Exploring plagues and pandemics throughout history.

It's an Epidemic

Disease Outbreaks

Medieval Europe had no shortage of diseases, from the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/insane-epidemics-that-threatened-humanity/amber-fua&nbsp;" target="_blank">black plague that killed millions</a> to the bizarre <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/history-of-medieval-sweating-sickness/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">medieval sweating sickness that could kill within hours</a>. But one of the strangest diseases in history has to be the dancing sickness. Afflicted people would dance uncontrollably for days at a time, sometimes until they fell over dead.In the dancing plague of 1518, four hundred people danced in the streets of Strasbourg for months, as the city tried all sorts of cures for the afflicted dancers. When hiring musicians to “burn out” the dancing didn’t work, the city tried banning dancing completely and kicked out all the prostitutes and gamblers. One physician even blamed rebellious women for the outbreak.How did Strasbourg finally end the outbreak of dancing mass hysteria? In a strange turn of events, the&nbsp;cure involved red shoes. The bizarre history of Strasbourg’s dancing plague is baffling. Dancing mania has to rank among the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mass-hysteria-in-history/kellen-perry&nbsp;" target="_blank">strangest cases of mass hysteria in history</a>, as people were literally dancing to death.&nbsp;Keep reading to learn more about the strange medieval dancing plague.

The Lesser-Known Medieval Plague That Literally Caused People To Dance Themselves To Death

General

Genevieve Carlton

The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine might sound like the latest indie band hoping to make it big on the music scene, but it&rsquo;s actually the name of one of the most bizarre medical phenomena ever uncovered in the modern era. Jumping Frenchmen of Maine syndrome, first identified by George Miller Beard in 1880, is still incredibly mysterious and is still confounding to the medical community.

In short, the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine disease - if it can even be called as such - is a startle disorder, and specifically a &ldquo;startle-matching syndrome.&rdquo; Such afflictions cause one&rsquo;s startle reflex to be heightened to shocking proportions, which leads to exaggerated responses to unexpected stimuli. In the case of the Jumping Frenchmen, these responses could include leaping into fires, hurling knives, or even striking one&rsquo;s own best friend.

The Still-Unexplained Phenomenon Of The Jumping Frenchmen Of Maine Disorder

What Is The Jumping Frenchmen Of Maine Disorder?

Stephan Roget

History

From 1485 through the latter part of the 16th century, a new plague –&nbsp;English &quot;sweating sickness&quot; – ravaged England and Europe,&nbsp;killing thousands of&nbsp;people. The fearsome disease had many <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3917436/" target="_blank">names</a> including, &quot;Sudor Anglicus,&quot; &quot;English Sweat,&quot; &quot;the Sweat,&quot;&nbsp;&quot;the Swat,&quot; &quot;the New Acquaintance,&quot; and “Stoupe! Knave and know thy master.&quot; The dreaded sweat, which took its victims in fewer than 24 hours,&nbsp;was more or less localized in England, but it made its way to the European Continent in 1528.The symptoms of sweating sickness not only confused contemporary medical practitioners but their cause also remains a mystery. And, of course, like the dreaded Black Death, sweating sickness was terrifying, deadly, and&nbsp;really, really unpleasant. &nbsp;

All About The 'Other Black Plague' That Caused You To Sweat To Death Near-Instantly

The Gruesome 'Sweating Sickness' That Ravaged Europe in the 1400s

Melissa Sartore

When looking back through human history, one would be hard-pressed to find an era, civilization, or community that has not been impacted by an infectious disease outbreak. From the bubonic plague to influenza to cholera, epidemics and pandemics the world over have come in many shapes, sizes, and death tolls. But sometimes, the death toll alone doesn&rsquo;t reflect <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-do-epidemics-lead-to-social-unrest/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">the true, lasting impact</a> that specific infectious disease outbreaks had on the populations they infected - or those nearby.

So, what was the most significant infectious disease from every century? And what impact did the diseases have on the populations, economies, and environments of the communities they forever altered? And what world was left for the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/pandemic-survival-tips/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">survivors of these pandemics</a>? The answers to these questions, in many centuries, live up to the reputations of their associated infectious diseases.

What Was The Most Significant Infectious Disease In Every Century?

The Biggest Infectious Disease Outbreaks Each Century 

Kellie Kreiss

The dos, don'ts, and steps of survival in likely and highly unlikely, very dangerous situations.

Staying Alive

The Black Death was a devastating epidemic, taking around 50 million lives, or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever" target="_blank">more than half</a> of Europe&#39;s population. After the first major outbreak in 1348, the plague continued to return&nbsp;for centuries, with outbreaks occurring in Europe through&nbsp;the middle of the 17th century. People infected with the plague had a 4-in-5 chance of succumbing to their symptoms, making it one of the most devastating diseases in human history. In the face of the&nbsp;epidemic, medieval <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-medieval-plague-doctors-and-their-methods/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">plague doctors</a>&nbsp;tried -&nbsp;and usually failed -&nbsp;to save lives. Some cities instituted quarantines to stop it from spreading. Venice sent victims to an isolated location called <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-facts-about-poveglia-the-italian-black-plague-island/cheryl-adams-richkoff" target="_blank">Poveglia Island</a>&nbsp;where many spent their final days. Milan&nbsp;sealed up plague victims and their living relatives in their homes.

People who survived the plague inherited a better world, where living standards increased and life expectancy grew higher. In fact, the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-the-black-death-changed-the-world/kellen-perry" target="_blank">effects of the Bubonic plague</a> on modern culture are surprisingly positive. So, how could you survive the plague? While many methods promoted by European doctors didn&#39;t help much, there were several ways to increase your chances of living through history&#39;s worst epidemic.

How You Could Have Survived The Black Plague

How Did People Survive The Black Death?

What It's Like

The Black Death changed the world. As the most profound epidemic in human history, the plague claimed the lives of millions, with nearly half of Europe&#39;s population perishing from the disease. Some feared they were living through the apocalypse amidst the chaotic upheaval, while&nbsp;others turned to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/sex-during-black-plague/kellen-perry" target="_blank">sinful pleasure during the plague</a>&nbsp;to distract from the horror.&nbsp;And as for <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-victims-of-the-black-plague/erin-wisti " target="_blank">what happened to victims of the plague</a>, well, it wasn&#39;t opportune.

Surviving the Black Death wasn&#39;t easy. How did someone&nbsp;protect themselves&nbsp;from it and who did they blame when they&nbsp;got sick? What happened to their&nbsp;body as the infection spread? How did they get <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/medieval-wine-windows/garri-chaverst" target="_blank">their wine amid a horrifying disease</a>? The only certainty was demise; after all,&nbsp;bubonic plague in the Middle Ages didn&#39;t spare anyone: monks and nuns perished alongside mothers and their children, rich men, and even royalty.&nbsp;

Here&#39;s how plague victims lived day to day.

An Average Day In The Life Of A 14th-Century Plague Victim

Medicine

From&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-the-black-death-changed-the-world/kellen-perry" target="_blank">Black Death</a>, which fundamentally transformed the world, to the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/history-of-medieval-sweating-sickness/melissa-sartore " target="_blank">sweating sickness that felled people in hours</a>, medieval Europeans dealt&nbsp;with all kinds of mysterious and agonizing ailments. And here&#39;s another to add to that list: St. Anthony&#39;s Fire.

St. Anthony&#39;s Fire made sufferers&nbsp;feel like their limbs were on fire, and it was caused by <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/botanical-origins-medieval-madness" target="_blank">ergot</a>, a fungus that could infect rye grain. <a href="http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM" target="_blank">Hundreds of hospitals </a>sprung up to offer St. Anthony&#39;s Fire treatments, but no one knew what caused the disease, which made people&#39;s limbs turn black and fall off. For centuries, Europeans wondered: Is St. Anthony&#39;s Fire contagious? Was it sent by God as a punishment? And could anything cure the disease?

One crafty nobleman marketed his cure as &quot;holy grains&quot; (i.e. uninfected grains), but thousands succumbed to ergotism before farmers realized the black cockspurs on rye grains were deadly. And it turns out there&#39;s a connection between St. Anthony&#39;s Fire and LSD &ndash; which might have influenced Renaissance art.&nbsp;

A Medieval Outbreak Gave People Nightmare Hallucinations And Caused Their Limbs To Fall Off

The Dark History of the St. Anthony's Fire Disease

19th Century

Today, pop culture includes vampires of&nbsp;all shapes and sizes, from the lovelorn teenagers of the&nbsp;Twilight&nbsp;and&nbsp;True Blood&nbsp;franchises&nbsp;to the bloodthirsty antagonists of the&nbsp;Blade&nbsp;series&nbsp;to the&nbsp;militant version of&nbsp;Dracula found in&nbsp;Castlevania. All modern vampires can trace their origins to Bram Stoker&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-people-and-events-that-inspired-dracula/nida-sea" target="_blank">Dracula</a>, which was published in 1897, but the aristocratic shapeshifter in Stoker&#39;s novel can trace his origins to diseases that ravaged North America and Europe.&nbsp;

In the 18th and 19th centuries, epidemics like tuberculosis and rabies swept across populations almost unchecked. Since disease and its causes were poorly understood, contemporary medicine offered little help. Facing the very real possibility of a fatal illness, many people turned to superstition for something to blame: vampires.&nbsp;

Here&#39;s the story of how the &quot;vampire panics&quot; of the 1800s -&nbsp;like The Great New England Vampire Panic -&nbsp;inspired the vampire archetype that still scares us today.&nbsp;&nbsp;

How 19th-Century Disease Panic Created 'Vampires' As We Know Them

How 19th Century Disease Panic Created “Vampires” As We Know Them

Jim Rowley

Maps

Maps have the power to change minds, as the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/map-that-convinced-lincoln-to-end-slavery/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">1861 map that convinced Lincoln to end slavery</a> proves. Maps also have the power to save lives. One such map, the John Snow map, single handedly ended a cholera outbreak and revolutionized epidemiology. Dr. John Snow’s cholera map of London charted deaths in the Soho neighborhood during the 1854 cholera outbreak. Snow’s map proved that the outbreak came from contaminated water at the Broad Street Pump.&nbsp;Cholera in London was a horrifying epidemic, made worse by the fact that London routed its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-sewers-of-london/nicky-benson" target="_blank">sewage directly into the Thames River</a>, the city's source of drinking water. Victims of cholera suffered from horrific diarrhea, and the mixing of fecal matter and drinking water was a deadly combination.&nbsp;How did epidemiology start? <a href="http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/victoria.html" target="_blank">John Snow, anesthesiologist</a> to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-facts-about-queen-victoria/tamar-altebarmakian" target="_blank">Queen Victoria</a>, combined investigative reporting and medical analysis in his cholera map, saving lives and earning himself the title of &quot;father of modern epidemiology.&quot; John Snow solved the riddle of cholera as the outbreak struck his own neighborhood.

How One Man's Map Singlehandedly Stopped An Epidemic And Saved Millions Of Lives

COVID-19 fever is still sweeping the nation. Wash your hands. As much as possible, stay home. Don't worry about your roots.

Stay Home

poll

Here is a list of the best movies with disease outbreaks. Are you a fan of movies about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scariest-fictional-diseases-in-movies/mike-mcgranaghan" target="_blank">scary infections</a>,&nbsp; movies about&nbsp;viruses, and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-accurate-pandemic-movies/maggie-clancy" target="_blank">crazy medical pandemics</a>? You might be surprised to find out how many movies were made with disease outbreaks in them. Browse through this list to see the best movies with disease outbreaks. Ranked in order of the most popular movie with disease outbreaks to the least popular, it will be easy to find a great movie to watch that was voted #1. If you see a good pandemic&nbsp;movie that you think should get a top spot, go ahead and vote for it to get it raised higher on the list.

If you don&rsquo;t see your favorite disease outbreak movie listed here, go ahead and add it to the list so that others can enjoy it as much as you have. Movies like Contagion and Virus have a unique plot that leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat and eerily resemble&nbsp;the coronavirus outbreak that started in 2019.&nbsp;But there are numerous good disease outbreak films to see, many of them just as suspenseful and fascinating as the last - and many of them <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-about-historical-illnesses/kellie-kreiss" target="_blank">pretty historically accurate</a> as well.

If you saw a favorite disease outbreak movie a long time ago but can&rsquo;t remember the name, chances are you may find it on this list of the best disease outbreak movies, or this <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-tv-shows-with-disease-oubreaks/ranker-tv" target="_blank">other list of the best disease outbreak TV shows</a>. Then you can possibly stream it on Netflix,&nbsp;rent it, or purchase it and enjoy the movie all over again! So go ahead and look through the list of best movies with disease outbreaks to find either a long-ago oldie or a brand new favorite to enjoy! One thing&nbsp;is certain, the next time you get an infection, you&#39;ll probably start believing you&#39;ve gotten caught up in a terrible new plague. But hey, at least you&#39;ll know how to fight it off!

The Crazies

The Best Movies About Disease Outbreaks

Film

The 100+ Best Movies About Viruses And Disease Outbreaks

Ranker Film

In 1918 and 1919, the world took on a new, invisible enemy: the so-called <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/grim-spanish-influenza-facts/christopher-myers" target="_blank">&quot;Spanish flu&quot; pandemic</a> sweeping the globe. The pandemic left tens of millions of casualties in its wake as it devastated one community after another. Given the scale of the disease, what was it like to live through the influenza pandemic?

A particularly aggressive strain of influenza began infecting WWI troops&nbsp;<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic" target="_blank">in&nbsp;1918</a>. Though there isn&#39;t a consensus on where it came from, it&#39;s likely the strain originated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/flu-epidemic-of-1918/17805" target="_blank">in Kansas</a> and spread to the rest of the world via troop movements.

The Spanish flu 1918 mortality rate differed from city to city, depending on the measures each community took to deal with the outbreak. Ultimately,&nbsp;more people perished in this pandemic than in WWI. In the United States alone,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nws-spanish-flu-1919-lehigh-valley-deaths-20190921-qhwt2kvjqzgpfhkesw2myb2ie4-story.html" target="_blank">around 600,000 lives</a> were claimed.

But the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, even <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/spanish-flu-aftermath/setareh-janda" target="_blank">after it ended</a>,&nbsp;wasn&#39;t just a medical catastrophe - it was also a lived experience. Most people knew at least someone who caught&nbsp;the flu. The epidemic impacted everyday life for Americans, many of whom felt anxious, horrified, and uneasy&nbsp;about the events&nbsp;unfolding before them. These private feelings did not stop them from the mass mobilization required to combat the epidemic, however. Whether stifling a sneeze, volunteering as a nurse, or abiding by quarantines, there was a part to play for everyone.

What It Was Like To Live Through The 'Spanish Flu' Pandemic Of 1918-1919

What It Was Like To Live Through The Spanish Flu Pandemic

Setareh Janda

The San Francisco bubonic plague outbreak was one of the biggest health crises&nbsp;—&nbsp;and controversies —&nbsp;of the 20th-century United States. The plague was&nbsp;a disease most thought had disappeared with the medieval period, but when it resurfaced,&nbsp;it became one of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/insane-epidemics-that-threatened-humanity/amber-fua" target="_blank">worst epidemics in US history</a>.&nbsp;The state of California was forced to contend with an illness not yet entirely understood, as&nbsp;government officials and the press actively covered&nbsp;it up. Not only did they have to pioneer treatments for the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/how-the-black-death-changed-the-world/kellen-perry" target="_blank">bubonic plague</a>, but the entire problem was also wrapped up in anti-immigrant and specifically anti-Chinese racism. Some people even referred to&nbsp;it as the San Francisco Chinatown plague, implying&nbsp;a problem specific to the Chinese residents of the city.&nbsp;But that wasn't the case. Blaming a select group of people meant that the cause itself —&nbsp;flea-infested rats carrying the same strain of plague causing deaths in China —&nbsp;went unaddressed. The San Francisco plague death toll rose, taking the lives of many of the city's underprivileged residents. It wasn't until a second plague swept the city, this time primarily affecting San Francisco's white population and spreading to further areas of the US, that the root cause was identified&nbsp;and put to rest.&nbsp;While modern-day humanity still deals with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-us-flu-seasons/laura-allan" target="_blank">tragedy&nbsp;incurred by the&nbsp;flu</a>, the plague of the early 1900s incited&nbsp;racist tension and social horror simply because of the ignorance of its causes and the inexplicable death it left in its wake.

The Bubonic Plague Ravaged San Francisco In The 1900s—And The Government Tried A Massive Cover Up

Melissa Brinks

Polio reached its apex in the United States in 1952, with <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/salk-announces-polio-vaccine" target="_blank">roughly 58,000</a> new cases of the disease reported. People spent their summers, also called &quot;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162670836/wiping-out-polio-how-the-u-s-snuffed-out-a-killer" target="_blank">Polio Season</a>,&quot; hiding inside, staying away from public swimming pools, movie theaters, and other communal spaces. Parents were so fearful of polio that they even purchased Infantile Paralysis insurance, the name for polio at the time, to protect themselves and their children.

As a disease that afflicted thousands of children, adolescents, and adults each year, polio was devastating and incurable. Polio led to paralysis and, in many cases, death. With no cure available, vaccination was the only real hope.

Polio vaccine history includes some noteworthy names. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-ended-by-cured-diseases/aaron-edwards" target="_blank">President Franklin D. Roosevelt </a>and Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin were essential in the original polio vaccines, with countless <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scientist-test-subjects/robert-f-mason" target="_blank">other researchers</a>, volunteers, and supporters coming together to find relief from the disease. The story of the polio vaccine - its origin, how it was tested, its distribution, and its ultimate success - provides insight into how to combat a pandemic.&nbsp;

While polio-stricken children struggled to survive, scientists worked to develop a polio vaccine. Once identified, collective action on the part of governments, private citizens, and the healthcare community alike facilitated the widespread distribution of the polio vaccine,&nbsp;ultimately&nbsp;reducing instances of the disease exponentially by the end of the century.&nbsp;

What Happened After The Polio Vaccine Was Developed?

Entertainment

Viruses and diseases are on a lot of people&#39;s minds these days. They&#39;ve been on the minds of television and movie creators for a long time, though, as the following famous fictional diseases prove. Movies and television shows have repeatedly&nbsp;used&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-accurate-pandemic-movies/maggie-clancy" target="_blank">contagions of various sorts as part of their stories</a>. Aside from being inherently dramatic, they tap into universal fears of illness and death. In other words, few things hook a viewer more powerfully.

Vote up the fictional diseases in movies and TV shows that you would most want to avoid getting if they were real -&nbsp;which, thankfully, they are not.

The Scariest Fictional Diseases In Movies And TV, Ranked By How Much You Don't Want To Get Them

Mike McGranaghan

The Spanish flu, a misnomer for a strain of influenza that rampaged across the globe in 1918 and 1919, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html" target="_blank">claimed the lives of&nbsp;millions</a> of men, women, and children worldwide. Spanish flu survivor stories reveal the hardships brought on by the virus, from the rural plains of Iowa and Montana to naval vessels out on the open seas.&nbsp;

Individuals who lived through the Spanish flu experienced massive changes to&nbsp;daily life. Diaries, letters, and interviews from&nbsp;influenza survivors bring a very human voice to the devastation of the time. Fear, desperation, and confusion come through in striking form, while the realities of medicine shortages,&nbsp;impossible funerals, and social isolation serve as haunting reminders of how things once taken for granted were suddenly lost.&nbsp;

Firsthand Accounts From People Who Lived Through The Spanish Flu

Firsthand Accounts Spanish Flu Survivors

In the early 1900s, germ theory was a relatively new concept, and many &ndash; including doctors &ndash; were unaware of how&nbsp;diseases spread. At the time,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-who-died-of-typhoid-fever/reference" target="_blank">bacterial diseases</a> like typhoid and dysentery could still wipe out an entire family.

Mary Mallon&nbsp;was an <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/horrible-things-in-ireland-history/philgibbons" target="_blank">Irish immigrant</a> who worked as a cook for affluent New York families. In her wake, she&nbsp;unknowingly&nbsp;left an outburst of&nbsp;typhoid fever, earning her the epithet &quot;Typhoid Mary.&quot; By that&nbsp;time, doctors knew the disease&nbsp;was most commonly spread through excrement, and&nbsp;they were able to trace outbreaks by locating the start of an epidemic and following its spread.&nbsp;

By the time of her first quarantine in 1907,&nbsp;doctors determined that&nbsp;Mallon&nbsp;had infected 22 people&nbsp;and caused the death of a little girl. When she was permanently quarantined in 1915, she had ultimately infected an estimated 51 people, at least three of whom died from the disease. Since no healthy carriers had yet been identified,&nbsp;Mallon&nbsp;refused to believe that she &ndash;&nbsp;a healthy, middle-aged woman &ndash;&nbsp;could possibly be the culprit behind the disease&#39;s spread.

Eventually, public health officials in New York traced the outbreaks to the outwardly healthy&nbsp;Mallon, who landed herself in quarantine for life on <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/strange-history-north-brother-island/bailey-benningfield?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">North Brother Island</a> after numerous fights and blatant refusals.&nbsp;In an almost decade-long battle that struck fear into many city-dwellers&#39; hearts, the legendary lady played a game of disease-riddled cat and mouse with New York&#39;s Public Health division.&nbsp;

The True Story Of Typhoid Mary Is Way Sadder Than You Think

How Typhoid Mary Accidentally Infected The People She Served Food To

Colleen Conroy

Disease Outbreaks lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories