The bubonic plague was a deadly bacterial disease from Earth, killing people as quickly as Rigelian fever.
In the summer of 1334, Constantinople was affected by bubonic plague while Flint was in the city. From there, it spread out and wiped out over half of the European population. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah")
In the special features for VOY Season 2 DVD, Brannon Braga tried to explain Vidiian culture by wondering how it would have affected European culture if the bubonic plague had never gone away.