Comments

I was disappointed to see neither Malaria nor HIV/AIDS on this list. More than 40 million people are living with HIV (UNAIDS), and 40% of the world's population is at risk for malaria (WHO). Every year, 500 million people are infected with malaria, and a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds (WHO). Although I was impressed that EV71 was included in the list, some of the infectious agents that made your list instead of Malaria and HIV/AIDS hardly warrant consideration as deadly diseases that could be the source of the world's next pandemic. SARS, as you pointed out, was effectively controlled by a focused effort from the global disease prevention community. Furthermore, its CFR (case fatality rate) is 15% and “simple infection control techniques, such as frequent hand washing can go a long way toward slowing the spread of the disease." (WHO, Consensus document on the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)) Ebola, as you pointed out, has several factors that confine it to the area of its local outbreak. The fact that it both must be spread by close contact (normally fluids) and has no clinical latency (it presents right away) means that it remains confined to small, local outbreaks. It would take many extremely significant mutational changes for Ebola to become capable of causing an epidemic. E.coli and Salmonella, while both prominent in the news as significant food-borne illnesses, should by no means be included in a list of the Top 10 "deadliest diseases." While their outbreaks are somewhat widespread because of the risk of contamination inherent in massive food-processing endeavors, these bacteria are not often deadly. In illness-causing SHEC (Shiga-toxin producing E. Coli) infections, "most people get better within 5–7 days" according to the CDC. Similarly for Salmonella, "the illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment." (CDC) Some of the infectious agents included in this list of "Deadliest Diseases" seem to be either not very deadly or unlikely sources of a pandemic. Why are they included instead of Malaria and HIV/AIDS, diseases that are both sources of current deadly pandemics?