Monkeypox claims its first victims outside of Africa

Staphylococcus aureus, terror of hospitals Staphylococcus aureus Staphylococcus aureus is not an inherently dangerous bacterium for mankind. Most of the time, it only causes small, mild infections. But this cunning woman sometimes hides in hospitals and takes advantage of an injury to insert herself into a weakened patient to colonize him and cause sepsis. There’s always time to put her on antibiotics… but she’s becoming increasingly insensitive to the drugs that oppose her and develops a growing resistance! © NIAID, Flickr, cc by 2.0

Neisseria meningitidis, the main cause of meningitis Meningitis knows not one, but many culprits. Among the most serious bacterial forms, the main culprit is Neisseria meningitidis, implicated in 90% of cases. If there were no treatments, the infection would almost certainly be fatal. Despite antibiotics, one in five newborns and one in four adults succumb to this infection of the meninges. © Sanofi Pasteur, Flickr, CC by-nc-nd 2.0

Hepatitis B virus, this terribly infectious STD We talk less about it than about HIV, but it deserves our full attention. The hepatitis B virus is transmitted a hundred times better than the AIDS virus during sexual intercourse and then attacks liver cells. Most of the time, the disease does not progress much and the patient does not feel anything. But sometimes hepatitis becomes chronic, as in more than 300 million patients, and gradually destroys liver cells, leading to cirrhosis or liver cancer, which is very difficult to treat. © Sanofi Pasteur, Flickr, CC by-nc-nd 2.0

The rabies virus, the bite that causes carnage Thanks to the work of Louis Pasteur, rabies has clearly decreased in the world. There are still more than 50,000 human deaths on the planet in 2004 due to the virus of the rhabdoviridae family. Transmitted by bite, it rushes directly to the nervous system and wreaks such havoc that death is almost inevitable. Fortunately, the vaccines are there! © Sanofi Pasteur, Flickr, CC by-nc-nd 2.0

Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for plague epidemics Who does not remember those history lessons that evoked the plague epidemics in the Middle Ages? Behind all this lies Yersinia pestis, a bacterium that first attacks rodents before attacking humans. The disease that most often exists in bubonic form (a bubo is an inflamed and enlarged node), can evolve into septicemic plague and become more deadly and more contagious. In the history of humanity, its mortality is difficult to assess but it is very likely that it is responsible for more than 100 million victims. © NIAID

Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax Anthrax, or anthrax, is caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis, or anthrax. In most cases, it enters the body through a break in the skin. Then the body manages to get rid of it on its own. On the other hand, when the spores of the bacteria are swallowed or inhaled, it’s a completely different story. By air, it is not far from being fatal in 100% of cases. That’s why it inspires bioterrorists so much. © Janice Haney Carr, CDC

Hantavirus and its terrible pulmonary syndrome Hantaviruses are a bit different from the other pathogens featured in this slideshow: they prefer to attack rodents but sometimes, unfortunately, they can infect a human. In these cases, your action can be overwhelming. Causing hemorrhagic fevers or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, they are sometimes very aggressive and commonly fatal. The Sin Number virus, or Sin Number virus (SNV), which we see in the image, attacks rarely, but surely. © Brian et al., CDC

The Marburg virus, a real killing machine The Marburg virus is designed to kill, but it’s still slightly less deadly than its cousin Ebola. This filovirus, which also causes hemorrhagic fevers, kills more than 80% of the people it infects. However, its transmission from man to man is relatively difficult since it requires very close contact between individuals, with transmission through feces, vomit, urine or saliva. © Frederic Murphy, CDC

Dengue virus gains ground It’s far from the deadliest and most pathogenic on this list, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. The dengue virus, transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, infects between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. For 500,000 people, especially children, the disease takes a severe form that kills 10,000 souls. Biggest problem: it has been increasing in recent decades. What before 1970 was limited to nine countries now affects a hundred states. © Sanofi Pasteur, Flickr, CC by-nc-nd 2.0

Ebola, the virus with the highest mortality? Known since 1976, the Ebola virus, named after a Congolese river, is one of the deadliest. Some of its strains cause hemorrhagic fevers that kill in 90% of cases. This virus has caused several epidemics in Africa, especially in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, claiming several thousand victims. Unfortunately, there is no preventive or therapeutic treatment against this terrible scourge. © Frederic Murphy, CDC

The Spanish flu virus, that devastating epidemic of 1918 The year 1918 was very deadly, on the one hand because the fighting was still taking place in Europe and even beyond, on the other hand because a particularly virulent strain of H1N1 flu spread throughout the world. It would have infected one in two Earthlings, or 500 million people at the time, and claimed between 30 and 100 million victims, according to estimates. A veritable weapon of mass destruction… © Terrence Tumpey, CDC

Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that poisons botox Clostridium botulinum has its own technique for committing its murders: the bacterium prefers poisoning. In fact, it produces one of the most powerful toxins in the world, botulinum toxin. This molecule resists the high temperatures and acidity of the digestive system, so when ingested, it enters the circulation and blocks nerve communication, sometimes leading to fatal paralysis. © CDC

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the deadly agent of tuberculosis Having become rare in France as in rich countries since the introduction of BCG, tuberculosis nevertheless continues its murderous work throughout the world. In 2010 alone, the responsible bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infected 8.8 million people and killed 1.4 million of them by attacking their lungs. The bacterium has existed for 3 million years. © Janice Haney Carr, CDC

Virus A H5N1, at the origin of the flu that shakes the world Appearing in 1997 in Hong Kong, it was just 9 years after the H5N1 flu sent the entire Earth into a panic. The virus (here in gold on dog cells), transmitted to humans only by infected birds, is fatal in 60% of cases. In August 2012, the WHO counted 608 people who had contracted the virus since its inception, for 359 deaths, even if many mild or asymptomatic cases could not have been counted. Scientists, however, remain concerned, because the pathogen still circulates in nature and we know that a few mutations could be enough for it to spread to humans. In this case, deaths could number in the millions… © CDC

HIV: the AIDS virus and its 30 million victims Since 1981 and the date of its discovery, HIV (the little green balls in the image) has killed around 30 million people worldwide and continues to spread. This retrovirus causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and wreaks havoc especially in poor countries, those of the African continent at the head. However, there are therapies that hinder the progression of the virus in the body and allow patients to live with HIV without declaring AIDS for many years. But these are struggling to be exported out of rich countries. © Goldsmith et al., CDC