Each BACTERIA That Could Have DESTROYED Human Race!

[00:00:00]Yersinia pestis, the black death.

[00:00:02]Between 1347 and 1352, in just 5 years, this bacteria killed between 75 and 200 million people worldwide. In some regions of Europe, it wiped out more than half the population.

[00:00:17]There is no other event in human history that killed so many people in so little time. The transmission was an invisible nightmare. Fleas living on rats swallowed the bacteria, and when the rat died, they moved on in search of a new host, often a human. A single bite, and Yersinia pestis entered the bloodstream.

[00:00:37]The symptoms were brutal. Within days came extremely high fever, severe headaches, vomiting, and then the buboes appeared. Lymph nodes the size of chicken eggs darkened and swollen in the groin, armpits, or neck. In severe cases, black patches spread across the skin, which is where the name black death came from. Blood vessels ruptured from the inside. Without treatment, the mortality rate reached 90% and here's the detail most people don't know.

[00:01:07]Yersinia pestis still exists. It continues to circulate in rodent populations in Madagascar, Mongolia, and even the southwestern United States.

[00:01:18]Isolated cases happen every year. The difference is that today, antibiotics cure the disease within days.

[00:01:25]I'll admit, researching this genuinely shocked me.

[00:01:29]The bacteria that killed a third of medieval Europe is still out there, circulating among rodents all over the world, waiting. And if this one spread through fleas on rats, the next one is even more democratic. It attacks through the water you drink, the food you eat, and sometimes through the oyster you ordered at a restaurant. Vibrio cholerae, cholera.

[00:01:50]This bacteria has caused seven global pandemics, and the seventh one began in 1961 and is still ongoing today. Cholera kills in a brutal way, through dehydration. Within hours, an infected person can lose more than 20 L of fluid from their body. The bacteria enters through the mouth, usually through contaminated water or food. But, there's a less obvious route that most people don't know, oysters. Raw shellfish harvested from contaminated waters can carry Vibrio cholerae directly into the human intestine. Even in Brazil, outbreaks have been linked to poorly handled in restaurants. Once inside, the bacteria releases a toxin that forces the body to pump fluid [music] out non-stop. The classic symptom, a white diarrhea that looks like rice water.

[00:02:37]Within hours come shock and death.

[00:02:40]Without treatment, the mortality rate reaches 50%. With simple oral rehydration salts, it drops to less than 1%. One of the most lethal diseases in history, nearly tamed by a solution of water, salt, and sugar. But, cholera still kills more than 100,000 people every year, primarily in areas with poor sanitation and in war zones. Yemen recorded more than 1.5 million cases during its civil war between 2016 and 2019. A bacteria that kills through water, the very liquid that should be our source of life.

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[00:03:27]Now, let's keep going because the next bacteria on this list decided more wars than many generals, Rickettsia prowazekii, typhus.

[00:03:36]Known historically as camp fever, prison fever, or most commonly, war fever.

[00:03:42]This bacteria killed more soldiers throughout history than many wars combined. The vector is the body louse.

[00:03:49]In conditions of overcrowding, filth, and unwashed clothing, lice spread rapidly between humans. When a louse defecates while feeding on blood, the rickettsia enters the body through the wound of the bite. The symptoms arrive in waves, [music] extremely high fever, unbearable headaches, red rashes across the skin, and in severe cases, delirium and coma.

[00:04:13]The military history is staggering.

[00:04:16]During Napoleon's campaign into Russia in 1812, typhus killed more soldiers than combat or the winter combined.

[00:04:24]Of the 685,000 soldiers of the Grand Army who entered, only a few tens of thousands ever made it back. In World War I, more than 3 million people died of typhus in the Russian region alone.

[00:04:37]During the Holocaust, it was one of the leading causes of death in the concentration camps.

[00:04:42]Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. Today, antibiotics cure the disease.

[00:04:48]But in conflict zones, refugee camps, and areas with poor sanitation, typhus continues to kill. A disease that decided more wars than many generals.

[00:04:58]And if this one killed en masse on battlefields, the next one kills in silence, slowly, over years. And it's still spreading all over the world.

[00:05:08]Mycobacterium leprae, leprosy. One of the oldest diseases in recorded human history, with references dating back more than 4,000 years. This bacteria doesn't kill quickly. It attacks in silence over years. It invades the peripheral nerves, destroys the sensitivity of the skin, and deforms the face, hands, and feet. The person can no longer feel burns, wounds, or infections. The body deteriorates without them ever noticing. And the cruelest detail, leprosy became a disease of exclusion. For centuries, people with leprosy were exiled to isolated colonies, separated from their own families, considered cursed. Today, with treatment, the cure is complete.

[00:05:52]And the patient stops transmitting the disease within just a few days.

[00:05:56]But the disease is still spreading. And there's a curious natural reservoir right here in the Americas. The armadillo. The bacteria lives in them, and direct contact with armadillos can transmit the disease to humans. A bacteria that has lived alongside humanity for millennia, and is still here, closer than most people realize.

[00:06:16]And if this one hides for years before appearing, the next one strikes within days, and usually comes from the hands of someone you trust. Someone who cooks for you. Salmonella typhi, typhoid fever. This bacteria infects around 9 million people every year, and kills more than 100,000 of them. It's route is simple and disturbing. Fecal-oral contamination. Water, food, or the hands of an infected person. Within days, the person develops high fever, abdominal pain, and severe weakness. In serious cases, the bacteria perforates the intestine and causes septic shock. But the most famous case of typhoid fever has a name. Mary Mallon. In New York in the early 20th century, Mary worked as a cook in the homes of wealthy families.

[00:07:03]She was an asymptomatic carrier. She carried the bacteria without ever getting sick herself.

[00:07:09]And wherever she cooked, people fell ill. Mary infected at least 51 people.

[00:07:14]Three of them died. When the authorities discovered what was happening, she refused to stop cooking. She was forced into quarantine twice, and died in isolation in 1938. She became known as Typhoid Mary. A brutal example of how a single person can spread a deadly bacteria without ever knowing it. Today, antibiotics and vaccines control the disease. But in countries with poor sanitation, typhoid fever continues to kill every single day. A bacteria that travels inside human invisibility.

[00:07:44]And if this one depended on a sick person to spread, the last one on this list can sleep in the soil for over a hundred years waiting for the right moment to strike. And it has already been used as a weapon against civilians.

[00:07:56]Bacillus anthracis, anthrax.

[00:08:00]This bacteria has a characteristic that terrifies both scientists and military experts alike. It forms spores, resistant structures that can survive in the soil for more than a hundred years.

[00:08:11]But its darkest chapter came later.

[00:08:13]Anthrax became a biological weapon. In 1979, in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, an accidental leak from a military laboratory released spores into the air.

[00:08:24]At least 66 people died.

[00:08:27]The Soviet Union only admitted to the accident in 1992.

[00:08:31]In 2001, just weeks after September 11th, letters contaminated with anthrax spores were mailed to senators and journalists in the United States. Five people died. The case became one of the longest investigations in FBI history.

[00:08:46]When inhaled, anthrax spores cause hemorrhagic pneumonia with a mortality rate above 90% without immediate treatment. Even with modern treatment, the inhalation form kills more than half of those infected. I'll be honest, researching this left me deeply unsettled.

[00:09:03]There is a bacteria that can sleep for centuries in the soil, and it has already been used deliberately as a weapon against civilians.

[00:09:12]If you enjoyed this journey through the most devastating plagues in history, hit like, subscribe to the channel, and drop a comment below because every week I bring more videos like this one. And tell me in the comments, which of these six bacteria scares you the most? See you in the next one.