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Worldwide Epidemics

A List of Major U.S. and world wide epidemics

Time Line Place Type Outcome
6th Century → Europe → Bubonic Plague → This outbreak combined with those in the 14th & 17th Centuries claim 137,000,000
1332 → India → Bubonic Plague → Origin of the Pandemic
1346-1348 → World Wide → Bubonic Plague →
1348-1351 → Europe, France, Tunis, Norway, Scotland, Prussia, Iceland & Italy → Bubonic Plague →
1485, 1508 & 1517 → England → The Sweat → Brought from Rouen by mercenaries recruited to help Henry Tutor. Death occurred within 24 hours.
1520-1527 → Mexico, Central America, South America → Smallpox → Kills millions of native inhabitants of Mexico. Introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez on April 23, 1520 & was credited with the victory of Cortes over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521. Kills the Inca ruler, Huayna Capac, & 200,000 others & destroys the Incan Empire.
1540 → Southeastern US → “European Epidemic” → Desoto expedition brings to this continent. Killed 75% of the native population
1563 → London, England → Bubonic Plague → Worst outbreak ever, killing an estimated quarter to a third of the population. Subsequent outbreaks in 1578, 1593, 1603, 1625, 1636 & 1665, killing thousands. In terms of proportion of the total population destroyed, the 1563 and 1665 epidemics were the worst.
1592-1596 → New York → Measles → Kills hundreds possibly thousands of Seneca Indians
1617-1619 → North America northern east coast → Smallpox → Killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Indians
1633-1634 → England → Smallpox →
1657 → Boston, MA → Measles →
1674 → Cherokee Tribe → “European Epidemic” → Death count unknown. Population in 1674 about 50,000. After 1729, 1738, & 1753 smallpox epidemics their population was only 25,000 when they were forced to Oklahoma on the Trail Of Tears
1677-1678 → Boston, MA → Smallpox → 1/5 of the town died
1687 → Boston, MA → Measles →
1690 → New York → Yellow Fever →
1692 → Boston, MA → Smallpox →
1699 → Philadelphia, PA, Charleston, SC → Yellow Fever →
1702-1703 → St. Lawrence Valley, NY → Smallpox →
1713 → Boston, MA → Measles →
1721 → Boston, MA → Smallpox →
1729 → Boston, MA → Measles →
1732-1733 → World Wide → Influenza →
1735-1740 → New England → Scarlet Fever & Diphtheria → Hundreds die-mostly children
1736 → Pennsylvania → Smallpox →
1738 → South Carolina → Smallpox →
1739-40 → Boston, MA → Measles →
1747 → Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania & South Carolina → Measles →
1759 → North America → Measles → Predominantly found in the white population
1761 → North America & West Indies → Influenza →
1764 → Boston, MA → Scarlet Fever →
1770’s → West Coast of North America → Smallpox → Kills out 30% of the West Coast Native Americans
1772 → North America → Measles →
1774-1776 → World Wide → Influenza → Extremely severe outbreak
1775 → North America → Unknown Epidemic → Especially affects New England
1781-1783 → Great Lakes → Smallpox →
1783 → Dover, DE → Bilious Disorder → “Extremely Fatal”
1787 → Maine → Scarlet Fever →
1788 → Philadelphia, PA & New York → Measles →
1792-1799 → Charleston, SC, Philadelphia, PA, New Haven, CT, New York NY, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC → Yellow Fever → The outbreak in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793 was the most severe. Ten percent of the population in that city died, about 5,000 people altogether. The new city of Washington DC was under construction at the time, and Philadelphia was the interim capital. Most of the government officials fled the city, including George Washington and the members of his cabinet. Cold weather finally brought an end to the outbreak, in late October.
1793 → Vermont → “Putrid Fever” and Influenza →  500 dead in 5 counties in 4 weeks
1793 → Harrisburg & Middleton, PA → Unknown Epidemic → Many Unexplained Deaths
1793-1794 → Philadelphia, PA → Yellow Fever → Over 4,000 dead
1795 → New York → Yellow Fever →
1796-1798 → Philadelphia, PA → Yellow Fever →
1803 → New York → Yellow Fever →
1813 → Maury Co., TN → Black Tongue → Several Die
1820 → Wisconsin → Measles → Native American Settlements
1820-1823 → North America → Fever →
1829-1833 → Pacific Northwest → Malaria → Kills 150,000 Native Americans
1831-1832 → North America → Asiatic Cholera → Brought by English Emigrants
1832-1834 → New York City, Columbus, OH & other major cities → Cholera →
1837 → Philadelphia, PA → Typhus →
1841 → North America → Yellow Fever → Worse in the South
1847 → New Orleans → Yellow Fever →
1847-1848 → World Wide → Influenza →
1848-1849 → North America → Cholera → 4,000 dead in New York City in 1848
1849 → New York City → Cholera →
1850 → North America → Yellow Fever →
1850-1851 → North America → Influenza →
1851 → Coles Co., IL The Great Plains & Missouri → Cholera →
1852-1853 → North America → Yellow Fever → 8,000 dead in New Orleans that summer
1855 → North America → Yellow Fever →
1857-1859 → World Wide → Influenza → Extremely severe outbreak
1860-1861 → Pennsylvania → Smallpox →
1861-1862 → Richmond, VA → Scarlet Fever →
1861-1865 → → → Epidemics of dysentery, typhoid fever, hepatitis, malaria, smallpox, measles, and venereal diseases. More than three times as many soldiers died of infectious disease than died of battle wounds.
1861-1865 → North America → Typhoid → 187,000 dead.  This is also period of The Civil War
1862 → Florida → Scarlet Fever →
1863 → New Orleans, LA → Yellow Fever →
1865-1873 → Philadelphia, PA, New York, Boston, MA & New Orleans, LA → Smallpox → Same period of time, in Washington DC, Baltimore, MD, Memphis, TN Cholera & a series of recurring epidemics of Typhus, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever
1873-1875 → North America & Europe → Influenza →
1873 → Nebraska → Diphtheria →
1877 → Los Angeles, CA → Smallpox →
1878 → New Orleans, LA & Memphis, TN → Yellow Fever → Last Great Epidemic of Yellow Fever. More than 5,000 fatalities & 25,000 in “crazed flight” in Memphis. 13,000 die in the lower Mississippi Valley
1885 → Plymouth, PA → Typhoid →
1886 → Jacksonville, FL → Yellow Fever →
1890-1892 → Waterbury, CT & Chicago, IL → Typhoid →
1898 → Cuba → Yellow Fever → 5,000 soldiers die of Yellow Fever during the Spanish American War.  Only 968 die in combat.
1899 → Harrisburg, PA → Typhoid →
1900 → San Francisco, CA → Bubonic Plague →
1902-1903 → Maine → Typhoid →
1903 → Connecticut → Scarlet Fever →
1903 → Ithaca, NY → Typhoid →
1905 → Charlottesville, VA → Scarlet Fever →
1915 → New York → Typhoid →
1916 → North America → Polio → 7,000 died & 27,000 cases reported
1916 → Illinois → Typhoid →
1918 → Worldwide → Influenza → 25,000,000 dead
1949 → Nationwide → Polio → 2,720 die & 42,173 cases reported
1952 → Nationwide → Polio → 3,300 die & 57,000 cases reported