1,000 people or more had been affected, and a total of 14 schools had been closed down. To this day, no true explanation has been offered for this unsettling series of events.

7 The Kalachi Sleeping Sickness

Speaking of tiny villages beset by inexplicable epidemics, let’s talk about Kalachi, a town in the north of Kazakhstan that was plagued by nothing other than contagious tiredness. Starting in 2013, residents of the town began to slip into a state of deep sleep, almost comatose, where they would remain for days at a time.

About one-quarter of the residents of this tiny settlement have suffered at least one bout of sleeping sickness in the last three years, and scientists are no closer to pinning down a definite explanation.

Many potential causes have been considered and cast aside. Professor Leonid Rikhvanov, a Russian scientist specializing in geochemistry, stated in an interview that he believed the answer could be found in an abandoned, Soviet-era uranium mine that lies near the village.

When speaking of the radon gas which fills the mine, Rikhvanov said that it “could be operating as a narcotic substance or an anesthetic. Currently, the underground space of the mine is flooded and gases are being squeezed to the surface.” However, the Kazakh government was far from convinced by such theories. As recently as last year, they began evacuating citizens from Kalachi, having found no other way to combat the sickness.

6 The West Bank Fainting Epidemic

Bad luck if you’re a student—mass hysteria epidemics seem to have a habit of choosing you as their victim. In 1983, a schoolgirl in the Palestinian town of Arrabah found herself coughing uncontrollably and unable to breath. Shortly afterward, she collapsed, unconscious.

Within hours, other girls in the school were following suit, and within weeks, more than 900 people across several different villages on the West Bank were suffering from identical symptoms. But what was the cause?

Wahid Hamdallah, a former mayor hailing from one of the affected towns, believed he had the answer. He announced publicly that the outbreak was a result of poisoning, a deliberate and malicious attack against Palestine that was orchestrated by the Israeli government.

Of course, in the taut atmosphere of the West Bank, this supposed revelation threw the panic into overdrive. Almost 250 people in Jenin began to suffer from the illness after seeing a car drive through the streets emitting thick clouds of black smoke. They were convinced that they were being poisoned.

But when the CDC investigated the school grounds where the disease had originated, they found only a trace amount of hydrogen sulfide, a gas often produced by poorly kept latrines. Could an unclean lavatory in a girls’ school have caused an outbreak which hit hundreds of people? Or was there something else in Arrabah that day?

5 The Kolbigk Dance Of Sin

Though many of the outbreaks on this list have been from the last few decades, the more distant past was by no means free of strange and inexplicable epidemics. For example, you may have heard of the Dancing Plague of 1518. The events took place in 16th-century Strasbourg, a French city then ruled by the Roman Empire.

On a narrow city street, a woman known as Frau Troffea began to dance fervently and without pause. She carried on for almost six days, unable to stop. But when she finally did, the dancing had spread. Within a week, nearly 40 people were uncontrollably dancing in the street. By the end of the month, as many as 400 people were taking part in this remarkable outbreak and dozens had died from exhaustion or exposure.

However, what you may not have realized is that this famous incident is far from a unique case. Plagues of this nature have been recorded as far back as 1021. That’s when a group of 18 people in the German town of Kolbigk began to dance and chant uncontrollably outside of their church, preventing the local priest from performing his duties.

Furious at their behavior, the priest reportedly cursed the afflicted villagers, claiming that they performed “the dance of sin.” Though fewer people were affected by this outbreak, it lasted far longer—almost an entire year! The scariest thing is that we still don’t really know what caused these dancing plagues.

4 The Pokemon Shock

This is a weird one. In 1997, nearly 700 Japanese children were rushed to hospitals after the broadcast of “Denno Senshi Porygon,” an episode of the popular Pokemon cartoon. This particular event—now referred to in Japan as “Pokemon Shock”—was believed to have been caused by flashing lights and repetitive patterns that were shown during the episode. Experts suspected that this caused epileptic fits in many of the suffering children.

Though it seems ridiculous to claim that a television program could have made people sick, this is actually more common than many people realize. Another example would be the Portuguese soap opera Morangos com Acucar (“Strawberries with Sugar”). In 2006, the show aired an episode in which a potentially deadly virus spread through the characters’ school.

Not long after, viewers of the show began to exhibit symptoms matching those of the fictional virus in the show. This baffled medical experts because it was almost as if the disease had spread from Morangos com Acucar into the real world. These two cases demonstrate how television can be much more dangerous than we realize, especially when science struggles to explain those dangers.

3 The Picardy Sweat

You may have already heard of sweating sickness (aka sudor anglicus in France), a peculiar disease found in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. A great many symptoms were attributed to this outbreak, which affected thousands of individuals.

Everything from paranoia to paralysis was considered a sign of this mysterious illness, which physicians of the time believed had been brought to England by French mercenaries during the War of the Roses. Unlike some of the epidemics mentioned in this list, the sweating sickness was truly deadly, with a mortality rate of almost 50 percent.

What you may not know about this outbreak, however, was that it disappeared and was later resurrected. After a series of prominent sicknesses in the late 1500s, the virus began to vanish rapidly. By 1578, it was completely absent everywhere, having left no trace and no evidence as to what had caused it.

And yet, well over 100 years later, in the Picardy region of France, the sweating sickness returned in earnest. It was immediately apparent that it was the same disease. Medical expert Henry Tidy said that he could find “no substantial reason to doubt the identity of sudor anglicus and Picardy sweat.”

This time, the sickness stuck around until the end of World War I, with a particularly nasty outbreak infecting 6,000 people in 1906. After that, it disappeared from the world once again. With this sickness still a mystery, we had better hope it stays vanished.

2 The Nodding Syndrome

Capable of causing both physical and mental disabilities, the nodding disease is a fearsome epidemic characterized by the seizures suffered by its victims. They are forced to nod their heads convulsively, the spasms so severe that it prevents the infected person from eating or sleeping.

First identified in 1962—of course—the syndrome is currently present in South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, where serious outbreaks have occurred as recently as 2012. Such was the extent of the problem that Doctor Anthony Mbonye, Uganda’s commissioner for health services, opened a series of clinics designed specifically to deal with sufferers of this odd illness.

Though the seizures are uncomfortable and frightening, the true damage of nodding syndrome comes from the stunting of growth. Once victims are infected, they are permanently and completely stunted, both in body and mind. As the disease primarily affects children between the ages of five and 15, this can lead to truly life-altering handicaps for the sufferers.

Though doctors are still far from understanding the cause of the disease, there is some hope. Scientists believe that a link between the syndrome and a species of parasitic worm that is common in the affected areas may provide a possible answer. For now, however, there is no real evidence—and no real cure.

1 Dromomania

In 1886, a man named Jean-Albert Dadas was admitted to a hospital in Bordeaux, physically exhausted and with no memory of how he had gotten there. For most people, it would have been a terrifying event, but for Dadas, this was more or less ordinary.

He often found himself waking up from a fugue, having walked hundreds of miles without realizing it. Once in 1881, he awoke to find that he had walked from France to Russia. Dadas, you see, was a sufferer of dromomania—an inexplicable disease classified as “an uncontrollable desire to travel or wander.”

Sometimes referred to as “pathological tourism” in more recent years, dromomania was a brief and inexplicable epidemic that struck France in the late 19th century. Fascinatingly, the disease vanished just as medical professionals were preparing to study it.

At a psychiatric conference in Nantes in 1909, various academics tried to rationalize the sickness, presenting six or seven different conditions that they believed were the cause of dromomania. The last case of the disease was reported mere months later despite the fact that no actual explanation or cure had been found at the conference. This is a mystery which remains unresolved to this day.

Alex Smith is currently studying English literature and creative writing at Lancaster University in England. He hopes to use the skills acquired during his studies to write excessive amounts of listicles.

While Covid has received global attention due to its high death count and infection rates, it’s still only one of the many epidemics of infectious diseases currently ongoing around the world. Many of them fly under the radar due to being limited to small populations or certain regions of the world, even if some – like the decades-long HIV pandemic – have so far killed many more people than Covid.

10. Salmonella Typhimurium

Salmonella bacteria are usually found in poultry animals like pigs and cattle, as well as some common pets like dogs, cats, and birds. The disease, Salmonellosis, could be contracted by eating infected food products like eggs, meat, and milk, though the effects are relatively mild and go away on their own within a few days.

Currently, we may be in the middle of an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium – one of the two types of Salmonella most likely to infect humans. More than 151 cases have been reported from countries like France, Belgium, Ireland, United States, Norway, and many others. No one has died from the disease, and the outbreak has overwhelmingly affected kids. 

This current wave could be directly linked to products by an Italian chocolate brand called Kinder. So far, they’ve been distributed to over 113 countries, so we don’t yet know the full extent of the outbreak.

9. Polio

Polio was once a serious problem for countries around the world. While wild poliovirus is only found in two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan – over the years, the disease has shown up in countries around the world. While countries like the United States and UK regularly inoculate their populations against the virus, it’s a problem in places with low vaccination rates, particularly in Africa. 

For up to 90% of the people infected with the virus, the symptoms are mild. The other 10%, however, suffer from permanent paralysis, which could even lead to death when their respiratory system gets immobilized. 

Currently, many Polio outbreaks are ongoing in Yemen and a few African countries. In some places – like Afghanistan – vaccination efforts are hindered by armed conflict. There is currently no known cure for the disease, though mass inoculation drives have vastly reduced the global fatality rate over the years. 

8. Measles

Measles is a dangerous, highly-contagious disease that can be fatal. For the survivors, long-term issues could include partial or complete blindness, brain damage, and hearing loss. It’s vaccine-preventable, which has massively improved the survival rate over the years. 

In the past few months, though, health professionals have reported an uptick in the number of cases worldwide. According to WHO and UNICEF, there was a 79% jump in the number of measles cases in the first two months of 2022. As of April 2022, 21 large outbreaks had been reported globally, mostly in the African and east Mediterranean regions.

Many experts worry that this could be the beginning of a global epidemic. As countries around the world divert their mass immunization efforts towards Covid, there’s now a much higher risk of infection from vaccine-preventable diseases like measles. 

7. Monkeypox

Monkeypox is a type of orthopoxvirus transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals like monkeys and rodents. Severe cases have been usually limited to countries in west and central Africa, particularly the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While not as severe as smallpox – which was declared eradicated in 1980 – some recent monkeypox outbreaks have seen a fatality rate of around 3 – 6%, making it one of the deadliest active diseases right now.

Since May, 2022, there has been a worrying rise in cases outside the African regions. As of September 20, 2022, more than 19,800 cases have been reported from multiple countries. While a lot of popular coverage around the disease has been focussed around sexual transmission, monkeypox could also spread by contact with infected objects, like clothes or towels. 

6. Yellow Fever

The current outbreak of yellow fever in Africa was first reported in Nigeria in November, 2020. Since then, cases have been reported from countries in east, west and central Africa, including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and Nigeria, among many others. 

Yellow fever is a vaccine-preventable disease transmitted by mosquito bites. While symptoms are usually not severe and include headache, loss of appetite, and nausea, the infection could spread to the liver and kidneys, causing fever, bleeding from the mouth, nose, or eyes, and even death. 

While the majority of cases are being reported from Nigeria and Ghana, the disease has been difficult to confirm in some regions due to a lack of proper medical surveillance. 

5. MERS-CoV

While SARS-CoV-2 – commonly known as Covid-19 – has been devastating for the world, it’s not the only currently-active coronavirus strain. Cases of MERS-Cov – or the Middle East respiratory syndrome – have been reported since 2012, mostly in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries. So far, the disease has infected over 2,500 people and killed more than 800.

MERS-Cov is a dangerous, highly-infectious acute respiratory disease, much like Covid-19. though it has largely stayed limited to Saudi Arabia and nearby regions. The true origins of the virus are still a mystery, though a few animals – like camels and bats – have been identified as potential carriers.

4. Cholera

Cholera is one of the oldest known viral infections, with some accounts of the disease dating as far back as the 5th century BC. Between 1817 and 1923, six major, devastating outbreaks were reported around the world, though the current, seventh outbreak is by far its deadliest phase. Beginning in Indonesia in 1961, the disease currently infects about 3-5 million people every year. 

Cholera is caused by an infection by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria. While most infections aren’t serious, it could lead to more severe complications and even death in certain cases. Thankfully, the pandemic’s worst days are long over, though cholera is still far from being eradicated. Recent outbreaks have been reported from countries across Asia and Africa, and the worst-affected places are Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Philippines.

3. Hepatitis

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver often caused by a variety of infectious viruses, commonly categorized as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and so on. It’s a serious disease, as some types of hepatitis could lead to other diseases like cancer, and even death. 

Every year, more than a million people lose their lives to hepatitis and related complications, making it deadlier and more widespread than most viral diseases we know of. While that could already be categorized as an ongoing global pandemic, there have also been multiple, localized outbreaks in places around the world. The current wave – spread over 12 countries including Denmark, Israel, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, Belgium, and others – has been particularly deadly for children under the age of five. 

2. Ebola

The Ebola virus is one of the deadliest pathogens we know of, with fatality rates reaching as high as 90% in some outbreaks. It’s also highly-infectious, and it usually spreads by contact with the bodily fluids of someone already infected by it. 

There is no known cure for ebola, and we’re not even sure how it spreads. Some scientists think that the virus is transmitted from bats first, before moving to other animals – like chimpanzees – and eventually human hosts. 

The disease was first discovered in central Africa back in 1976, and since then, there have been many outbreaks spread across a large region in central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo. The current outbreak – beginning in April, 2022 – is the sixth ebola outbreak in the country since 2018. 

1. HIV