By death toll Ongoing epidemics and pandemics are in bold face. For a given epidemic or pandemic, the average of its estimated death toll range is used for ranking. If the death toll averages of two or more epidemics or pandemics are equal, then the smaller the range, the higher the rank. For the historical records of major changes in the world population, see
world population.
Infectious diseases with high prevalence There have been various major infectious diseases with high prevalence worldwide, but they are currently not listed in the above table as epidemics/pandemics due to the lack of definite data, such as time span and death toll. n child with malaria, a disease with an annual death rate of 619,000 as of 2021. •
Malaria has had multiple documented temporary epidemics in otherwise non-affected or low-prevalence areas. Malaria is commonly spread by mosquitoes. The vast majority of its deaths are due to its constant prevalence in affected areas. An
opportunistic infection, TB is the leading cause of death of those with
HIV/AIDS, and is considered an
AIDS-defining clinical condition. The association between HIV/AIDS and TB has been described as the "TB/HIV syndemic". According to the
World Health Organization, approximately 10 million new TB infections occur every year, and 1.5 million people die from it each year – making it the world's top infectious killer (before
COVID-19 pandemic). In many places of Asia and Africa, hepatitis B has become
endemic. In addition, a person is sometimes infected with both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV, and this population (about 2.7 million) accounts for about 1% of the total HBV infections. There have been many hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemics in history. ==Chronology==