{"id":12126,"date":"2025-04-22T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T02:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/?p=12126"},"modified":"2025-03-06T08:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T14:12:35","slug":"what-are-the-deadliest-infectious-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/what-are-the-deadliest-infectious-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the Deadliest Infectious Diseases?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deadliest Infectious Diseases<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no such thing as a good disease but some are worse than others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The list of diseases below is all infectious, all frequently fatal, and all very, very unpleasant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The order reflects a mix of how deadly they are and how horrific the symptoms are.<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Influenza (Flu)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To most people, flu is a pretty unpleasant illness contracted 2-3 times in a lifetime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest reason to fear influenza is its ability to combine and mutate to form new strains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main fear would be that a super-virulent strain could combine with a highly transmissible strain.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. HIV\/AIDS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Human immunodeficiency virus infection \/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV\/AIDS) works by effectively destroying the body\u2019s defenses to any number of other diseases and infections.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is still no cure or vaccine and until very recently, no effective treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

New treatments with antiviral drugs have increased life expectancy greatly for those with HIV.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it is the ever-changing nature of the HIV that makes it so difficult to combat.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Tuberculosis<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Tuberculosis can affect any part of the body<\/span><\/p>\n

TB is highly contagious and easily spread through airborne droplets, e.g. a sneeze.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuberculosis kills around 1.5 million people worldwide every year, second only to malaria.<\/span><\/p>\n

The disease primarily affects the lungs but can affect any part of the body.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most common initial symptoms are coughing up blood followed by rapid weight loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the disease progresses, large areas of the lungs are necrotized and turned into a cheese-like substance.<\/span><\/p>\n

In extreme cases, the infection can erode into the pulmonary artery of the lung, risking the patient drowning in their blood.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many cases of TB are now treatable with antibiotics, new resistant forms are emerging, once again sweeping the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Anthrax<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Anthrax is a bacterial infection that in most forms is lethal.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are three ways in which a person can become infected, and this is very important to how the disease progresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most lethal way is by inhalation. If not treated, this is invariably fatal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthrax can be ingested, often through infected meat. The initial symptoms of this form include vomiting blood and extreme diarrhea.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bacteria can also spread through broken skin. This causes a dark ulcer and may result in the whole limb becoming very inflamed.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, death is rare as the pathogen cannot penetrate beyond the skin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Something deadly attracted the military, and anthrax was weaponized by both the US and Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bioterrorism is also a possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Cholera<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cholera is one of the most infectious diseases and is easily passed through contaminated food and water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cholera kills through rapid dehydration. The symptoms are non-stop vomiting and diarrhea until you can\u2019t anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is tragic about the disease is that it is very cheap and easy to treat with fluids and electrolytes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most virulent strains of cholera can kill within 2 hours if the patient is left untreated.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. MRSA (Necrotizing Fasciitis)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to give it its full name is particularly scary as it renders modern medicine ineffective.<\/span><\/p>\n

MRSA is more than just a skin infection, it has been known to kill within 24 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

MRSA infections have one thing in common. They are resistant to a wide range of the most commonly used antibiotics that are available to mankind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conditions associated with MRSA include:<\/span><\/p>\n

Necrotizing fasciitis\u00a0 \u2013 a flesh-eating condition affecting deeper layers of the skin.<\/span>
\nToxic shock syndrome\u00a0 \u2013 is a systemic infection that can be fatal.<\/span>
\nNecrotizing pneumonia \u2013 flesh-eating infection of the lungs.<\/span>
\nOsteomyelitis \u2013 a painful bone infection.<\/span>
\nSepsis \u2013 a potentially fatal infection of the bloodstream<\/span>
\nEndocarditis \u2013 infection of the heart<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Rabies<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Rabies is invariably fatal if not treated immediately after being bitten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabies first infects the central nervous system and ultimately causes disease in the brain leading to death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Symptoms include acute pain, violent movements, uncontrolled excitement\/mania, and hydrophobia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the best-known symptom though is the foaming of the mouth caused by the excessive production of saliva.<\/span><\/p>\n

The incubation period for rabies varies greatly from a few days to several years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, once symptoms begin, death occurs within 2-10 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabies can be carried by any warm-blooded animal, but in the vast majority of cases, it is a bite from a dog that is the source.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Smallpox<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Smallpox is possibly the most horrible looking of any disease. The classic symptom is the body being covered in pox, fluid-filled pustules.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t limited to the skin, either it can occur in the mouth and throat.<\/span><\/p>\n

The number of deaths is high though because smallpox is incredibly contagious.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Bubonic Plague<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If any disease can evoke pure terror, then it is Bubonic Plague.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responsible for the Black Death, which swept Europe in the Middle Ages, killing an estimated 100 million people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plague is spread by bacteria carried by rat fleas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Symptoms occur within 2-5 days of a bite;\u00a0 initially, the lymph glands nearest the flea bite swell up like golf balls (buboes).<\/span><\/p>\n

Further symptoms include cramps, seizures, and even vomiting blood.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Ebola<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ebola is highly contagious with evidence that it can be spread via air. There is no treatment. There is no vaccine.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ebola virus trumps any current disease to become the deadliest infectious disease on the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Infection with Ebola starts with pain practically everywhere;\u00a0 joints, muscles, abdominal cramps, and headaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ebola interferes with the blood\u2019s clotting mechanism and bleeding may occur from every orifice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inevitable death is usually caused by multiple organ failures and internal tissue necrosis.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deadliest Infectious Diseases There is no such thing as a good disease but some are worse than others. The list of diseases below is all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"What are the Deadliest Infectious Diseases? - Medical Topics and Health Issues","description":"Deadliest Infectious Diseases There is no such thing as a good disease but some are worse than others. The list of diseases below is all infectious, all frequen"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medical-topics","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/medical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}