Deadly viruses of all times

Humans have been battling viruses since before our species had even evolved into its modern form. It seems like a new virus that’s trying to kill us pops up somewhere in the world every other day. While the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other health organizations monitor the new corona virus, officials continue to announce the rapid spread of new COVID-19 infections and deaths around the world. All the hand sanitizer, face masks, toilet-paper in the world can’t save us from some of history’s nastiest viruses and the horrifying diseases they cause in humans. Here are five of the most dangerous viruses the world has ever seen.

EBOLA

The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. EVD first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in what is now Nzara, South Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, DRC. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.

The 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The current 2018–2019 outbreak in eastern DRC is highly complex, with insecurity adversely affecting public health response activities.

The virus family Filoviridae includes three genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. Within the genus Ebolavirus, six species have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Taï Forest, Reston and Bombali. The virus causing the current outbreak in DRC and the 2014–2016 West African outbreak belongs to the Zaire ebolavirus species.

MERS

MERS-CoV means Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. It is a zoonotic virus, which means it is a virus that is transmitted between animals and people. Studies have shown that humans are infected through direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels. MERS-CoV has been identified in dromedaries in several countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The origins of the virus are not fully understood but, according to the analysis of different virus genomes, it is believed that it may have originated in bats and was transmitted to camels sometime in the distant past.

MERS is contagious(infectious) from person to person by respiratory droplets, either by breathing airborne droplets, or contact of respiratory secretions with moist membranes of the mouth, nose, and eyes. It is contagious from camel to human via respiratory droplets as well as meat, milk, and urine of an infected animal, even though the animal may not appear sick. The incubation period (the time between infection and start of symptoms) is about five days, but it can occasionally be up range from two to 14 days.

SWINE FLU — h1n1

Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human flu, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human flu, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection.The strains of swine flu rarely pass from human to human. Symptoms of zoonotic swine flu in humans are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness, shortness of breath, and general discomfort.

It is estimated that in the 2009 flu pandemic 11–21% of the then global population (of about 6.8 billion), or around 700 million to 1.4 billion people, contracted the illness — more in absolute terms than the Spanish flu pandemic. Actual fatalities ranged between 12,000 to 18,000. However, 9 members of the CDC estimated 150,000–575,000 possible fatalities worldwide.[3] In August 2010, the World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic officially over. Subsequent cases of swine flu were reported in India in 2015, with over 31,156 positive test cases and 1,841 deaths up to March 2015.

SARS

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin that surfaced in the early 2000s caused by the first-identified strain of the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1). In late 2017, Chinese scientists traced the virus through the intermediary of civets to cave-dwelling horseshoe bats in Yunnan province. No cases of the first SARS-CoV have been reported worldwide since 2004.

Symptoms are flu-like symptoms and may include fever, muscle pain, lethargy, cough, sore throat, and other nonspecific symptoms. The only symptom common to all patients appears to be a fever above 38 °C (100 °F). SARS may eventually lead to shortness of breath and pnemonia; either direct viral pneumonia or secondary bacterial pneumonia. The average incubation period for SARS is 4–6 days, although rarely it could be as short as 1 day or as long as 14 days.

Comparison chart

As we see above , Corona virus seems much more dangerous than the other viruses. Hence, we have to be cautious and much more pro active in order to prevent the number of deaths. As we are in the first and second stages of the disease number of deaths look comparatively less. If proper actions are not taken timely such as precautionary measures, spreading awareness among people, vaccine and treatment , it may result in severe damage.