The emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases
are not uncommon to humans. We have been seeing this,
repeated many a time in the past, that the new/novel microbial
species emerge and pose a potential threat to the whole of
mankind. Among those infectious diseases which threatened
mankind, the Smallpox virus appears to have had the greatest
impact. Smallpox virus was suspected to be present on the
earth since 10,000 B.C., but its presence and the effect on
humans was established only in the late 18th century to the
early 20th century when people suffered from its
consequences. Most people (>75%) infected with smallpox
died, leaving a sense of doom among humans. Later, or
probably during the same time, there was the emergence of
an infectious disease called “plague”, which swept across many
countries and caused a lot of mortality. This disease was also
called the black death, due to the nature of lesions caused
and the thousands of people who were dying in very less time.
We have also seen the emergence of a novel influenza virus,
the Spanish flu (1918) which caused a severe pandemic.
Interestingly, all these infectious diseases caused pandemics
involving several countries, and causing increased mortality,
especially in the European continent. In this editorial I discuss
the significance of the most recent pandemic caused by the
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2), also called Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).
Re-emergence of infectious diseases associated with the past
