Ebola didn't come close, but SARS, in 2002, did; it was similar in all ways to the 1918 flu, including lethality: high single-digit percentage of the population

Ebola didn't come close, but SARS, in 2002, did; it was similar in all ways to the 1918 flu, including lethality: high single-digit percentage of the population in affected areas had it spread unchecked. Fortunately, the threat was recognized and the disease was stopped with an aggressive campaign of contact tracing and quarantine, or the death toll would have been several hundred million. The universe is a far more hostile place than we remember in the course of an average day.