We have been dealing with viruses for a long period of time. As a matter of fact, humans and animals are in a constant battle with viruses and bacteria even before the evolution of what we know today as “the modern world”.
Fortunately, for a large number of viral diseases, vaccines and antiviral medication have helped us to keep infections at bay and for an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus—smallpox—we’ve been able to eradicate it.
However, the winning road against all viruses is quite bumpy. In recent decades, several viruses have jumped from animals to humans and triggered sizable outbreaks, claiming thousands of lives.
For example, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the “largest, most severe and most complex Ebola epidemic” in history, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Over 28,000 people were infected, and 11,000 people died before the international public health emergency ended in 2016.
But there are other deadly viruses out there, lurking around. Some viruses, including the new coronavirus which is currently driving outbreaks around the entire world, have lower fatality rates, but still pose a serious threat to our health as we don’t know yet how to combat them.
Read on to discover the deadliest viruses on Earth.
