Not Corona, These are the 10 Most Deadly Viruses in the World
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Healty - Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) proves that the majority of Covid-19 patients spread throughout the world are declared cured.
Data on March 15, 2020 states that the Covid-19 infection rate reached 157,476 people in 155 countries. The death rate is 5845 people, while the cure rate reaches 75,953 people.
Virologically, the type of corona virus that causes Covid-19 disease, SARS-CoV-2, is not too deadly.
There are at least 10 other viruses that are more deadly than that, as reported by Live Science, which is as follows:
1. Marburg
Scientists discovered the Marburg virus in 1967, when a small-scale outbreak broke out among workers in Germany. They are infected by monkeys brought from Uganda.
The Marburg virus is similar to Ebola, which causes high fever. This very high fever often causes shock, organ failure, then death.
The death rate in the first outbreak even reached 25 percent. However, in 1998-2000, the death rate reached 80 percent during an outbreak in Congo.
2. Ebola
The first Ebola outbreak in humans is known to occur in Sudan and Congo, precisely in 1976. Ebola is transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluids, as well as direct contact from infected people or animals.
JOHN WESSELS / AFP
There is more than one type of Ebola virus, and the level of danger varies. This was explained by Elke Muhlberger, an Ebola virus expert at Boston University.
He explained that one type of virus, namely Ebola Reston, did not make people sick. However, the type of Bundibugyo has a mortality rate of up to 50 percent, even up to 71 percent during an outbreak in Congo.
3. Rabies
Even though in the 1920s the rabies vaccine was discovered, there were still very many cases in India and Africa.
"The rabies virus destroys brain cells. The disease is very, very severe, "said Muhlberger.
We have antibodies to fight rabies. However, if the animal is not vaccinated against rabies and is infected with a virus, then it bites us, "It's almost certain 100 percent of you will die," he continued.
4. HIV
In today's modern world, HIV can be the most deadly virus. An estimated 32 million people have died of HIV since the disease was first discovered in the early 1980s.
"HIV is one of the most sadistic killers," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert for the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Antiviral drugs that have been created allow a person to live for years despite being infected with HIV. However, in some poor countries, HIV infection is still very high.
WHO states that in poor and under-developed countries, HIV infects 95 percent of the population. As many as one in 25 Africans are HIV positive.
5. Smallpox
In the 1980s, the World Health Assembly declared "a world free of smallpox". However, before that, humans have been fighting this virus for thousands of years.
Smallpox kills one in three people who are infected. Smallpox fighters often survive with permanent injuries and blindness.
Death rates in countries outside Europe are higher. In the 20th century alone, smallpox killed 300 million people worldwide.
6. Hantavirus
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) first became a concern in the United States in 1993. At that time, a resident and his partner living in the Four Corners region died of breathlessness.
A few months later, medics found hantavirus from mice that lived in the house.
Now more than 600 people in the United States are affected by HPS, with a mortality rate of 36 percent based on the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
The virus is not transmitted between people, but from infected mouse droppings.
7. Influenza
During the flu season, more than 500,000 people worldwide die of influenza virus. However, sometimes some types of influenza viruses spread faster, resulting in higher mortality.
8. Dengue
The dengue virus first appeared in the Philippines and Thailand in the 1950s. This virus lives in tropical regions, including Indonesia, and is transmitted through the Aedes aegepti mosquito.
Every year, dengue infects 50 to 100 million people worldwide. In Indonesia, dengue continues to plague year after year.
9. Rotavirus
Rotavirus is a major cause of severe diarrhea in infants and children. This virus also spreads very fast. In poor countries, the death rate due to rotavirus is very high due to patients who are dehydrated.
WHO estimates that 453,000 children under the age of five died from rotavirus in 2008.
10. SARS-CoV
The virus that causes respiratory distress, or SARS, was first discovered in 2002. This virus is different from SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19 which is currently spreading.
WHO said, this virus first emerged from Guangdong Province, China. After the epidemic in China, this virus then spread to 26 countries.
This disease causes fever, joint pain, and pneumonia. The mortality rate due to this disease reaches 9.6 percent, and so far there is no vaccine.