The 10 Deadliest Bacteria in History (Ranked by an Infectious Disease Doctor

A billion deaths in two centuries, from a single bacterium. In 2019, one in every eight deaths worldwide was linked to a bacterial infection. These are the ten deadliest bacterial infections in history: from diphtheria and the sled dogs of Nome, to tuberculosis, and a number zero that is still being written, the antibiotic-resistant superbugs. ▶ WATCH NEXT • The 10 deadliest viruses in history, ranked: https://youtu.be/DXDSqNB11W0 • New: every infection in history, ranked by total deaths: https://youtu.be/B3AcrnIn-lA • Tuberculosis, No. 1 on this list, the full 67-minute documentary: https://youtu.be/KuXXpZZZC08 • Part 2: the 10 bacteria that almost made this list: https://youtu.be/gYQ3MZ-E62Q • Plague, number 2 on this list, told in full (Panic in Siberia): https://youtu.be/fZi_fn4J4Lw • More rankings: Strangest Human Infections: https://youtu.be/xZ1HF9Et02I ▶ All the rankings, in order: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLnGgOPgsVAw ▶ Subscribe, a new story every week: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpTUHcYIPQFKx4S6UqMEzLg?sub_confirmation=1 CHAPTERS 0:00 Hook 0:46 No. 10 Diphtheria 1:51 No. 9 Typhoid fever 2:54 No. 8 Syphilis 4:13 No. 7 Rickettsial diseases 5:32 No. 6 Group A strep 6:52 No. 5 Golden staph (Staphylococcus aureus) 8:17 No. 4 Pneumococcus 9:22 No. 3 Cholera 10:28 No. 2 Plague 11:38 No. 1 Tuberculosis 12:25 Number zero: antibiotic resistance NOTE Educational video. It does not replace a medical consultation. The ranking combines historical and current burden: reliable cumulative death counts do not exist for every bacterium, and the video says so. Script reviewed by the channel author, an infectious disease physician. MAIN SOURCES • GBD 2019 AMR Collaborators / Ikuta et al., The Lancet, 2022 (7.7 million deaths associated with 33 bacteria in 2019) • Murray et al., The Lancet, 2022 (antimicrobial resistance, 2019). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35065702 • GRAM / Naghavi et al., The Lancet, 2024 (resistance in 2021 and projections 2025–2050) • WHO, Global Tuberculosis Report and tuberculosis data, 2024–2025 • Paulson, Nature, 2013 (more than a billion deaths from tuberculosis in two centuries) • Benedictow, History Today (Black Death); Faccini-Martínez, Biomédica, 2013 (third plague pandemic) • WHO, Weekly Epidemiological Record (cholera 2025) • Carapetis et al., Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2005 (group A streptococcus) • Semmelweis, 1861 (James Lind Library); Britannica • Emerging Infectious Diseases (CDC), 2023 (typhus in Russia); Bonell et al., PLoS NTD, 2017 • Chen et al., Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2024 (typhoid fever) • WHO, sexually transmitted infections programme (syphilis 2022) • Hektoen International (Albert Alexander; history of typhus); History of Vaccines; CDC; NPS (Nome serum run, 1925) TRANSPARENCY The narration is the voice of the channel author, digitally cloned with ElevenLabs from his own voice. Historical scenes and microscopic organisms are AI-generated illustrations, labeled on screen; they are not photographs or paintings from the period. Maps and graphics are original, made for this video. The music was not AI-generated. IMAGE CREDITS Public domain or Creative Commons archive images, credited on screen; cropped and animated. • The head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) 05 — Korinna — CC BY 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_head_louse_(Pediculus_humanus_capitis)_05.jpg • Portrait of Howard Taylor Ricketts, Wellcome M0014437 — Unknown author — CC BY 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Howard_Taylor_Ricketts_Wellcome_M0014437.jpg • Howard Florey — Brigadier Sidney Smith — CC BY 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Florey.jpg • Map showing deaths from Cholera in Broad Street... Wellcome L0063431 — Unknown author — CC BY 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_showing_deaths_from_Cholera_in_Broad_Street..._Wellcome_L0063431.jpg All other archive images: public domain or no known restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons (Library of Congress, CDC, NIH and others). MUSIC Licensed from Epidemic Sound. #bacteria #historyofmedicine #documentary