Pandemics – From ancient times to COVID19. Some thoughts

Since the dawn of civilization, there have been epidemics and pandemics. They are, in reality, an unintended consequence of civilization. Prehistoric societies (our ancestors), surely have been affected by diseases, but they had few opportunities to exchange germs outside their own culture since the earliest humans lived in small isolated bands. The condition shifted drastically when, about 10,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution replaced a nomadic, hunting-gathering society, with a sedentary lifestyle. Here we present our views on the causes of pandemics, the human and natural causal factors, review some hallmarks of regional / global diseases from history, while in outbursts we recall the theory of complexity from the non-linear human cultural evolution.

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