Top 5 deadliest diseases known to man

Top 5 deadliest diseases known to man

 

From the History Channel

Recently, Crossrail workers stumbled across human remains near the Barbican in London. DNA confirmed that they were all from plague victims buried about 660 years ago. In 2013, in the same area, twenty-five skeletons were discovered in similar circumstances and with it something far more sinister than the grim remains of twenty-five unfortunate souls. These findings have added weight to the theory that the plague wasn’t bubonic - carried by rats and fleas as we’ve previously believed - but pneumonic, that is to say, spread by coughing and sneezing. These corpses weren’t just chucked into the earth, the care with which they were interred suggests that they are the remains of relatives, friends, loved-ones. In short, people within spitting distance of each other.

It’s certainly more probable than the contemporary belief that witches were spreading plague by poisoning water in wells, but we’re not quite finished yet. Even if the cough-spreading plague is a theory, there are plenty of other pneumonic viruses that most certainly are not. Here’s five guaranteed to make you feel weird.

The Plague

 

It’s still on the list, just in case. And you don’t want it to be. There are three varieties to choose from, all horrific. We’re probably well versed with the symptoms from our school days, first you feel like you’ve a cold then your lymph glands start to swell up, commonly, in the neck, armpit and/or groin area. Chest pains next, trouble breathing, violent coughing, your fingers and lips turn black, vomiting, diarrhoea, blood... When it was at its most virulent in the middle ages it saw off about 60% of London’s population, 50% of Paris and 40% of the population of Egypt. Oh, the virus still kills 2000 people a year. That’s not a theory.

Smallpox

 

This little fella has been around for at least 10,000 years until the disease, according to the World Health Organisation, was irradiated in 1976. Like the plague it is passed from human to human without contact and comes in three flavours, the worst being the Hemorhaggic variety which turns the skin into a cross between bubble wrap and a pebble beach. Death comes in the form of fever, infected skin lesions or haemorrhaging as it strain-name suggests. It’s estimated 300 million people died of Smallpox in the 20th Century but the really big downside is that it’s unlikely the disease has been irradiated and, even if it has, the Russians’ and the USA refuse to destroy their smallpox stocks in case of a bio-terrorist incident, whatever that means.

Ebola

 

"One of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind" according to the WHO. Whilst not, strictly speaking, a pneumonic disease, Ebola can be contracted by coming into non-physical contact with a sufferer, for example, via his foodstuffs or her bedsheets. Similarities with the more grungy symptoms of the plague have led some to believe the Black Death was, in fact, Ebola but it seems unlikely as the disease appears to have arisen from contact with primates. Whilst confined to parts of rural Africa an outbreak in a typical city would be almost impossible to control, largely because early symptoms are similar to any number of other diseases. Putting it another way, if discovered in a London hospital for example, it’d already be too late. There’s no known cure and a 25-90% chance of death if contracted too. One to watch.

Sars

 

Or Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome as it’s hilariously referred to. Not. Only just ten years old this is the youngest of our viruses, though no less aggressive. It could be argued that if the Chinese authorities had alerted the WHO immediately, i.e., not virtually ignoring it for three months, it wouldn’t have been the pandemic it became. Within a few weeks of its outbreak SARS had spread to 37 countries (4 cases in the UK) infecting over 8,098 people and killing 774 of them. Like Ebola the coronavirus (a specific strain of virus that affects the respiratory tract) was contracted from animals. The latest incarnation, known as Saudi Sars, has recently killed 37 people. Finally, it’s worth noting that all coronaviruses spread easily in air between people and, again, there’s no cure. Coronavirus = coroner, then.

Influenza

 

‘I’ve got the flu’. Really? More animal/human related horror in our number one, an epidemic that can spread with terrifying speed as easily as a summer breeze. The sniffles this ain’t. The most notorious strain was the 1918 pandemic known commonly as the Spanish Flu. It only lasted a year yet in that short period killed between 50 and 100 million people, that’s 2.5 to 5% of the world’s population. The initial symptoms were, obviously, flu-like but soon victims would turn blue and embark on violent coughing fits -severe enough to rupture abdominal muscles- producing blood from the mouth, nose, even ears. People were quite literally dropping dead on the streets as lung tissue turned to fluid. Then, as suddenly as it came, it went. It certainly puts the 2010 H1N1 (Swine flu) virus into perspective, that pandemic only killed about 300,000 people, which isn’t too bad when you consider that Spanish Flu was also H1N1.

Still, of the 10 Flu strains left, we’ve always H5N1 (Avian Flu, 375 killed since 2003) H7N9 (a new Bird Flu strain, killed 44 last year) or H7N7 (don’t look behind you) to keep us on our toes, scientists are suggesting that either one could be the next big thing.

Sleep tight; don’t let the bed bugs...Oh.

Jamie Dwelly

 

Poster’s comments: 

1.     There are many such lists of deadly diseases we humans can get.

2.    The diseases are many.

3.    For home type treatment, try keep the ill person as warm and hydrated as you can.

4.    Use over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to control fever if you can.

5.    Remember antibiotic drugs do not kill viruses. They kill bacteria. Now some viral type diseases can prompt bacterial infections.

6.    Always seek professional medical help if you can, and if it is available.