Worst disease of all time

[novawildcat]

I would have to vote for the spanish flu simply because

-it killed 50-100 million people world wide

-mostly killed people in their prime and not the elderly or children

-made people turn so blue/black that they were unrecognizable

-in my home town of philly, we ran out of coffins so we simply piled bodies in the street

[MedicineNutt]

Bubonic Plague wiped out 1/3rd of Europe. i think it was 250 million people killed at the time! (someone correct me here)

The disease continues to haunt innocent souls...

[willthatsall]

The one that had the biggest impact or the one that would be the worst to find out you have?

[MedicineNutt]

it says alltime...^
so im guessin impact

[Zoom-Zoom]

Originally Posted by MedicineNutt

Bubonic Plague wiped out 1/3rd of Europe. i think it was 250 million people killed at the time! (someone correct me here)

The disease continues to haunt innocent souls...

Wiki says about 34 million..still a lot. The 1/3 stat is correct.


As far as modern diseases go, I think ALS is up there...not in terms of impact, but in terms of scaryness/mystery/seriousness

[Vincir]

Speaking of the plague, did anyone watch House this past week?

[Zoom-Zoom]

Originally Posted by Vincir

Speaking of the plague, did anyone watch House this past week?

Let me guess, they save the day by discovering the patient was eating something or had done something that would have been discovered in any routine patient history?

[MedicineNutt]

Originally Posted by Zoom-Zoom

Wiki says about 34 million..still a lot. The 1/3 stat is correct.


As far as modern diseases go, I think ALS is up there...not in terms of impact, but in terms of scaryness/mystery/seriousness

Took the life of a Great American hero...that's all i can say about it

[novawildcat]

Wow

wiki said small pox killed 200-500 million people on the 20th century!

I would have voted for black death, but influenza was able to kill 50-100 million people in just 1 year! It even wiped out 85% of some indigenous populations and depressed the average american life span by about 5-10 years (if i remember correctly).

[Vincir]

Originally Posted by Zoom-Zoom

Let me guess, they save the day by discovering the patient was eating something or had done something that would have been discovered in any routine patient history?

Mysterious sleeping disorder, lesbian drama, questionable ethics over organ donation, and in the end the cause was the plague, gotten from a flea off a dog from the Southwest that the girl returned after a day.

[MedicineNutt]

Originally Posted by novawildcat

Wow

wiki said small pox killed 200-500 million people on the 20th century!

I would have voted for black death, but influenza was able to kill 50-100 million people in just 1 year! It even wiped out 85% of some indigenous populations and depressed the average american life span by about 5-10 years (if i remember correctly).

fortunately it's not as deadly as it used to be...

[pseudoknot]

Lesch-Nyhan disease.

http://www.lndinfo.org/Basics/behaviour.html

[tacrum43]

Originally Posted by willthatsall

The one that had the biggest impact or the one that would be the worst to find out you have?

Hey, it's willthatsall! Long time, no posts. Where ya been?

[PariPari]

malaria, b/c you can get it again & again & again & again & again & then this one kind you can get it, get better, & then boom one day 30 yrs later, get malaria again
plus we had to read this paper for a class & it says malaria (& AIDS) are major reasons for poverty & underdevelopment

[anon-y-mouse]

Originally Posted by Vincir

Speaking of the plague, did anyone watch House this past week?

Yes! On the same day, QUITE COINCIDENTALLY, this story broke out in the news:
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-shawnp...ll=ktla-news-1

[Zoom-Zoom]

Originally Posted by MedicineNutt

fortunately it's not as deadly as it used to be...

Yeah that's what we think...is any else a little paranoid about this bird flu thing? I am

[novawildcat]

Too bad they don't give us small pox vax to us like they gave our parents. All it takes is 1 infection and our generation will be wiped out. Malaria is also really bad, i remember someone giving a presentation in bio lab and they said it still kills 3 million people every year.

the bird flu is scary. it never goes away. the lastest outbreak, if i remember, was in the 50's or 60's and it killed about 50,000- 100,000 in the US. It is about time we had another outbreak.

[willthatsall]

Originally Posted by tacrum43

Hey, it's willthatsall! Long time, no posts. Where ya been?

Oh, I've been lurking around, I just had to take a hiatus from posting for a bit cuz I was busy and waste too much time on here. But now I'm back, ready to waste more time.

[OctoDoc]

I interpreted the polls' question a little closer to home. Ebola. At least I have a shot at living with the others.

[radioh3ad]

Originally Posted by anon-y-mouse

Yes! On the same day, QUITE COINCIDENTALLY, this story broke out in the news:
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-shawnp...ll=ktla-news-1

haha yea i noticed that too.

"the number of ways self-injury can occur is limited only by the creativity of the patient and the available of opportunities."

from the Lesch-Nyhan website

[dnw826]

There is actually quite a good book on the Black Death called in the Wake of the Plague by Norman Canter, I believe (could be wrong on the author). The death stats are staggering, especially if you take them into consideration of the population at the time. Some areas had upwards of 95% mortality.

Not something I would want to have around...

[Dr. Pepper]

Originally Posted by OctoDoc

I interpreted the polls' question a little closer to home. Ebola. At least I have a shot at living with the others.

Though all of the diseases mentioned are pretty fatal, I still think Ebola is the deadliest. The only reason why Ebola hasn't killed as many as the others is because it had to be contained by BURNING people alive in order to get rid of it.

Seriously, read up on it and you will be scared to death of this thing.

My vote goes for Ebola....damn African monkeys and their diseases!

[jebus]

2 billion people are currently carriers of TB.
There's a reason you have to get that test where they shoot a bolus of love under your skin any time you want to volunteer at a hospital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis

[2Sexy4MedSchool]

The absolute worst disease EVER, ANYWHERE, would have to be love. Consider the facts:

1) Jillions of broken hearts -- the most common cause of bad poetry, crappy songs, Goths and bad letters of recommendation;

2) No vaccine. Even coming down with it provides no immunity against future exposure (unless you're a bitter old man/woman with 25 cats in a one bedroom apartment);

3) No treatment can mitigate symptoms. "Time heals all wounds"?! WTF?

4) Number one leading cause of PDAs.

[MacGyver]

The hemorrhagic fevers, especially Ebola or Marburg are the worst diseases to get.

With the other stuff like plague or influenza, we ahve drugs that work pretty well.

With the hemorrhagic fevers, if you get sick you are dead and there isnt a damn thing you can do about it

Fortunately the hemorrhagic fevers are spread only by close personal contact and are not airborne. Most of the people in africa got it because they would wash the dead bodies with their bare hands.

Another rare disease thats truly awful is the Naeglera Fowleri or Acanthamoeba. You get these bugs by swimming in fresh water lakes, say Lake Michigan. The bugs penetrate your cribriform plate into your brain and you are dead within a few days. Not a damn thing anybody can do about it either.

[LabMonster]

If someone were to engineer the perfect disease - HIV would be it's precursor. It's stealthy, often taking years before diagnosis, allowing multiple transmissions. It makes the infected vulnerable to EVERY other pathogen. Oh yeah, we can't figure out how to stop it either.

The only thing it doesn't have: Airborn transmission.

[colt]

I believe the worst is HIV/AIDS. There are over 25 million dead and 40+ million living with it. About 5 million people are contracting the disease per year, and from what I've read, most scientist are guesstimating a cure 50-75+ yrs from now. And to think, all this happens in the face of modern medicine.

[LizzyM]

The worst disease of all time in terms of mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 in the population per year) has to be the Black Death. Wiping out a third of the population of a continent is no small feat. AIDS may accomplish the same thing in Africa in the twenty-first century but it is treatable and its tranmission is understood and controlable.

Leprosy and TB are but treatable today but were psychologically horrifying in their day because its victims were put out of their communities and made to live apart in leprosariums and TB sanitariums that were virtual prisons.

The hemorraghic fevers often kill their victims before the disease can be spread to others so each outbreak tends to burn itself out.

Malaria causes significant morbidity and mortality but it is not stigmitizing nor feared as much as many of the others.

[novawildcat]

I guess when I made the poll i wanted people to think about the disease in

1.) the historical context in which it was prominent

2.) how long did it take to kill off X number of people

3.) how easily is it spread

4.) how many people did/does it infect

5.) social impact/psychological impact of the disease

I see leprosy gets no love, but maybe it really is the worst disease becauase it doesn't kill you as quickly. I remember attending a seminar given by an infectious disease specialist and he had slides of people who had leprosy that he had encountered. I remember seeing one guy with basically half his face rotted off.

[Depakote]

I'm going to have to go with the Spainsh Flu from a World Health Standpoint. The fact is, it could pop back at any time and thin the heard again and there wouldn't really be anything we could do about it, it's just so damn transmissible. We got very lucky back in 1918.

AIDS is a close second, as lab monster pointed out, if it mutates to Airborne transmission, we're boned. But at this point, while it's not in check, it's not a potential species killer.

Ebola is nasty. But it just hasn't done enough damage. Partially because it kills too fast.

[modelslashactor]

Why aren't more people giving smallpox its props? It knocked out nearly all the native americans and you could make a strong argument that it single-handedly kept our population in check for hundreds of years (notice that with it gone, the world is adding 1 billion people every 10 years)

[NonTradMed]

Originally Posted by modelslashactor

Why aren't more people giving smallpox its props? It knocked out nearly all the native americans and you could make a strong argument that it single-handedly kept our population in check for hundreds of years (notice that with it gone, the world is adding 1 billion people every 10 years)

I voted for smallpox! But I think the fact we erradicated it the human race prevents people from putting it on their 'worst disease' list.

[Gut Shot]

Let us not forget the worms. Worldwide, the infection stats are as follows:

Total - >3.5 billion
Roundworm - 1.47 billion
Hookworm - 1.3 billion
Whipworm - 1.05 billion

And if you doubt power of the worms, please look here.

Note: While the linked image is medical, and thus technically work/school safe, it could easily be... misinterpreted.

[modelslashactor]

Havarti, you just ruined my breakfast.

[Thundrstorm]

I guess it depends on your definition of worst.

I would think HIV/AIDS for sheer loss of life and potential loss of life in the future, plus the tie-ins with with economic issues, leaving a generation of orphans, and relationship to increased occurrence of other diseases (e.g. multi-drug-resistant TB). Despite the vast amt. of research going into HIV treatments, at the heart of the problem is that HIV (like many infectious diseases) disproportionately affects the world's poor, and good science is not sufficient to tx it; there has to be a combination of education, prevention, and cooperation b/t nations, drug companies, scientists, and NGOs to get affordable, practical treatments to the places that are most affected. Sure, people who can get optimal tx might live for decades, but the multiple drug cocktail, take with food, must refrigerate kinds of drugs are not gonna solve the problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. For this reason, and because HIV is complicated by other issues of poverty, corruption, and war/unrest, I believe that HIV/AIDS will continue to be THE major public health problem on a global scale.

Which is the worst to have? My vote goes for Ebola. Up to a 90% mortality rate, and you die bleeding from every orifice, with your organs liquifying, spewing up black vomit, along with other nasty side-effects like sloughing of your gut. But as LizzyM pointed out, it is really "too good" at its job, and is not an efficient pathogen because it kills too quickly to spread to epidemic proportions.

[captaintripps]

http://www.reviewingaids.org/awiki/index.php/Main_Page

[riceman04]

I think it is important to consider diseases that continue to thrive despite major advances in modern medicine. Diseases like the Spanis Flu and Bubonic Plague (which becomes contagious only after it turns into the pneumonic plague) are easily controlled, and thus relatively non existent.

But diseases like Ebola and especially HIV/AIDS are crazy and almost ensure death.

[browniegirl86]

Originally Posted by Zoom-Zoom

Yeah that's what we think...is any else a little paranoid about this bird flu thing? I am

YES. Only because 2 years before it was in the news, every single one of my micro/pub health teachers talked about how "it's only a matter of time before the Spanish Flu happens again" and "there are already new strains in birds, as soon as they can spread to and between people we will see a pandemic the likes of which the world has never seen."

It's going to be so much worse this time because of the "global community" and whatnot.

[don juan]

It has to be Aids. Out of the all the diseases listed Aids is the only one where those infected with the virus can't be readily detected and isolated from society. Infected people can live for years and pass on the virus to others before they even know they have it. Aids is much quieter and grows more slowly than the other diseases but nevertheless it's histories most potent epidemic.

[Depakote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

[don juan]

Originally Posted by LabMonster

If someone were to engineer the perfect disease - HIV would be it's precursor. It's stealthy, often taking years before diagnosis, allowing multiple transmissions. It makes the infected vulnerable to EVERY other pathogen. Oh yeah, we can't figure out how to stop it either.

The only thing it doesn't have: Airborn transmission.

The fact that it doesn't have airborn transmission is actually a good thing from the perspective of the virus. No airborn transmission means it's unable to be contained and eradicated. Airborn diseases will kill a large number of people initially but over time they become contained and eventually go away. Aids works more slowly but over time will kill many more people than the major airborn illnesses. Kind of like financing a car: paying $300 per month seems like so much less than paying $30000 up front, but over time they end up soaking you for way more than thirty thou.

[punkindrublic]

TB.

It's killed untold billions through the course of history (inc. over 2 million annually today) and 2 billion are carriers. Perhaps the worst part is that here in Boston, a full course of meds to treat LTBI (the precursor to disease) is a whopping $27. It's not as sexy as HIV or Ebola, but over the course of history it's impact has eclipsed anything mankind has ever encountered.

[Shredder]

Originally Posted by MedicineNutt

Bubonic Plague wiped out 1/3rd of Europe. i think it was 250 million people killed at the time! (someone correct me here)

The disease continues to haunt innocent souls...

haww yeah im with you, i cant believe all these ppl voting for AIDS. plague was just terrifying, AIDS at least can be avoided to a large extent. ppl tend to be biased towards their own eras--AIDS for us. dunno about continuing to haunt ha, but it certainly had its day

[Hoberto]

If you want to read more about these diseases and how public health is vital in containing them, encouraging the search for vaccines (and rarely, cures) and so much more, I recommend this book, Betrayal of Trust: the Collapse of Global Public Health by Laurie Garrett. It is a big eye opener and has led me to seriously consider working in Public Healthi n the future.

[colt]

In the grand scheme of things, HIV/AIDS isn't a problem for the heterosexual population in the USA. If you look at the transmission rates from male to female or female to male, it is very difficult to pass on and would probably wipe itself out if not for the gay community(male to male).---not trying to blame any specific community though.

[maver1ck84]

ebola hands down..it's not even a contest.

[Law2Doc]

Is cancer not a choice? Heart disease? These are the big killers these days, not freak pockets of ebola.

[Thundrstorm]

Originally Posted by Law2Doc

Is cancer not a choice? Heart disease? These are the big killers these days, not freak pockets of ebola.

I think what the OP really meant was worst infectious disease. You're right of course that heart disease is a big killer, but infectious diseases account for something like 5 of the top 10 causes of death worldwide (respiratory infections, AIDS, TB, Malaria, diarrheal diseases).

[Law2Doc]

Originally Posted by Thundrstorm

I think what the OP really meant was worst infectious disease. You're right of course that heart disease is a big killer, but infectious diseases account for something like 5 of the top 10 causes of death worldwide (respiratory infections, AIDS, TB, Malaria, diarrheal diseases).

I don't know -- by saying "worst disease of all time" the OP seems to be including the pervasively long term stuff too. All these infectious disease epidemics come and go, wreaking havoc for "relatively short" periods of time. Our grandparents didn't have AIDS, ebola, etc. Only the chronic stuff affects generation after generation.

[NapeSpikes]

Originally Posted by modelslashactor

Havarti, you just ruined my breakfast.

You don't like spaghetti?