By Richard Conniff
We have had many pandemics to teach us lessons on how to avoid them in the past. But every time, we forget when it is just out of sight.
Vaccines were discovered in the 1700s to fight smallpox. The first vaccine was created from the pustules on infected people, then later perfect to cowpox viruses, which milk maids had found to protect against smallpox later on. It took a while for the idea to catch on, but eventually led to the eradication of smallpox.
People once believed that bad smells and the four humors caused disease. But as people moved to the larger cities with every decreasing sanitary conditions, scientists began to learn that dirty streets and people transmitted infections, leading to cleaner cities.
More recently, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, although bitter enemies, made huge breakthroughs by proving that tiny microbes cause disease, and that heat can be used to kill them. They also found that these bacteria can reproduce like normal organisms to spread. Koch, although largely unrecognized, showed that the bacteria form spores in the case where they cannot find new hosts, thereby preserving themselves until they can spread again.
We have entered the frightening pandemic world of our ancestors. And the big takeaway is this. When this is all past, we cannot just forget. We must remember, learn. Because the next great pandemic is lurking out there somewhere.
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