flu that spread over a large area in 1918
1918 flu pandemic The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus.[1] It infected 500 million people around the world,[2] including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (three to five percent of the world's population),[3] making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.[4][5][6]
Timeline of the SARS outbreak On November 16, 2002, an outbreak of what is believed to be severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began in the Guangdong province of China, which borders on Hong Kong. The first case of infection was speculated to be a farmer in the Shunde district of Foshan County. The People's Republic of China (PRC) notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about this outbreak on February 10, reporting 305 cases (including 105 health-care workers) and 5 deaths;[1] it was later reported that the outbreak in Guangdong had peaked in mid-February, but that appears to be false, as later 806 infections and 34 deaths were reported.[2]