List of historical plagues

This list contains famous or well documented outbreaks of plagues or disease. They are examined in individual entries.

Before 1000 A.D.

• Great Plague of Athens (430–427 BC)
  • May have been caused by: Bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, typhus, anthrax, or typhoid^[1][2]
• Antonine Plague (165–180)
  • Cause: Probably smallpox^[3]
• Plague of Cyprian (250)
  • Cause: Probably smallpox^[3]
• Plague of Justinian (541–542)
  • Cause: Bubonic plague^[4][5][6]
• Plague of Emmaus (18 A.H./639 A.D.)
  • Cause: Unknown (possibly bubonic plague)^[7]
• Plague of Constantinople (747–748)
  • Cause: Bubonic plague^[8]

The "Black Death" of 1347–1353

• Great Plague of England (1348–1350)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of Ireland (1348–1351)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of Scotland (1348–1350)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of Russia (1349–1353)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• great plague of asia and middle east

The 1400s and 1500s

• Great Plague of Iceland (1402–1404)
  • Caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague (not bubonic plague, as there were no rats in Iceland)
• Plague of 1575, Italy, Sicily, and parts of Northern Europe (1571–1576)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• London Plague (1592–1594)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague

The 1600s

• Italian Plague of 1629-1631 or Great Plague of Milan (1629–1631)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of Seville (1649)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of London (1664–1665)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague
• Great Plague of Vienna (1679–1680s)
  • May have been caused by: Viral hemorrhagic plague or bubonic plague

1700 and after

• Great Plague of Marseille (1720–1722)
  • May have been caused by: Bubonic plague
• Plague Riot in Moscow (1771)
  • May have been caused by: Bubonic plague
• The Third Pandemic (started in China; 1855–1950s)
  • Caused by: Bubonic plague

Related pages

• Bubonic plague
• Epidemic
• List of epidemics
• Pandemic
• Influenza pandemic of 1918 (Spanish flu)

References

1. Papagrigorakis, Manolis J.; Yapijakis, Christos; Synodinos, Philippos N.; Baziotopoulou-Valavani, Effie (2006). DNA examination of ancient dental pulp incriminates typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 10 (3): 206–214. doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2005.09.001. PMID 16412683.
2. Langmuir, Alexander D.; Worthen, Thomas D.; Solomon, Jon; | display-authors = etal (1985). The Thucydides Syndrome – A New Hypothesis for the Cause of the Plague of Athens. New England Journal of Medicine 313 (16):1027-1030. doi:10.1056/NEJM198510173131618.
3. Stathakopoulos, Dionysios Ch. (2007). Famine and Pestilence in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Empire: A Systematic Survey of Subsistence Crises and Epidemics. Ashgate Publishers Ltd. p. 95. ISBN 978-0754630210.
4. Wichmann I; Grupe G. (2005). "Detection of Yersinia pestis DNA in two early medieval skeletal finds from Aschheim (Upper Bavaria, 6th century A.D.)." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 126 (1): 48–55. PMID 15386257.
5. Harbeck, Michaela; Seifert, Lisa; Hansch, Stephanie; et al. (2013). "Yersinia pestis DNA from Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals Insights into Justinianic Plague". PLOS Pathogens. 9 (5): e1003349. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003349. PMC 364205. PMID 23658525.
6. Bos, Kristen; Stevens, Philip; Nieselt, Kay; et al. (November 28, 2012). "Yersinia pestis: New Evidence for an Old Infection". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e49803. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...749803B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049803. PMC 3509097. PMID 23209603.
7. Dols, Michael W. (1974). "Plague in Early Islamic History". Journal of the American Oriental Society 94 (3): 371–383. doi:10.2307/600071.
8. Kohn, George C. (2007). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present. Infobase. p. 78. ISBN 978-1438129235.