Praktické lekárnictvo 3/2021

History of epidemics and pandemics

Epidemic, pandemic and other diseases are as old as humanity itself and they are an integral part of our history. As for some of them, as soon as they broke out, they were over. However, there are lessons that need to be learned from the past. Mostly, the Western society in the 21st century seems to have still failed to remember something else. As a result of massive medical and pharmaceutical development, it looks as if the society has suppressed the memories of our vulnerability stemming from epidemic infectious diseases completely. This is despite the fact that our ancestors suffered from them a lot. The aim of the survey article is to point to the worst epidemics and pandemics which the human race had to face in the past, how they were wiped out, and to point out some parallels for the COVID-19 pandemic which we are going through these days, and also emphasize the importance of vaccination.

Keywords: epidemic, pandemic, valorisation, vaccination