First videogame pandemic

In September 2005, a deadly virtual plague broke out in World of Warcraft, affecting thousands of players. Dubbed as the first “world event” in the game, the “corrupted blood” infection meted by Hakkar in the Zul'Gurub dungeon was only supposed to affect players close to his corpse, but transferred to other areas of the game via an in-game virtual pet before spreading from player to player.