By Tim Lambert
430 BC Athens is struck by an unknown disease
165-180 AD Rome is ravaged by a disease, probably smallpox or measles.
543 Plague strikes the Byzantine Empire. It then spreads to western Europe.
1346 The Black Death breaks out in Crimea
1348 The Black Death reaches England
1492 Smallpox and measles are introduced into the Americas
1603 Plague strikes London
1633 Plague strikes again
1665 Plague breaks out in London for the last time
1720-1722 Plague strikes southern France
1770 Plague strikes Kyiv
1771 Plague breaks out in Moscow
1796 Edward Jenner introduces vaccination against smallpox
1831 Cholera strikes London and other British cities
1841 Bubonic plague strikes Istanbul
1845 Bubonic breaks out in Egypt
1848 Cholera strikes British towns again
1854 John Snow discovers that cholera is spread by water
1866 Cholera strikes London again
1885 Pasteur cures rabies
1890 Immunization against diphtheria is discovered
1896 A vaccine for typhoid is discovered
1897 A vaccine against bubonic plague is first used
1900 Bubonic plague breaks out in Sydney
1910 Salvarsan, a drug used to cure syphilis is discovered
1918 An epidemic of influenza kills millions of people around the world
1928 Penicillin is discovered
1953 Jonas Salk announces he has a vaccine for polio
1963 A vaccine for measles is discovered