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.
| No treatment or cure | Viral disease | ||
| No cure | Bacterial disease | ||
| Unvaccinated | Amoebic disease | ||
| Untreated | Fungal disease | ||
| Vaccinated/treated | Parasitic disease | ||
| Co-infection | Prion |
| Disease | Type | Treatment stage[ clarification needed ] | CFR | Notes | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | [3] No cases of survival, invariably fatal. |
| Rabies | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈100% [4] | Preventable with vaccine and PEP 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, [5] 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. [6] | 29 known cases of survival [ citation needed ] |
| Plague, pneumonic | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | ≈100% | [7] : 58 | |
| Nipah virus | Viral | Untreated | 100% | The rate drops to 40-75% if treated | |
| 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 | Untreated | ≈98.5% | From 1962 to 2022 there have been 157 recorded cases of the infection in United States, only 4 of those 157 individuals survived the disease. A combination of drugs have shown effectiveness in survivors. | [11] |
| Glanders, septicemic | Bacterial | Untreated | 95% | The rate drops significantly to >50% with treatment. | [12] |
| Smallpox Variola major – specifically the malignant (flat) or hemorrhagic type | Viral | Untreated | ≈95% | The rate dropped significantly to 10% with effective treatments. Eradicated. | [7] : 28 [13] |
| Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis | Amoebic | No cure [14] | 90% | 150 cases worldwide, only < 10 survivors have been identified. | [15] [16] |
| HIV/AIDS | Viral | Untreated | 90% | [17] : 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% | [18] | ||
| B virus | Viral | Untreated | ≈80% | Early treatment including aciclovir can improve prognosis. | [19] |
| Aspergillosis, invasive pulmonary form | Fungal | Opportunistic w/COPD, Tuberculosis and Immuno- compromised | [50–90]% | [20] | |
| Smallpox, Variola major – in pregnant women | Viral | Unvaccinated | > 65% | Eradicated. | [7] : 88 |
| Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 | Viral | ≈53% | [21] | ||
| Mucormycosis (Black fungus) | Fungal | [40–80]% | [22] | ||
| Tularemia, pneumonic | Bacterial | Untreated | ≤ 60% | [7] : 78 | |
| Ebola – specifically EBOV | Viral | Unvaccinated and untreated | [25–90]% | Prognosis improved by early supportive treatments as seen in the West African epidemic and the Kivu outbreak. | [23] [24] |
| 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 | [25] [26] |
| 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. | [27] |
| Anthrax, gastrointestinal | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | > 50% | [7] : 27 | |
| Tetanus, Generalized | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | 50% | CFR drops to [10–20]% with effective treatment. | [28] |
| 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 ] | [29] |
| Plague, septicemic | 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 | [30] | |
| 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 | [31] | |
| Eastern equine encephalitis | Viral | ≈33% | [32] | ||
| Bubonic plague | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [5–60]% | [7] : 57 | |
| Anthrax, gastrointestinal, oropharyngeal type | Bacterial | [10–50]% | [7] : 27 | ||
| Smallpox, Variola major | Viral | Unvaccinated | 30% | [7] : 88 | |
| Varicella (chickenpox), in newborns | Viral | Untreated | ≈30% | Where the mothers develop the disease between 5 days prior to, or 2 days after delivery. | [17] : 110 |
| Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) | Viral | Untreated | 26% | Dengue haemorrhagic fever is also known as severe dengue. [33] | [34] |
| Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) | Viral | No cure | [15–30]% | No specific treatment; usually involves supportive care. | [35] |
| Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) | Viral | Untreated | ≈21% | Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Bunyavirales | [36] |
| Tularemia, typhoidal | Bacterial | Untreated | [3–35]% | [7] : 77 | |
| Leptospirosis | Bacterial | <[5–30]% | [17] : 352 | ||
| Meningococcal disease | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [10–20]% | [37] | |
| Typhoid fever | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | [10–20]% | [17] : 665 | |
| Legionellosis | Bacterial | ≈15% | [17] : 665 | ||
| Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) | Viral | 11% | Galidesivir has shown promise in treating Coronaviridae. | [38] | |
| Intestinal capillariasis | Parasitic (helminthous) | Untreated | ≈10% | [39] | |
| Visceral leishmaniasis | Parasitic (protozoan) | ≈10% | [40] | ||
| Botulism | Bacterial toxin | Treated | < 10% | Untreated foodborne botulism is thought to be ≈50% | [41] |
| Diphtheria, respiratory | Bacterial | Unvaccinated and untreated | ≈[5-10]% | [42] | |
| Yellow fever | Viral | Unvaccinated | 7.5% | [43] | |
| Pertussis (whooping cough), infants in developing countries | Bacterial | Unvaccinated | ≈3.7% | [17] : 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% | [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] | |
| 1918 (Spanish) flu | Viral | Treated | [2.5-9.7]% | varies with population, up to 22% in Western Samoa | [49] [50] [51] |
| Angiostrongyliasis | Parasitic (helminthous) | ≈2.4% | From Hawaiian cases. | [52] | |
| Measles (rubeola), in developing countries | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈[1–3]% | May reach [10–30]% in some localities. | [17] : 431 |
| Brucellosis | Bacterial | Untreated | ≤ 2% | [17] : 87 | |
| Hepatitis A, adults > 50 years old | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈1.8% | [17] : 278 | |
| Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) | Viral | Unvaccinated & Treated with unspecific treatments | 0.5-2% | Depends largely on the age group of the person, earlier strains of COVID-19 had higher CFR of around 2%. [53] [54] | [55] |
| Lassa fever | Viral | Treated | ≈1% | 15% in hospitalized patients; higher in some epidemics. | [56] |
| Mumps encephalitis | Viral | Unvaccinated | ≈1% | [17] : 431 | |
| Pertussis (whooping cough), children in developing countries | Bacterial | Unvaccinated | ≈1% | For children 1–4 years old. | [17] : 456 |
| Smallpox, Variola minor | Viral | Unvaccinated | 1% | [7] : 87–88 | |
| 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. | [57] |
| Malaria | Parasitic (protozoan) | ≈0.3% | [58] | ||
| Hepatitis A | Viral | Unvaccinated | [0.1–0.3]% | [17] : 278 | |
| Polio | Viral | Without artificial breathing support | ≈0.1%, varies by age: 2-5% for children and up to 15-30% for adults | 0.5% of all infected become paralysed. Of those, about [10–20]% die. | [59] [60] |
| Asian (1956–58) flu | Viral | ≈0.1% | [61] | ||
| Hong Kong (1968–69) flu | Viral | ≈0.1% | [61] | ||
| Influenza A, typical pandemics | Viral | < 0.1% | [49] | ||
| Varicella (chickenpox), adults | Viral | Unvaccinated | 0.02% | [17] : 110 | |
| Hand, foot and mouth disease, children < 5 years old | Viral | 0.01% | [62] | ||
| Varicella (chickenpox), children | Viral | Unvaccinated | 0.001% | [17] : 110 |