Also, the Taino people were pretty much extinct and that may be mostly the result of disease, though it seems contended:
In thirty years, between 80% and 90% of the Taíno population died.[76] Because of the increased number of people (Spanish) on the island, there was a higher demand for food. Taíno cultivation was converted to Spanish methods. In hopes of frustrating the Spanish, some Taínos refused to plant or harvest their crops. The supply of food became so low in 1495 and 1496, that some 50,000 died from the severity of the famine.[77] Historians have determined that the massive decline was due more to infectious disease outbreaks than any warfare or direct attacks.[78][79] By 1507, their numbers had shrunk to 60,000. Scholars believe that epidemic disease (smallpox, influenza, measles, and typhus) was an overwhelming cause of the population decline of the indigenous people,[80] and also attributed a “large number of Taíno deaths...to the continuing bondage systems” that existed.[81][82] Academics, such as historian Andrés Reséndez of the University of California, Davis, assert that disease alone does not explain the total destruction of indigenous populations of Hispaniola.
These two cases actually lower my fear of naturally accruing pandemics, because I’d expect to find more evidence. This in turn also lowers slightly my credence in the plausibility of engineered pandemics.
I’m sure that other people here are much more knowledgeable than myself, and this brief analysis might be misleading.
This is really interesting! It seems like there’s also compelling evidence for more than 2:
While there is no direct evidence that any of the 25 [18] species of Hawaiian land birds that have become extinct since the documented arrival of Culex quinquefasciatus in 1826 [19] were even susceptible to malaria and there is limited anecdotal information suggesting they were affected by birdpox [19], the observation that several remaining species only persist either on islands where there are no mosquitoes or at altitudes above those at which mosquitoes can breed and that these same species are highly susceptible to avian malaria and birdpox [18,19] is certainly very strong circumstantial evidence...
The formerly abundant endemic rats Rattus macleari and Rattus nativitas disappeared from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean (10°29′ S 105°38′ E) around the turn of the twentieth century. Their disappearance was apparently abrupt, and shortly before the final collapse sick individuals were seen crawling along footpaths [22]. At that time, trypanosomiasis transmitted by fleas from introduced black rats R. rattus was suggested as the causative agent. Recently, Wyatt et al. [22] managed to isolate trypanosome DNA from both R. rattus and R. macleari specimens collected during the period of decline, whereas no trypanosome DNA was present in R. nativitas specimens collected before the arrival of black rats. While this is good circumstantial evidence, direct evidence that trypanosomes caused the mortality is limited
Regarding the possibility of Extinction level agents, there has been at least 2 species extinction cases that likely resulted from pathogens (here or in sci-hub).
Also, the Taino people were pretty much extinct and that may be mostly the result of disease, though it seems contended:
These two cases actually lower my fear of naturally accruing pandemics, because I’d expect to find more evidence. This in turn also lowers slightly my credence in the plausibility of engineered pandemics.
I’m sure that other people here are much more knowledgeable than myself, and this brief analysis might be misleading.
This is really interesting! It seems like there’s also compelling evidence for more than 2: