The novel coronavirus—officially called COVID-19—is bad news. But, the world has been through other outbreaks that were much, much worse. To that end, let’s look at five other viruses that, in their own ways, are more dangerous than COVID-19. 

The world has been through other outbreaks that were much, much worse. For instance, the Spanish Flu of 1918 infected an estimated 500 million people and killed at least 50 million worldwide. Now, weighing the impact of one virus against another isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. All sorts of variables are involved, including the mode of transmission, host defense mechanisms, virus infectivity—even the weather plays a factor. Still, it’s informative to put the current danger into some sort of perspective. 

To that end, let’s look at five other viruses that, in their own ways, are more dangerous than COVID-19. 

Hepatitis

Viral hepatitis caused an annual 1.34 million deaths worldwide in 2015. While deaths due to other infectious diseases have declined, deaths due to viral hepatitis have actually increased—by 22%—since 2000, according to a WHO report.