Human infectious diseases may be characterized by their case fatality rate (CFR), the proportion of people diagnosed with a disease who die from it ( cf. mortality rate). It should not be confused with the infection fatality rate (IFR), the estimated proportion of people infected by a disease-causing agent, including asymptomatic and undiagnosed infections, who die from the disease. IFR cannot be higher than the CFR and is often much lower, but is also much harder to calculate. This data is based on optimally treated patients and excludes isolated cases or minor outbreaks, unless otherwise indicated.
| Treatment stage | Pathogen type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| No treatment or cure | Viral disease | ||
| No cure | Bacterial disease | ||
| Unvaccinated | Amoebic disease | ||
| Untreated | Fungal disease | ||
| Vaccinated/treated | Parasitic disease | ||
| Co-infection | Prion | ||
| Unknown | Chromosomal Disease | ||
| Symptomatic | Molecule Disease | ||
| Disease | Type | Treatment stage [ clarification needed ] | CFR | Notes | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy | Prion | No treatment and no cure [1] | 100% [2] | Includes Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and all its variants, fatal insomnia, kuru, Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker syndrome, Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy and others. No cases of survival, invariably fatal. | [3] |
| Rabies | Viral | Unvaccinated and untreated | ≈100% | Preventable with vaccine and PEP (dropped to near 0% rate) but once symptoms manifest, there is no cure and the CFR is greater than 99%. 4 known people who survived were simply vaccinated too late, [4] after symptoms started; more recently, at least 3 individuals have survived after being placed in a medically induced coma, however this protocol has since been disputed. [5] | [6] |
| Pneumonic plague | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | ≈100% | The most virulent among the three forms of plague, hypotheised to be the Black Death. Victims of the Black Death who vomited blood occasionally survived, such as the chronicler Marcha di Marco Battagli. | [7] : 58 |
| Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis | Viral | Untreated | ≈100% | Rare form of a measles infection, might be treatable if the disease hasn't progressed past Stage 1. | |
| African trypanosomiasis | Parasitic (protozoan) | Untreated | >99% | Without treatment this disease is nearly invariably fatal due to its parasitic and extremely debilitating nature. [8] | [9] |
| Visceral leishmaniasis | Parasitic (protozoan) | Untreated | >99% | [10] | |
| Naegleriasis | Amoebic | with ICU treatment | ≈98.5% | From 1962 to 2022 there have been 157 recorded cases of this infection within the United States, only 4 of those 157 individuals survived the disease. A combination of various antifungal, antibacterial and antiemetic drugs have shown effectiveness in survivors. | [11] |
| Glanders | Bacterial | Untreated | 95% | The rate drops significantly to >50% with treatment. | [12] |
| Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis | Amoebic | No cure [13] | 90% | 150 cases worldwide, only < 10 survivors have been identified. | [14] [15] |
| HIV/AIDS | Viral | Untreated | 90% | [16] : 1 | |
| Anthrax, pulmonary | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | 85% | Early treatments lower the CFR to 45% as seen in the 2001 AMERITHRAX letter attacks. Monoclonal antibodies (Obilotoxaximab & Raxibacumab) could lower this further. | [7] : 88 |
| Lujo virus | Viral | 80% | [17] | ||
| B virus | Viral | Untreated | ≈80% | B virus infection of humans is extremely rare. As of 2020, there have been 50 documented cases of human B virus infection since the identification of the virus in 1932, 21 of which led to death. Early treatment including aciclovir can improve prognosis. | [18] |
| Aspergillosis, invasive pulmonary form | Fungal | Opportunistic w/COPD, Tuberculosis and Immuno- compromised | [50–90]% | [19] | |
| Ebola | Viral | Unvaccinated and untreated | [25–90]% | The rate averages out at 50% for all variants of ebolaviruses, among which the one by EBOV is the deadliest in terms of both the fatality and morbidity rates, with fatalities ranging between 42% and 90%. Prognosis improved by early supportive treatments as seen in the West African epidemic and the Kivu outbreak. | [20] [21] |
| Marburg virus disease – all outbreaks combined | Viral | Untreated | [23–90]% | 23% in 1967 when it was first identified and 90% in 2004-2005 when the worst outbreak of the disease occurred. Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Filoviridae. | [22] [23] |
| Smallpox Variola major | Viral | Untreated and Unvaccinated | [9.3-100]% | Eradicated. The overall fatality rate of all forms was 30%, which dropped significantly to 10% with effective treatments and 3% with vaccination. Around 90% of all the cases were the ordinary form whose untreated/unvaccinated rate was between 9.3 (normal) to 62% (confluent rashes); about 2% of the cases developed into the haemorrhagic form which approached 100% untreated fatality rate. | [7] : 28 [24] |
| Nipah virus | Viral | Untreated | [40-75]% | This rate can vary by outbreak depending on local capabilities for epidemiological surveillance and clinical management. | [25] [26] |
| Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 | Viral | ≈53% | The deadliest form of all the avian flu on humans. | [27] | |
| Mucormycosis (Black fungus disease) | Fungal | [40–80]% | [28] | ||
| Tularemia, pneumonic | Bacterial | Untreated | ≤ 60% | [7] : 78 | |
| Cryptococcal meningitis | Fungal | Co-infection with HIV | [40–60]% | 6 month mortality is ≥ 60% with fluconazole-based therapy and 40% with amphotericin-based therapy in research studies in low and middle income countries. | [29] |
| Anthrax, gastrointestinal | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | > 50% | [7] : 27 | |
| Tetanus, Generalized | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | 50% | CFR drops to [10–20]% with effective treatment. | [30] |
| Tuberculosis, HIV Negative | Bacterial | Vaccinated | 43% | Vaccines have been developed but have been frequently dismissed for having received controversial and improper testing on African populations. [ citation needed ] | [31] |
| Septicemic plague | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [30–50]% | [7] : 58 | |
| Baylisascariasis | Parasitic (helminthous) | ≈40% | With occurrence of Neural Larva Migrans; early, aggressive treatment necessary for survival, but only 2 full recoveries from NLM ever documented. | [32] | |
| Hantavirus infection | Viral | 36% | Ribavirin may be a drug for HPS and HFRS but its effectiveness remains unknown, still, spontaneous recovery is possible with supportive treatment. | ||
| Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) | Viral | 34% | Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Coronaviridae. | [33] | |
| Eastern equine encephalitis | Viral | ≈33% | [34] | ||
| Bubonic plague | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [5–60]% | [7] : 57 | |
| Anthrax, gastrointestinal, oropharyngeal type | Bacterial | [10–50]% | [7] : 27 | ||
| Varicella (chickenpox), in newborns | Viral | Untreated | ≈30% | Where the mothers develop the disease between 5 days prior to, or 2 days after delivery. | [16] : 110 |
| Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) | Viral | Untreated | 26% | Dengue haemorrhagic fever is also known as severe dengue. [35] | [36] |
| Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) | Viral | No cure | [15–30]% | No specific treatment; usually involves supportive care. | [37] |
| Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) | Viral | Untreated | ≈21% | Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Bunyavirales. | [38] |
| Tularemia, typhoidal | Bacterial | Untreated | [3–35]% | [7] : 77 | |
| Leptospirosis | Bacterial | <[5–30]% | [16] : 352 | ||
| Meningococcal disease | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [10–20]% | [39] | |
| Typhoid fever | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [10–20]% | [16] : 665 | |
| Legionellosis | Bacterial | ≈15% | [16] : 665 | ||
| Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) | Viral | 11% | Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Coronaviridae. | [40] | |
| Intestinal capillariasis | Parasitic (helminthous) | Untreated | ≈10% | [41] | |
| Visceral leishmaniasis | Parasitic (protozoan) | ≈10% | [42] | ||
| Botulism | Bacterial toxin | Treated | < 10% | Untreated foodborne botulism is thought to be ≈50%. | [43] |
| Diphtheria, respiratory | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | ≈[5-10]% | [44] | |
| Yellow fever | Viral | Unvaccinated | 7.5% | [45] | |
| Pertussis (whooping cough), infants in developing countries | Bacterial | Unvaccinated | ≈3.7% | [16] : 456 | |
| Smallpox, Variola major | Viral | Vaccinated | 3% | [7] : 88 | |
| Cholera, in Africa | Bacterial | ≈[2–3]% | With proper treatment, may be less than 1%, while without treatment may reach 50%. | [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] | |
| 1918 (Spanish) flu | Viral | Treated | [2.5-9.7]% | varies with population, up to 22% in Western Samoa. | [51] [52] [53] |
| Angiostrongyliasis | Parasitic (helminthous) | ≈2.4% | From Hawaiian cases. | [54] | |
| Measles (rubeola), in developing countries | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈[1–3]% | May reach [10–30]% in some localities. | [16] : 431 |
| Brucellosis | Bacterial | Untreated | ≤ 2% | [16] : 87 | |
| Hepatitis A, adults > 50 years old | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈1.8% | [16] : 278 | |
| Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) | Viral | Unvaccinated & Treated with unspecific treatments | 0.88% | Depends largely on the age group of the person, earlier strains of COVID-19 had higher CFR of around 0.1%. [55] [56] | [57] |
| Lassa fever | Viral | Treated | ≈1% | 15% in hospitalized patients; higher in some epidemics. | [58] |
| Mumps encephalitis | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈1% | [16] : 431 | |
| Pertussis (whooping cough), children in developing countries | Bacterial | Unvaccinated | ≈1% | For children 1–4 years old. | [16] : 456 |
| Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) | Viral | < 1% | [7] : 97–98 | ||
| Anthrax, cutaneous | Bacterial | < 1% | [7] : 27 | ||
| Seasonal Influenza, Worldwide | Viral | Largely unvaccinated, Treated | < 0.1–0.5% [ failed verification ] | Depends largely on the age group of the people. | [59] |
| Malaria | Parasitic (protozoan) | ≈0.3% | [60] | ||
| Smallpox, Variola minor | Viral | Unvaccinated | 0.1-0.3% | [7] : 87–88 | |
| Hepatitis A | Viral | Unvaccinated | [0.1–0.3]% | [16] : 278 | |
| Polio | Viral | Without artificial breathing support | ≈0.1% | 0.5% of all infected become paralysed. Of those, about [10–20]% die. Fatality rates vary by age: 2–5% for children and up to 15–30% for adults. | [61] [62] |
| Asian (1956–58) flu | Viral | ≈0.1% | [63] | ||
| Hong Kong (1968–69) flu | Viral | ≈0.1% | [63] | ||
| Influenza A, typical pandemics | Viral | < 0.1% | [51] | ||
| Varicella (chickenpox), adults | Viral | Unvaccinated | 0.02% | [16] : 110 | |
| Hand, foot and mouth disease, children < 5 years old | Viral | 0.01% | [64] | ||
| Varicella (chickenpox), children | Viral | Unvaccinated | 0.001% | [16] : 110 |