Unusual reports of Kaposi sarcoma and Pneumocystis carinii (now P jiroveci) pneumonia in previously healthy gay men in 1981 alerted the world to a new infectious disease threat, heralding the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The medical and public health communities faced a steep learning curve in coordinating public health and biomedical research efforts as the pandemic evolved.

Since then, international partners in academia, government, and industry have devoted substantial efforts to pandemic preparedness, building on lessons learned from HIV and other outbreaks ranging from the abrupt onset of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) to the spread of Zika in the Americas to the devastating outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

1981年以前健康的男同性恋者中卡波西氏肉瘤和卡氏肺孢子虫（现为肺炎支原体）肺炎的罕见报道警告世界，这是一种新的传染病威胁，预示着HIV / AIDS大流行。随着大流行的发展，在协调公共卫生和生物医学研究工作方面，医学和公共卫生界面临着陡峭的学习曲线。

从那时起，学术界，政府和行业的国际合作伙伴就从大流行的急性呼吸道综合征冠状病毒（SARS-CoV）到艾滋病毒和其他暴发的教训吸取了教训，从而为大流行的预防做出了巨大的努力。美洲的寨卡病毒（Zika）在西非的埃博拉疫情中爆发。